4 ms·
GIMP's name comes from Pulp Fiction. > It took us a little while to come up with the name. We knew we wanted an image manipulation program like Photoshop, but
by neolog 6y ago
GIMP's name comes from Pulp Fiction.
> It took us a little while to come up with the name. We knew we wanted an image manipulation program like Photoshop, but the name IMP sounded wrong. We also tossed around XIMP (X Image Manipulation Program) following the rule of when in doubt prefix an X for X11 based programs. At the time, Pulp Fiction was the hot movie and a single word popped into my mind while we were tossing out name ideas. It only took a few more minutes to determine what the 'G' stood for.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GIMP#cite_note-GG1Jan1997-6 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GIMP#cite_note-GG1Jan1997-6
- bahmboo 6y agoMy twitter account was suspended until I removed a post with the word gimp in it. It was not an abusive post.
- phkahler 6y agoThat sounds like a problem with twitter.
- michaelmrose 6y agoThe only problem with IMP would be the theoretical problem of the icon might look too much like Freebsd. Sounds like a missed opportunity.
- jansan 6y agoDid you know that the term for a female Gimp is "Glimpse"? :)
- gilrain 6y agoIn retrospect it was probably a mistake to choose a name which is either a niche aspect of the BDSM lifestyle or an ableist pejorative. That it was deliberate is even more baffling.
- h2odragon 6y agoIt's perfect. It's a funky little tool you only take out of the box when you need it for a specific purpose. You use it (with vigor and some cussing because it fights back); get your job done, and shove it back into the box of shame, until the next time you need it. You might love what it does for you but you rarely celebrate the tool itself, preferring instead to delight in the faint tinge of shame. "GIMP" is the perfect name for this software.
- user-the-name 6y agoIt is also something you call disabled people when you want to be really insulting. It doesn't matter one bit that you didn't mean it to mean that, that meaning still exists, and it's still what people see when they see the name. It is an absolutely awful name.
- h2odragon 6y ago> It doesn't matter one bit that you didn't mean it to mean that If that's the case, the offense exists totally in another no matter my actions... is it not something that other needs address, not society or myself? If you want to take things that way; why can't the GIMP be a beacon of hope and inspiration for the disabled? Despite being crippled by the UI it still serves legions well and faithfully.
- user-the-name 6y agoBecause no part of it presents itself that way. All it does is take a slur and use it as the name, and make no further comment on it whatsoever.
- will4274 6y ago> It is also something you call disabled people when you want to be really insulting Is it? I know some folks will point to a dictionary, but we live in a post truth world. It's odd to me that I've seemingly encountered every other usage of gimp, either personally or in media, but never an offensive usage. A horse with a gimp leg in the wheel of time, gimp the string at summer camp arts and crafts, a gimp suit in the tv show Archer, and gimp the image editing program as a teen. Language fundamentally means what we think it means - if nobody uses gimp as an offensive word, it's not offensive. Have you ever heard it used offensively? If personally so, can I ask where (what county / cultural context)? If in media, can you name the work?
- babuskov 6y agoIt could have been GINP, as in GINP Is Not Photoshop. Close, but no cigar ;)