Gregory's Server
@mikolaj sure. here's more context.
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8 comments
@AmyZenunim Thanks. The attack on GIMP for its name is culturally imperialistic in nature, because it prioritizes the feelings of native, US American English speakers over a symbol (a 4-letter string "GIMP"). It fails to realize that GIMP is also a name that is used by speakers of many different languages all around the world, where there's no such connotation. It thus seeks to delegitimize their interpretations, and reify the privileged one. @mikolaj on the other hand the program was named by american english speakers in america to refer to a specific scene with a sex slave in the film pulp fiction, so it isn't an interpretation added later but rather the intended meaning all along @parasyte In the interview, the author states that e originally wanted to name it XIMP, but then the name "GIMP" popped up to eir mind, and only a few minutes later e realized that e caught it up from Pulp Fiction. So very clearly the "IMP" ending was prior to the "G", and "GIMP" was somewhat prior to the Pulp Fiction's "gimp". It's also unclear if the author knew that "gimp" can be used as an insult in some US American slang. @parasyte But it should be pointed out that etymology can only be used to provide context -- it doesn't determine meaning. What ultimately matters is how this word is perceived by the communities of speakers using it (the vast majority of these never heard the concept that "gimp" is ableist), and most importantly the volunteer, mostly unpaid community which goes under the name GIMP (they don't interpret it this way either). @mikolaj certainly there's decades of inertia and the name isn't going anywhere. i've thought it gross and juvenile for a substantial portion of that time but i'm just one voice on the internet without investment in the project so my opinion matters little. would've been something to change back in the day, like how the gimp toolkit changed its name around when it was adopted |
it's the name of an art software, should the software be renamed? yes. but cancelling people for saying the name of a computer program is ridiculous and i think it's also classist if people are expected to pay for proprietary software just to not use an ableist slur