On 9/30/06, Saul Goode <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> On Fri, 29 Sep 2006, Alan Horkan wrote:
>
> This is the commonly understood meaning of the word for most English
> speakers and it is considered derogatory, like calling someone a cripple.
While the term "gimp" may be disparagingly used when referring to a
PERSON, that does not make the word itself disparaging; just as calling
a person a "cripple" might be slight, but referring to machinery or
software as "crippled" in no way slights PEOPLE. Words have different
meanings in different contexts (not to mention different locales) and
one should not be overly concerned when an impersonal and innocuous
usage usurps a disparaging one -- I should think such a change should be
of benefit to those who would be offended by its disparaging use.
So far as "GIMP" being disparaging to itself is concerned: even if true,
I see no problem with this. If this means short-sighted individuals
wouldn't use the product because of a self-deprecatory name, so be it.
As the plant engineer for a small ink manufacturer, I had no problem
choosing a product called "MiniCAD" over the more "professionally" named
"CATIA", "AUTOCAD", et cetera (and isn't the word "cad" disparaging?).
My bosses had no problem that the name was self-derogatory, especially
when they realized the power that the software possessed (not to mention
the savings of thousands of dollars in initial outlay; though that was
the major criterion of my trade study).
Personally, I like the name "GIMP" (as it is an acronym, I always
capitalized the letters and, despite Sven's desires, I use "the" before
it so as to grammatically match its expanded form). It is part of the
Unix tradition of naming commands with (short) acronyms, is easy to say
(unlike some acronyms: WWW, eg), is not forced (unlike some acronyms:
GUILE, eg), actually stands for a functional meaning (unlike some
acronyms: AWK, eg), (is not recursive: GNU, eg), and gives deserved
credit to its GNU origins.
I rather understand the preference that the software's name describe its
function, but don't think that in itself justifies loosing the GIMP's
already significant association with being an "image manipulation
program" (I also despise the practice of usurping common words such as
"Paint", "Word", "Draw", et cetera when naming products; little
mitigated by placement of a lowercase "i" in front them.)
--------
"It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do
not care who gets the credit." -- Harry S. Truman
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AMEN!
Chris
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