Define 'sherpa' - Githubissues

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Define 'sherpa' #391

Open tatianamac opened 3 years ago

tatianamac commented 3 years ago

Sherpa is commonly misused to mean "expert", in particular in marketing. Sherpa is an ethnic group and using it to mean these synonyms is appropriative.

Alternatives (n.):

aficionado
consultant
connoisseur
expert
professional
specialist

Source: https://qz.com/128842/the-problem-with-calling-your-career-coach-a-sherpa/

mpcsh commented 3 years ago

In gaming communities - particularly around games that have "raids" (large-scale cooperative content) - "Sherpa" is also commonly misused to refer to a player who knows the mechanics well and teaches them to the rest of the group, guiding them through the raid.

I haven't seen any consensus on an alternative, though I've seen "raid carry", "raid teacher", and my (somewhat irreverent) personal favorite, "raid daddy".

kmongy commented 3 years ago

Hi. Perhaps another alternative is "Guide"? I'm not sure if this conveys expertise, but it does imply deep experience. Just throwing another term in the ring.