3 ms·

Before the weird sex stuff, "gimp" was an insulting term for a crippled person. The fact that it's so long out of common use for that purpose that a lot of folk

Before the weird sex stuff, "gimp" was an insulting term for a crippled person. The fact that it's so long out of common use for that purpose that a lot of folks don't realize that is perhaps an argument for not taking it too seriously. On the other hand, disabled folks are certainly among the most oppressed and abused and in ways that aren't well-understood by most folks, so a decent person should be pretty careful about using language that could be demeaning. I dunno. It feels like an archaic term that ought not have any power today, but what do I know?

Lammy 2mo ago
Personally I just prefer to avoid the debate and call it “GNU IMP” v(._. )v
- actionfromafar 2mo ago
  Maybe this is the way forward? :)
- herbst 2mo ago
  It could be that easy
- kbelder 2mo ago
  That's probably the best solution. I think they could also get away with "gImp" Or even, take after GIF and pronounce it with a "J" sound, like "JIMP"
  - deleted 2mo ago
    [deleted]
  - em-bee 2mo ago
    i just realized that since the g in gimp stands for gnu, and the g in gnu should be silent, "imp" might work. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imp https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imp the g in gif stands for graphics, so i could not accept jif as pronunciation and the creators chose it deliberately to match the jif peanutbutter brand, not because there was any logic to it. jimp does not match anything, except chimp maybe.
TeriyakiBomb 2mo ago
In the UK, it’s the sex one and would be used as a general “idiot” word but that seemed to have mostly faded away. It’s not a word I’ve seen used in that context for many years. Not refuting anything here, just adding some context from over here. Whichever way you slice it, it’s always been an awful name.
- SwellJoe 2mo ago
  Yeah, it's always felt like an "edgy" name a teenager or quite young man would come up with. Which makes sense, the original GIMP authors were college-aged boys when they created it. I'd like it if they changed the name. We're (the Open Source community) not teenagers or annoying college kids anymore, by and large.
  - ____mr____ 2mo ago
    The issue is that there are a bunch of people like this[0] who get incredibly upset and politicize any attempts to be "the adult in the room" and ask for renaming of unsavory names. The funniest of these is when Europeans talk about how they are being "forced" to comply with American cultural norms and you go through their account and they are so deeply steeped in American culture due to their participation in the anglophone internet spaces which are dominated by them. People in Europe will argue with you that you are importing woke culture if you suggest that they shouldn't say the N word, but are seemingly completely oblivious to the fact that the reason they find the word exciting to say and they say it in English is an import of American culture [0]. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49327771 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49327771
  - maybewhenthesun 2mo ago
    I like it that the scruffy teenager hacker mentality is preserved in the name. It was also a bit of self deprecating humour at the time, because using Gimp instead of Photoshop did make you feel crippled a bit. I hope they never give in to the corporate-lawyer induced bland-washing .
    - SwellJoe 2mo ago
ChocolateGod 2mo ago
> Before the weird sex stuff, "gimp" was an insulting term for a crippled person. The fact that it's so long out of common use for that purpose that a lot of folks don't realize that is perhaps an argument for not taking it too seriously It's a US specific slur when used in this context, not in other English speaking countries (let alone non-English countries) A lot of GIMP developers are European yet the Glimpse project tried to force American cultural/linguistic rules on a non-American project. Words mean different things in different regions and languages, just because it's offensive in your language does not mean it's offensive in others.
- SwellJoe 2mo ago
  They didn't try to force anybody to do anything. They forked a Free Software project as allowed by the license. You seem awfully sensitive.
  - ChocolateGod 2mo ago
    I remember the (now deleted) Gitlab issue on the GIMP project that called on for the name to change, it certainly wasn't friendly.
    - SwellJoe 2mo ago
      What do you believe the word "force" means?
- amon_spek 2mo ago
  It's a decorative strip of fabric used to trim upholstery and hide tacks to me.
  - SwellJoe 2mo ago
    Somehow, I doubt you're an upholsterer.

Lammy 2mo ago

Personally I just prefer to avoid the debate and call it “GNU IMP” v(._. )v

actionfromafar 2mo ago
Maybe this is the way forward? :)
herbst 2mo ago
It could be that easy
kbelder 2mo ago
That's probably the best solution. I think they could also get away with "gImp" Or even, take after GIF and pronounce it with a "J" sound, like "JIMP"
- deleted 2mo ago
  [deleted]
- em-bee 2mo ago
  i just realized that since the g in gimp stands for gnu, and the g in gnu should be silent, "imp" might work. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imp https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imp the g in gif stands for graphics, so i could not accept jif as pronunciation and the creators chose it deliberately to match the jif peanutbutter brand, not because there was any logic to it. jimp does not match anything, except chimp maybe.

TeriyakiBomb 2mo ago

In the UK, it’s the sex one and would be used as a general “idiot” word but that seemed to have mostly faded away. It’s not a word I’ve seen used in that context for many years. Not refuting anything here, just adding some context from over here. Whichever way you slice it, it’s always been an awful name.

SwellJoe 2mo ago
Yeah, it's always felt like an "edgy" name a teenager or quite young man would come up with. Which makes sense, the original GIMP authors were college-aged boys when they created it. I'd like it if they changed the name. We're (the Open Source community) not teenagers or annoying college kids anymore, by and large.
- ____mr____ 2mo ago
  The issue is that there are a bunch of people like this[0] who get incredibly upset and politicize any attempts to be "the adult in the room" and ask for renaming of unsavory names. The funniest of these is when Europeans talk about how they are being "forced" to comply with American cultural norms and you go through their account and they are so deeply steeped in American culture due to their participation in the anglophone internet spaces which are dominated by them. People in Europe will argue with you that you are importing woke culture if you suggest that they shouldn't say the N word, but are seemingly completely oblivious to the fact that the reason they find the word exciting to say and they say it in English is an import of American culture [0]. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49327771 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49327771
- maybewhenthesun 2mo ago
  I like it that the scruffy teenager hacker mentality is preserved in the name. It was also a bit of self deprecating humour at the time, because using Gimp instead of Photoshop did make you feel crippled a bit. I hope they never give in to the corporate-lawyer induced bland-washing .
  - SwellJoe 2mo ago

ChocolateGod 2mo ago

> Before the weird sex stuff, "gimp" was an insulting term for a crippled person. The fact that it's so long out of common use for that purpose that a lot of folks don't realize that is perhaps an argument for not taking it too seriously It's a US specific slur when used in this context, not in other English speaking countries (let alone non-English countries) A lot of GIMP developers are European yet the Glimpse project tried to force American cultural/linguistic rules on a non-American project. Words mean different things in different regions and languages, just because it's offensive in your language does not mean it's offensive in others.

SwellJoe 2mo ago
They didn't try to force anybody to do anything. They forked a Free Software project as allowed by the license. You seem awfully sensitive.
- ChocolateGod 2mo ago
  I remember the (now deleted) Gitlab issue on the GIMP project that called on for the name to change, it certainly wasn't friendly.
  - SwellJoe 2mo ago
    What do you believe the word "force" means?
amon_spek 2mo ago
It's a decorative strip of fabric used to trim upholstery and hide tacks to me.
- SwellJoe 2mo ago
  Somehow, I doubt you're an upholsterer.