there's this term I use, only in my head, which I try to think of neutrally, about people, systems, and interactions which, if necessary, can be engaged, but which I always want to minimise contact with, because of how they can potentially cause harm or break. It's the person who responds to every started conversation by talking about how I just triggered them by saying hello, or the machine in the garden I can use to do its job, but which will break one day, and every time I use it, I hasten that day be one, so why not do something else in a different way?
I learned the way of referring to people as 'brittle' from Dilbert, when I was a kid. Then I read the compendium of Dilbert comics that Adams wrote, and in that, he talked about how he got complaints for making a 'brittle' woman character, because it was a gendered stereotype.
I've not looked at the book in a long time. But it sits in my mind that there are people, entirely neutrally, I think of as 'brittle' and do not want to put under any unnecessary stress, and realising I don't have a good way to discuss it.
'cos I think 'Brittle Is A Gendered Word' and then remember my source for that is 'Scott Adams, possibly inventing people to complain about.'
And Scott Adams sucks
