# Why the author stopped using the term "actors" when explaining the Actor Model

DevFeed: [Why the author stopped using the term "actors" when explaining the Actor Model](<https://devfeed.tech/articles/the-curse-of-the-a-word-35977.md>)

Original publisher: [Read original article](<https://temporal.io/blog/sergey-the-curse-of-the-a-word>)

Author: Sergey Bykov

Published: 2021-05-05T07:00:00Z

Content type: opinion

Language: en

Sources: [Temporal Blog](<https://devfeed.tech/sources/temporal-blog.md>)

Topics: [Actor](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/actor.md>), [Concurrency](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/concurrency.md>), [Scalability](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/scalability.md>), [.NET](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/net.md>), [Java](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/java.md>)

Tags: [actor](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/actor.md>), [c-sharp](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/c-sharp.md>), [concurrency](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/concurrency.md>), [distributed-system](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/distributed-system.md>), [java](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/java.md>), [net](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/net.md>), [temporal-voices](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/temporal-voices.md>)

## AI overview

The author explains why he stopped using the term "actors" when discussing the Actor Model, focusing on conflation between local and distributed actors and their differing roles in concurrency.

## Source excerpt

While it may have taken me quite some time to get around to answering it, 2020 wasn't an ordinary year by any measure.