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If I google the word 'gimp' in a private browsing tab (so not logged in, no cookies, safe search on), I get these three links - with Google showing the article

by troad 4y ago

If I google the word 'gimp' in a private browsing tab (so not logged in, no cookies, safe search on), I get these three links - with Google showing the article images! - in a news box after the third result: https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/1698408/gimp-essex-slams-bondage-rival https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/1698408/gimp-essex-slams-b... - https://inews.co.uk/inews-lifestyle/gimp-man-essex-somerset-community-1975853?ico=in-line_link https://inews.co.uk/inews-lifestyle/gimp-man-essex-somerset-... - https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/gimp-man-essex-says-somerset-28520824 https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/gimp-man-essex-says-so... Then there's the Urban Dictionary, as you mention. So yes, there's an issue. > See the adaptation of the word "cunt" in Australia. I'm Australian, so I understand pretty well how we use the word cunt. Contrary to popular perceptions, if you called someone a cunt at a work meeting, you'd probably be fired on the spot. Similarly, it would be... a career limiting move to pitch your supervisors on the idea of switching key business operations to a system called 'Cunt'. Gimp is just not a good name. Context matters. I appreciate a bit of colour and character as much as the next guy, but there's a time and a place, and 'the name of a major piece of free software' just ain't it.

RadiozRadioz 4y ago
I repeated your experiment and do not see the news box. I see those articles if I select the News tab. Otherwise the results match my findings. I'm willing to concede that those articles can show up to certain users, however they are definitely not the first results, which is important to note. I am certainly less informed than yourself about the Australian lexicon. I was wrong to jump to the most widely recognized example and should have picked a different one which matched my point more closely, and one on which I was more informed. My point was not that "cunt" is acceptable in businesses meetings, my point was that it was comparatively _more acceptable in common parlance_ than in other cultures. The message being that the words themselves are not innately offensive, but the meanings attached to them that can vary with time and context, and their impact can be lessened by repeat exposure in a non-offensive setting. I believe that is preferable to outright banning certain phonemes and maintaining their offensive power. You can see this in action in our Google example - the image editor has the top results and the offensive term is in the newsbox (which we've proved is not universal), and lower down on the search page. The more popular the editor gets, the less prominent the other results are. I think that's a good thing.
- troad 4y ago
  I apologise - I double checked and I was wrong about the search results. I get those results on DuckDuckGo, not Google. Not great for DDG, but not the same as Google results. I understand and appreciate your point, but I'm going to have to disagree with you that the goal - when naming software - is to rehabilitate words, and that of all words the word 'gimp' is in particular need of rehabilitation. Its main use today appears to be in the fetish community, and I'm absolutely fine with that! But it's not a good name or association for an unrelated image editor, in my mind. I just don't think it is a good idea to put loaded language into people's Start bars, whatever the author's intention, when the people just want to use an image editor.

by troad 4y ago

RadiozRadioz 4y ago

I repeated your experiment and do not see the news box. I see those articles if I select the News tab. Otherwise the results match my findings. I'm willing to concede that those articles can show up to certain users, however they are definitely not the first results, which is important to note. I am certainly less informed than yourself about the Australian lexicon. I was wrong to jump to the most widely recognized example and should have picked a different one which matched my point more closely, and one on which I was more informed. My point was not that "cunt" is acceptable in businesses meetings, my point was that it was comparatively _more acceptable in common parlance_ than in other cultures. The message being that the words themselves are not innately offensive, but the meanings attached to them that can vary with time and context, and their impact can be lessened by repeat exposure in a non-offensive setting. I believe that is preferable to outright banning certain phonemes and maintaining their offensive power. You can see this in action in our Google example - the image editor has the top results and the offensive term is in the newsbox (which we've proved is not universal), and lower down on the search page. The more popular the editor gets, the less prominent the other results are. I think that's a good thing.

troad 4y ago
I apologise - I double checked and I was wrong about the search results. I get those results on DuckDuckGo, not Google. Not great for DDG, but not the same as Google results. I understand and appreciate your point, but I'm going to have to disagree with you that the goal - when naming software - is to rehabilitate words, and that of all words the word 'gimp' is in particular need of rehabilitation. Its main use today appears to be in the fetish community, and I'm absolutely fine with that! But it's not a good name or association for an unrelated image editor, in my mind. I just don't think it is a good idea to put loaded language into people's Start bars, whatever the author's intention, when the people just want to use an image editor.