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Comment by weinzierl | Hacker News Reader

It's pretty popular in Germany and the name and logo is often found on outdoor clothing. I always wondered if the name is the same in English speaking countries, or if it's different because of its negative connotations.

Apparently it's just a not too uncommon family name (Al Gore comes to mind) and also used as brand name in English speaking countries. People get so upset about Toot and Coq and Gimp, but Gore seems totally OK. As a second language learner, no matter how long you learn, you will never know what's in a native speakers head.

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> People get so upset about Toot and Coq and Gimp, but Gore seems totally OK.

For me (a native American English speaker) the context matters. When used in a name or as part of a longer name (e.g. Gore-TEX), it's totally okay. Actual gore can be upsetting, but the word itself is commonly used in content warnings and guides.

"Gimp" is different than "Coq" or "Cox" (a popular cable provider in the U.S.) in that it's considered offensive to the disabled (if the person saying it is not disabled), where homonyms for naughty bits are generally not taken super-seriously.

I only saw it being used in context of disabled people as "being gimped", "gimp" seems to be almost always in BDSM context...

> gimp is considered offensive to the disabled

TIL! I always thought it was offensive because of its use in bdsm.

Those are...functionally the same thing. That is why it is used in bdsm.

The author of Coq named it that way deliberately, which is why some people are annoyed by it. It's not that big a deal when it happens naturally, but going for such a pun in an academic/professional setting isn't really something to do.

Was it really named Coq in order to sound weird in English? I thought that it is a reference to Thierry Coquand and the French word for rooster.

For a while in Wellington NZ you'd see people walking around with Jackets saying 'Gore Techs' on the back. They were special effects people from Weta Workshops working on the Lord of the Rings films

It's quite popular in the US as well, marketed as Gore-TEX.

The company has a very interesting organizational model. One I have seen in other employee owned companies where the supervisors and managers are chosen by the team (workers).

Popular, but also reputed to lean on manufacturers to use its waterproof fabrics and no others, or else:

https://gearinstitute.com/ftc-investigates-gore-tex-business...

https://www.outsideonline.com/outdoor-gear/insane-membrane/

Very popular in Australia too; 10-20 years ago it was the only brand for serious outdoor enthusiasts, but now there's a lot of competition

But is it pronounced GORE-teks or gore-TEK?

I'm unsure if you are making a joke about the typesetting system, but here is a straight answer: it is always pronounced like it rhymes with "cortex".

I think they're asking which syllable gets the emphasis.

Neither? It's two words, Gore-Tex.

You can call it two words if you like, but the first one is stressed.

This phenomenon is ubiquitous in English. Try saying “spring roll” or “house cat”.

It's gore-tex as in textile.

I usually see it as GTX

I'm mostly seeing GTX in waterproof shoe models, not so much for jackets and pants. But for shoes/boots, GTX is definitely popular.

No, I think that's the successor to FTX.

actually is really sweet to re-use unpleasant words and turn them into something like; gimp… come on, it is FOSS a epic!:D

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