I once got corrected for using the term “embarrassingly parallel” and told I should use “natively parallel”
Who was I committing a micro aggression against. Embarrassed people? The map-reducible?
Cody Blakeney recounted a casual correction during discussion of parallel computing tasks, where the longstanding phrase 'embarrassingly parallel' was swapped for 'natively parallel' to sidestep any perceived sensitivity. The exchange stayed light, with Omar Khattab quipping that the rewording mainly shields the pride of those who design such algorithms.
I once got corrected for using the term “embarrassingly parallel” and told I should use “natively parallel”
Who was I committing a micro aggression against. Embarrassed people? The map-reducible?
Computer scientists have used 'embarrassingly parallel' since at least the mid-1980s to describe workloads that split into independent pieces with almost no extra coordination needed. A milder variant, 'pleasingly parallel,' already circulates in papers and codebases for the same concept.
The single reported correction has sparked chuckles in AI and research circles, yet nothing points to formal style guides, conference policies, or industry-wide replacement efforts. Whether the anecdote signals a broader shift stays an open question.
Users criticized 'embarrassingly parallel' as annoying LLM-speak and expressed dismay over potential 'map-reducible' labels, though some supported questioning the term's sensitivity.
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They are doing this to me at work on Monday
@code_star imagine being called “map-reducible” 😭
@code_star i save “embarrassing parallel” for difficult parking spots
I once got corrected for using the term “embarrassingly parallel” and told I should use “natively parallel”
Who was I committing a micro aggression against. Embarrassed people? The map-reducible?
@code_star obviously people proud to have created a natively parallel algorithm
I once got corrected for using the term “embarrassingly parallel” and told I should use “natively parallel”
Who was I committing a micro aggression against. Embarrassed people? The map-reducible?

@code_star "Embarrassingly parallel" is a particularly annoying form of LLM-speak

@nik_levk @code_star https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embarrassingly_parallel

@code_star Nothing wrong with embarrassingly parallel as a phrase; I’ve never encountered natively parallel once in my years of reading

@code_star imagine being called “map-reducible” 😭

@code_star When I’ve used the term to characterize some extant unoptimized implementation, and especially with non-engineers present, I’ve seen enough discomfort in their reactions that I make a point to add that it’s a technical term that specifically applies to optimizations on the table.

@code_star “Embarrassingly Parallel Problem” is a technical term. 🤨
This sounds like the time my mom yelled at me because I claimed “Computers for Dummies” was the only computer book I hadn’t read yet. I had to explain there was literally a book on the library shelf with that name. 😅
@code_star That’s embarrassing
I once got corrected for using the term “embarrassingly parallel” and told I should use “natively parallel”
Who was I committing a micro aggression against. Embarrassed people? The map-reducible?

@code_star

@code_star

@soldni banger

@code_star Never heard of natively parallel. Did they mean naively parallel? I've seen that used as a synonym for embarrassingly parallel.

@code_star The sense I get is that people hear it as insulting to the initial implementer… something like “this thing is much slower than it should be, I’m embarrassed for whoever wrote it.”