Warning
Info
I used the interview “Celebrating Rust’s Birthday with Karen Rustad Tölva: Creator of Ferris the Rustacean” – what a fitting middle name! – as an occasion to show off Ferris. One reaction was startling: “Cute, but I’m not in the mood for crabs, as my girl friend was just diagnosed with advanced cancer!”
When checking whether this has been discussed here, I found “Of course, Rust is cancer.”
That made me watch “How To Talk To Someone With Cancer” | Katie Deming | TEDxReno. She says her patients hate and fear words like “survivor”, “fight”, “battle”, etc. And she likens the word “cancer” to an atomic bomb falling on everyone involved.
So, listening to her main message, I’m asking those of you who deal with this in any way: how strongly does the word or concept of “crab” trigger cancer memories or worries? If it does, do the cuteness and friendlyness of Ferris offset that? Or do you see any way of adapting it for the better in this respect?
Same story when rustaceans refer to “carcinisation” as a fun fact. That even more closely relates to “carcinoma” and this had actually been my initial association. The Wikipedia article sees this confusion too, admoning: “Not to be confused with ‘carcinogenesis’.”
8 posts - 4 participants
🏷️ rust_feed