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Any reason or history behind the name? It means "a stupid person", which seems like a bad choice IMHO: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dolt https://w

Any reason or history behind the name? It means "a stupid person", which seems like a bad choice IMHO: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dolt https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dolt

hinkley 7y ago
it's of a piece with git: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/git https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/git
- nmstoker 7y ago
  That definition misses a significant portion of the commonly used meaning: someone who is unpleasant (as in mean, annoying) For instance: stop being such a git - this is not imploring someone not to be stupid, it's saying don't be annoying, awkward etc. https://www.collinsdictionary.com/amp/english/git https://www.collinsdictionary.com/amp/english/git
StavrosK 7y ago
What does git mean?
- dnautics 7y ago
  honestly, maybe this reflects my americanness but I presumed it was derived from the (western film/culture) word, a corruption of 'get'. Today I learned that it means something else in british.
  - StavrosK 7y ago
    Oh huh, I didn't realize it didn't mean the same in American English. I guess I knew it, I just never realized it.
  - hinkley 7y ago
    You can hardly watch more than a few hours of british comedy without someone being called a 'stupid git' at some point.
    - dnautics 7y ago
      Sadly my consumption of British comedy has been -it crowd (of course), -monty python, and -mr bean (no words) It's such a short word I'd probably have missed it or misheard it as 'cad' or something.
    - lordgrenville 7y ago
      Or listen to the Beatles https://genius.com/836309 https://genius.com/836309
  - irrational 7y ago
    I learned about the British meaning from reading the Harry Potter books.
- a_c 7y ago
  Looks like you are looking for an argument [1] [1] https://youtu.be/xpAvcGcEc0k?t=50 https://youtu.be/xpAvcGcEc0k?t=50
RandallBrown 7y ago
That's also what Git means.
- hprotagonist 7y ago
  "I'm an egotistical bastard, and I name all my projects after myself." --Linus
  - laughinghan 7y ago
    In case it isn't obvious, this is a joke, Linus actually didn't name Linux after himself, the person who hosted the original source tree did: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux#Naming https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux#Naming
    - shakna 7y ago
      However, Linux was a name that Linus had considered before dismissing it as too self-centered. It wasn't invented by the later host.
  - slavik81 7y ago
    Linus is self-aware enough that I'm sure there's a kernel of truth to that joke, but both git and mercurial were clearly inspired by the BitKeeper fiasco. They describe an unpleasant and ill-tempered person, respectively. There's a lot of different ways that you could interpret the name Linus chose. That's part of what made it clever.
    - chrismorgan 7y ago
      “Mercurial” doesn’t mean ill-tempered. It typically means fickle, changing. That can be related to moods (regularly pleasant, but inclined to fly off the handle with little provocation) but that is by no means its only application. It can also mean sprightly (connecting with the “changing” meaning), which is quite the opposite of ill-tempered.
crispinb 7y ago
I was wondering how many new projects with names derived from insults would now arise. Having searched on github for a few, my conclusion is that all the best ones have already been taken.
rockmeamedee 7y ago
Yeah, I too am tired of projects named mean-ly. Git, dolt, LAME, Gimp... DWARF is borderline, even if it has historical reasons (being based on ELF) it's not nice to hear out of context. Even if it's a joke on yourself, just like, why would you give anyone who hasn't heard of your project the idea that it might be mean? You wouldn't name your pet Dumbass. Why your pet project.
- buu700 7y ago
  A bit off topic, but at summer camp many years ago, a counselor looked over my shoulder while I was using GIMP, and said something like "that's a sick joke". And that's how I learned about BDSM.
timsehn 7y ago
You are correct. It is an homage to Git. We needed a word that meant "idiot" or similar, that started with D for data that was short enough to type on the command line.
bobbiechen 7y ago
I actually thought at first glance the name was Do-It, which reminds me of this story from Bill Atkinson doing user testing at Apple: We had a place where we would put up a dialog that would say “Do It”, or “Cancel”, and we’d give somebody a document and say “Here, edit this and save it”, and they’d get to the point where they’re supposed to choose “Do It”, and they’d look a little miffed, and then hit cancel. And we saw that several times, different people. [...] And when we saw this [in the video recordings], people looking a little miffed and then hitting cancel instead of do it, we turned up the volume and played it back, and [heard them mutter]: “What’s this ‘Dolt’?” I’m no dolt! So I hit cancel”. https://scs.hosted.panopto.com/Panopto/Pages/Viewer.aspx?id=25053106-2187-4cde-9981-a9eb002aa4e8 https://scs.hosted.panopto.com/Panopto/Pages/Viewer.aspx?id=...
irrational 7y ago
Git - (Chiefly British Slang) An unpleasant, contemptible, or frustratingly obtuse person. https://www.ahdictionary.com/word/search.html?q=git https://www.ahdictionary.com/word/search.html?q=git Dolt - A stupid person; a dunce. https://www.ahdictionary.com/word/search.html?q=dolt https://www.ahdictionary.com/word/search.html?q=dolt
- unixhero 7y ago
  I think both names are apt.
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]

Any reason or history behind the name? It means "a stupid person", which seems like a bad choice IMHO: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dolt https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dolt

hinkley 7y ago

it's of a piece with git: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/git https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/git

nmstoker 7y ago
That definition misses a significant portion of the commonly used meaning: someone who is unpleasant (as in mean, annoying) For instance: stop being such a git - this is not imploring someone not to be stupid, it's saying don't be annoying, awkward etc. https://www.collinsdictionary.com/amp/english/git https://www.collinsdictionary.com/amp/english/git

StavrosK 7y ago

What does git mean?

dnautics 7y ago
honestly, maybe this reflects my americanness but I presumed it was derived from the (western film/culture) word, a corruption of 'get'. Today I learned that it means something else in british.
- StavrosK 7y ago
  Oh huh, I didn't realize it didn't mean the same in American English. I guess I knew it, I just never realized it.
- hinkley 7y ago
  You can hardly watch more than a few hours of british comedy without someone being called a 'stupid git' at some point.
  - dnautics 7y ago
    Sadly my consumption of British comedy has been -it crowd (of course), -monty python, and -mr bean (no words) It's such a short word I'd probably have missed it or misheard it as 'cad' or something.
  - lordgrenville 7y ago
    Or listen to the Beatles https://genius.com/836309 https://genius.com/836309
- irrational 7y ago
  I learned about the British meaning from reading the Harry Potter books.
a_c 7y ago
Looks like you are looking for an argument [1] [1] https://youtu.be/xpAvcGcEc0k?t=50 https://youtu.be/xpAvcGcEc0k?t=50

RandallBrown 7y ago

That's also what Git means.

hprotagonist 7y ago
"I'm an egotistical bastard, and I name all my projects after myself." --Linus
- laughinghan 7y ago
  In case it isn't obvious, this is a joke, Linus actually didn't name Linux after himself, the person who hosted the original source tree did: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux#Naming https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux#Naming
  - shakna 7y ago
    However, Linux was a name that Linus had considered before dismissing it as too self-centered. It wasn't invented by the later host.
- slavik81 7y ago
  Linus is self-aware enough that I'm sure there's a kernel of truth to that joke, but both git and mercurial were clearly inspired by the BitKeeper fiasco. They describe an unpleasant and ill-tempered person, respectively. There's a lot of different ways that you could interpret the name Linus chose. That's part of what made it clever.
  - chrismorgan 7y ago
    “Mercurial” doesn’t mean ill-tempered. It typically means fickle, changing. That can be related to moods (regularly pleasant, but inclined to fly off the handle with little provocation) but that is by no means its only application. It can also mean sprightly (connecting with the “changing” meaning), which is quite the opposite of ill-tempered.

crispinb 7y ago

I was wondering how many new projects with names derived from insults would now arise. Having searched on github for a few, my conclusion is that all the best ones have already been taken.

rockmeamedee 7y ago

Yeah, I too am tired of projects named mean-ly. Git, dolt, LAME, Gimp... DWARF is borderline, even if it has historical reasons (being based on ELF) it's not nice to hear out of context. Even if it's a joke on yourself, just like, why would you give anyone who hasn't heard of your project the idea that it might be mean? You wouldn't name your pet Dumbass. Why your pet project.

buu700 7y ago
A bit off topic, but at summer camp many years ago, a counselor looked over my shoulder while I was using GIMP, and said something like "that's a sick joke". And that's how I learned about BDSM.

timsehn 7y ago

You are correct. It is an homage to Git. We needed a word that meant "idiot" or similar, that started with D for data that was short enough to type on the command line.

bobbiechen 7y ago

I actually thought at first glance the name was Do-It, which reminds me of this story from Bill Atkinson doing user testing at Apple: We had a place where we would put up a dialog that would say “Do It”, or “Cancel”, and we’d give somebody a document and say “Here, edit this and save it”, and they’d get to the point where they’re supposed to choose “Do It”, and they’d look a little miffed, and then hit cancel. And we saw that several times, different people. [...] And when we saw this [in the video recordings], people looking a little miffed and then hitting cancel instead of do it, we turned up the volume and played it back, and [heard them mutter]: “What’s this ‘Dolt’?” I’m no dolt! So I hit cancel”. https://scs.hosted.panopto.com/Panopto/Pages/Viewer.aspx?id=25053106-2187-4cde-9981-a9eb002aa4e8 https://scs.hosted.panopto.com/Panopto/Pages/Viewer.aspx?id=...

irrational 7y ago

Git - (Chiefly British Slang) An unpleasant, contemptible, or frustratingly obtuse person. https://www.ahdictionary.com/word/search.html?q=git https://www.ahdictionary.com/word/search.html?q=git Dolt - A stupid person; a dunce. https://www.ahdictionary.com/word/search.html?q=dolt https://www.ahdictionary.com/word/search.html?q=dolt

unixhero 7y ago
I think both names are apt.
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]