I recommend not being so bothered about trivialities like names being misinterpreted.
There are two tools: BoringThing and Ninja Sex Death Cult. They both accomplish the same task, but I can recommend one to friends and family without immediately having to explain the name. So I'll use and recommend BoringThing.
This is very much the same notion that comes up whenever CockroachDB is mentioned. IIRC at one point they had a "white-label" project generator where you could come up with your own name and branding, and it would bake it into the checked out sources. It might make sense to create one for the photo editor as well.
Edit: Ninja Sex Death Cult is a pretty good band name though!
So I think it is worth changing the name in this case. Actually being a slur is a problem, in stark contrast to another recent example, where as far as I can see the reasons around changing Git’s ‘master’ branch name are totally artificial - the word ‘master’ is of course not a slur, and despite claims that it necessarily invokes the idea of slavery, it clearly has a multitude of uses that have nothing to do with slavery, such as ‘master recording’ or ‘masters degree’ so the idea that the word by itself is ‘not inclusive’ is quite baseless in my opinion.
So being a slur is a real problem in a way that being the name of a slightly unpleasant insect (like CockroachDB) or hypothetically (but not really) invoking the idea of slavery really shouldn’t be.
I don't really have an argument, I'll just point to this search result page and you can dive deep into the lore if you'd like to (mentions of GIMP will also appear in some threads): https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&que...
In particular, I’m not going to introduce the Gimp to my ten-year-old son who is interested in art and gamedev, simply because I feel like the meanings/slang are a bit age-inappropriate to discuss and I don’t want him to inadvertently offend anyone.
Just find some name that conjures some pretty image like ”GNU Constellation” or whatever and be done with it.
When a bad faith message is "misinterpreted", it's because the speaker was not interested in communicating successfully in the first place.
There exist two things:
1. A name which amuses the developers by honoring an uninteresting bit of historical trivia.
2. A name which contributes to the project's health and success by attracting new users.
One of these things must be selected as more important than the other.
As far as whether GIMP, in and of itself, succeeds or fails, pretty much no one cares. If GIMP vanished, and the practical value lost to the world was big enough, some new project would spring up to take its place. Maybe Krita would expand its scope. The Blender team sure has bank to play with. Whatever.
But what lots of people do care about is the success of open source in general. When software is expensive and closed, fewer people get to use it, and the fewest of them are screwed if what they need is too niche. When software is free and open, more people get to use it, niches become less niche, and niches that remain niche can be filled by anyone with enough DIY motivation. And because all of the benefits of open source rely on a large user community, attracting users is very important, both to individual projects and the whole community.
And right now, the solution the open source community has to offer the world is an embarrassment. This is bad. The GIMP project is selfishly pissing in the water supply the entire open source community is trying to build. No one is going to take that trivially.
I'd recommend looking up "gimp" in an image search, and not dismissing valid concerns as trivialities.
On the note of misinterpretation, I'd recommend looking the word "gimp" in a dictionary[1], which offers this:
gimp(n.): 1. offensive : a disabled person
The "explanation" that GIMP stands for GNU Image Manipulation Package works if you're an edgy 13-year-old. Beyond that, any sane person would question the wisdom of using that particular acronym (and why not go for BOOBS or FATCOCK if you really don't care).
Why don't you get off your kink-shaming horse and use Google, from a private window or friend's machine (because I don't know what's going on with your search history either).
Finally, saying "You got BDSM stuff when you looked for this software package? Oh, you must be one of those people, I get nothing like that" is a sure way to get people to never use the software in question.
That's beside the point that you are not earnest here by using an niche search engine to say what you "got".
Here's a Google search for "gimp" from my work machine: https://imgur.com/a/E5M5wHF
Thankfully, I'm working from home. One could literally get fired if this showed up on a monitor in the office. Prison in some countries if kids see that in school too.
But sure, it's not an issue for you, so what's the problem?
A lot of the developers are from Europe and it's imperialist for these American activist to force American language standards on everyone.
Nobody is forcing anything, it's just that if you want people in the US to use this software, you should call it something else.
That's beside the point that "gimp suits" aren't offensive, they're a perfectly fine kink and an element of BDSM. Just very much NSFW.
And GIMP's avatar very alluding to the gimp suit isn't helping either.
Also, what makes you think of a disabled person, when you are in front of GIMP ?
This looks like obsession (or lack of homonymies, which are quite common in french, but maybe not in some 'simpler' languages ?)
If you missed the offensive part, look up "gimp suit" for many more interesting results.
However, in my post, you can replace "disabled persons" with "guy in mask permanently", its meaning stays the same.
You can be coy all you want, software named BIGFATCOCK isn't going to be used in K12 setting or government/corporate environments in English-speaking countries, and neither is GIMP.
To get things out of the way: BIGFATCOCK does not mean anything offensive in languages other than English, and there's nothing wrong with big, fat cocks.
It's just a bad name for e.g. spreadsheet software, as the established meaning of the name has nothing to do with the functionality of the software.
Same with GIMP. You can stick fingers in your ears and scream "la la la" all day long, and wonder why GIMP isn't picking up steam like Blender did for the next 20 years — your call.
But you know, the real question is : how the hell would you know such slang
I do not care
You people thinking that kink shaming is a great way to popularize a graphics editor named after the said kink will never cease to amaze me.
The answer is: I googled "gimp", and things other than the graphics editor came up. Curious, huh?
>I do not care
Oh, but you do. If you didn't, you wouldn't be here, typing nonsense.
"I do not care" is wonderful phrase that adds nothing to the discussion 100% of the time, because the set of people interested in what you, personally, do not care about is as empty as the informational content of your comment.
I had to go to page 9 (!!) to get something unrelated with the software: "noun verb (used without object) to limp; walk in a halting manner: a sprain that made her gimp for weeks."
Terrible indeed.
Google, helpfully, explained to me:
"People also ask"
"What is a GIMP?" Meaning of gimp in English
"an unpleasant or stupid person: I can't stand that gimp. US informal offensive. a person with a physical disability, especially one that affects someone's legs. GIMP | English meaning - Cambridge Dictionary
What does the slang word "gimp" mean?
In any of its meanings, deeply insulting, unpleasant, or otherwise, (a stupid person, a person with a physical disability, a sadomasochistic sexual partner, a trimming, a fishing-line), spelt ...
See: https://imgur.com/a/aOXz7D2
>Terrible indeed.
Terrible reading comprehension, I presume?
Try putting "gimp" into image search (in a fresh browser / private window, to avoid seeing personalized search results).
Also, try looking it up in a dictionary.
One needs to be an incredible gimp to not get the point by now. Have your development been gimped in childhood?
(I hope you won't find this offensive just because I called you a gimp, since you see nothing negative about the word otherwise)
Compare and contrast:
-"Hey Lauren, check out this new blender I got yesterday!"
-"Hey Lauren, check out this new gimp suit I got yesterday!"
Or:
-"Hey Mary, the facilities put a new blender in the kitchen area, I just tried it, and really enjoyed it! Give it a go, I know you're into that kind of stuff."
-"Hey Mary, the facilities put a new gimp suit in the kitchen area, I just tried it, and really enjoyed it! Give it a go, I know you're into that kind of stuff."
There's a bit of a difference, see.