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As a non-native English speaker myself, I've known about GIMP the software years before I was familiar with "gimp" as an insult. It's kind of like Git, an odd B

by Matl 4y ago

As a non-native English speaker myself, I've known about GIMP the software years before I was familiar with "gimp" as an insult. It's kind of like Git, an odd British insult that we in the free software community know as the leading version control system. Proprietary software is often stupidly named too, yet we take it seriously. I feel like for some people it's not the name, but the lack of associated cost that moves GIMP to the 'hobby utility' category for them. (And yes, I'm aware Linus named Git as an insult on purpose and that he wanted to call Linux something weird too, like Freax - the questions is, why does it matter?)

checkyoursudo 4y ago
I think why it matters to some people, though surely not everyone, is that words and names can evoke real responses in those people. And I mean real, like memories, feelings, associations, et cetera. Sometimes the real response is strong, even psychosomatic. I don't think these people are faking it. Words have always seemed to have power. When my wife and I were considering names for our child, there was one name in particular where she said that she could never name her child that. She had hated (HATED, apparently) a girl with the same name in primary school. The look on her face. The real emotions in her eyes. That name was definitely out. I have seen people get in physical fights purely over a few words and name-calling. I personally do not feel this way about words. I think we should not let words have such power over us. But for some people, words do matter that much. As such, we have a choice when naming something. We can either ignore this power of words and risk having the name itself hold back adoption of the [product, service, whatever], or we can be aware of this power and conscious and conscientious in choosing how to name the thing.
- Matl 4y ago
  I appreciate this perspective and generally agree with it, but I am also of the opinion that society evolves and so what is very inconsiderate today wasn't socially viewed as such back then. Going forward, I probably wouldn't name it GIMP, but this is decades old software. There are people who assume malice on the part of the developers refusing to change a name that has over 20 years of 'name recognition' behind it, for better or worse. It's those people that, despite understanding their concerns to a large degree, actually make it less likely that naming will be considerate in the future. It also doesn't help that the suggested replacement names are not much better, GIMP was forked as Glimpse because of the name. Glimpse has all sorts of potentially creepy/negative behaviors associated with it as well if one goes into it trying to analyze the name as flawed.
- DonHopkins 4y ago
  Speaking of the G-Word, Tim Minchin wrote a brilliant and insightful song about the power of words and the language of prejudice. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVN_0qvuhhw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVN_0qvuhhw
- alpaca128 4y ago
  You are right, but that could apply to any word or name regardless of its usual meaning or usage. To me Gimp is a pretty meaningless word, though I guess that's mostly because I'm a non-native speaker and the word seems to be used so infrequently that I have a hard time judging how it's perceived in general. But usually people don't think twice about the name of brands or products if they're used to it, and are able (though not always willing) to see things in context. I doubt that Gimp's popularity would increase with a name change, critics mainly seem to have issues with the UI. Either way I use it because it does everything I need with a pretty reasonable learning curve.

by Matl 4y ago

checkyoursudo 4y ago

I think why it matters to some people, though surely not everyone, is that words and names can evoke real responses in those people. And I mean real, like memories, feelings, associations, et cetera. Sometimes the real response is strong, even psychosomatic. I don't think these people are faking it. Words have always seemed to have power. When my wife and I were considering names for our child, there was one name in particular where she said that she could never name her child that. She had hated (HATED, apparently) a girl with the same name in primary school. The look on her face. The real emotions in her eyes. That name was definitely out. I have seen people get in physical fights purely over a few words and name-calling. I personally do not feel this way about words. I think we should not let words have such power over us. But for some people, words do matter that much. As such, we have a choice when naming something. We can either ignore this power of words and risk having the name itself hold back adoption of the [product, service, whatever], or we can be aware of this power and conscious and conscientious in choosing how to name the thing.

Matl 4y ago
I appreciate this perspective and generally agree with it, but I am also of the opinion that society evolves and so what is very inconsiderate today wasn't socially viewed as such back then. Going forward, I probably wouldn't name it GIMP, but this is decades old software. There are people who assume malice on the part of the developers refusing to change a name that has over 20 years of 'name recognition' behind it, for better or worse. It's those people that, despite understanding their concerns to a large degree, actually make it less likely that naming will be considerate in the future. It also doesn't help that the suggested replacement names are not much better, GIMP was forked as Glimpse because of the name. Glimpse has all sorts of potentially creepy/negative behaviors associated with it as well if one goes into it trying to analyze the name as flawed.
DonHopkins 4y ago
Speaking of the G-Word, Tim Minchin wrote a brilliant and insightful song about the power of words and the language of prejudice. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVN_0qvuhhw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVN_0qvuhhw
alpaca128 4y ago
You are right, but that could apply to any word or name regardless of its usual meaning or usage. To me Gimp is a pretty meaningless word, though I guess that's mostly because I'm a non-native speaker and the word seems to be used so infrequently that I have a hard time judging how it's perceived in general. But usually people don't think twice about the name of brands or products if they're used to it, and are able (though not always willing) to see things in context. I doubt that Gimp's popularity would increase with a name change, critics mainly seem to have issues with the UI. Either way I use it because it does everything I need with a pretty reasonable learning curve.