Pythonistas? <- Re: OT: Perl programmers?

[Fernando Pérez]

David Eppstein wrote:

>> Pythonista - Pie thun ee sta
>> I took it as a unintended play on Sandanista, which is a group of  "freedom
>> fighting" rebels in Nicaragua.
> 
> I think it's a normal Spanish suffix, but it seems to be moving into
> English -- I've also seen "Gapatista" used by some Calif. activists
> <http://www.ics.uci.edu/~eppstein/pix/sv/j4p/Gapatista.html>

Indeed, it's just the Spanish form of the 'ist' English suffix (pianist, 
violinist, etc.) It simply means 'who performs an activity'.

Its use is more common in Spanish than in English, though (pianista, 
violinista, but also futbolista, tenista, equilibrista, ...). Interestingly, 
even though in Spanish the -a ending typically denotes a feminine noun, the 
-ista ending applies to both male and female practitioners.

And yes, I'm a native Spanish speaker, so I should know.

Cheers,

f.