Rob posted <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, excerpted below, on Wed, 22 Oct 2003 13:35:22 -0400:
> On Wednesday 22 October 2003 12:31, Thierry Vignaud wrote: >> > less hostile interface but also because the two most common >> > cultural references to the word "gimp" in the US (and maybe >> > other English speaking countries) are very, very negative >> uh? >> what're the offenses ? > > The most common use of the word "gimp", sadly, is as a rude > expletive used to refer to a disabled person. It's illegal in > the US to discriminate against disabled people on the job, and > one easy way to end up in court is to use the word "gimp" > carelessly, especially in a large company. It's not as > troublesome as the "n word" but more troublesome than, say, > calling a French person a frog. [] > > I assume the program's name was meant to be something like "imp > with a g at the beginning" but that just sort of demonstrates > the problem with naming things "geverything" and "keverything". I'd guess you assume wrong. If I don't miss my guess, "The Gimp", was a DELIBERATE play on the above meaning, in the same "finger to the man" anti-corporate poking-fun-at-society deliberate way the Linux community has such applications as "Scrotum" (don't recall whether the app is with a g or a c, as it's not one I use, but I do recall seeing the changes announcements for it on the cooker changes list), "BitchX", and "Pimp-Ass Newsreader" (now simply known as "PAN", without the expansion, as the expanded version is apparently to un-PC for the new Gnome/GTK family of applications). The implication, and I immediately grasped this even back on MSWormOS when I was researching switching to Linux, was of course that "The GIMP" was no cripple! Or, early on, it would have been that, well, it may have crippled functionality now, but just wait until we get finished developing it! As Linux grows up and is adopted by the corporate world, somehow, these things seem rather embarrassing, to some, and they'd rather not use the names in question, either changing them, using the acronym, or switching to other alternative programs. IMO, that's not right. Yes, it may be what some would refer to as a "youthful indiscretion", but it's part of our history, and we should not only be proud of it, but continue to embrace it as long as it serves the purpose. IMO, killing that element of Linux entirely would imply crushing the software libre spirity, and will only make Linux into another MSWormOS, GPL or no GPL. If that's what we are to do, why bother switching from MSWormOS in the FIRST place? .. OTOH, I do live and work in the same US as many others here do, under the same anti-discrimination laws.. I'm sensitive to the various PC (politically correct) restrictions on speech and behavior we all have to mind at work. However, sensitivity over calling "The Gimp" by its correct name is IMO as misplaced as the local controversy here in Arizona over calling "Squaw Peak" by its right name, just because some folks say "squaw" comes from an Indian word for "whore", a linguistic theory which is itself disputed. What next, erasing all references to "Navajo", because it allegedly comes from a Hopi term meaning "horse thief"? Where will it end? When we have to refer to everything as "this" and "that", because every noun we formerly used is no verboten? (We couldn't even use "X", and "Y", because of the discriminative connotations re X and Y chromosomes, and therefore male and female, sexual discrimination!) Here, I'll continue to use my "Pimp-Ass Newsreader", and my "NOT so crippled Gimp"! -- Duncan - List replies preferred. No HTML msgs. "They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety." -- Benjamin Franklin
