Gimp to Discuss Changing Name | Hacker News Reader

Gimp to Discuss Changing Name

floss.social

16 pointstodsacerdoti32 comments

It wouldn't change the fact that I don't use it (I almost never work with images) but it would definitely change the fact that I don't recommend it to anyone outside of the FOSS community.

I am not from a region that uses the name as a slur, but even the reference to an unsavory scene in Pulp Fiction and the overall negative connotation make it awkward at best and with the fact that it is a slur I run the risk of being downright offensive for no good reason. I just recommend Krita and explain that it's not an exact photoshop place in and that there are other options out there as well.

Is "gimp" really a slur? I've never really heard it in an offensive context before.

Maybe 50+ years ago. I never hear people actually use it anymore.

They also mention it’s a Pulp Fiction reference, which used it in the context of bdsm, not as an abilist thing.

That explains the masochistic UX design.

It is in Britain apparently. Doesn’t feel like a significant reason to change the name to me. No one I’ve ever mentioned it to in person has remarked on the name.

Lots of words are mildly offensive in at least one language.

GNU Imp keeps the name, promotes GNU, and delivers improved brand recognition. The people that want to keep calling it Gimp can continue to do so, but it’s up to them to navigate the negative connotations.

Use GNU Imp to edit sprites. Works for me.

Great. It's just a terrible name for a project that presumably hopes a broad range of people will use.

Even if you buy that the creators didn't know it was an ugly term for disabled people (but why did they think the Gimp character was called that in Pulp Fiction?), naming your potentially mainstream software after a imprisoned, tortured, and eventually murdered sex slave maybe isn't the best idea either?

If you want your project to remain niche and repel some users, then I guess it's a fine choice, however.

> naming your potentially mainstream software after a imprisoned, tortured, and eventually murdered sex slave maybe isn't the best idea either?

Honest question: Why?

The word "gimp" existed long before that film was made.

Of course; no one said otherwise.

The Pulp Fiction context is a [imo, poor] defense of the name from the original team - saying that's where they picked it from, as opposed to the ableist slur. It was the mid-90s at the time, after all, and there was an Uma Thurman Pulp Fiction poster in half the dorm rooms in the damned country at the time.

So, now we're back to the comment you're responding to: even if it is genuinely just about Pulp Fiction, is that any better?

> (but why did they think the Gimp character was called that in Pulp Fiction?

Pleading ignorance here... When I saw Pulp Fiction as a teenager, and they refer to the BDSM guy as "the gimp", I thought that's what they called that outfit. I feel like it was a not-uncommon understanding in the US (even if an erroneous one)... All my friends and I at school referred the the character Voldo from Soul Calibur as "that creepy guy in the gimp suit":

https://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/ssb-tourney/images/f/fb...

We didn't mean it in the sense that he was crippled (he's actually quite agile), we meant it in the sense that he was wearing tight leather with bindings and zippers.

I never liked the name either, you are pretty dramatic about it though. Gimp is niche and the name is not the reason for it being so.

In 1995 my mind associated "gimp" with a slur or something sexually explicit. In 2025 my mind associates "gimp" with imaging software and their cartoon logo.

> @GIMP i'd love to be happy about software, but thanks to the name your posts are a jumpscare. it could have just been IMP, but nooo, yous just had to provoke to feel clever

> @GIMP it kills me to get a reply from or mention this account with the name i am not ok rn

It's hard to take someone serious when they are so scared of some particular word. This is not how a normal person acts. Outliers shouldn't have that much impact on a name that was established 30 years ago

It feels very performative. Looking at her profile, acting like this is her identity. These people should be ignored. In a few days she’ll move on to something else and no one will remember this.

just because this person is being hyperbolic doesn't mean it's a bad idea to consider changing the name.

GIMP = Green Is My Pepper.

Problem solved.

https://imgur.com/gimp-green-is-pepper-eeq6han

Hilarious and pathetic. I hope GIMP realizes that the people pressuring them to change the name are a bunch of terminally online keyboard warriors with zero accomplishments in life, and normal people who use and support their product do not care.

Well, since they behave like a religion and the pope is dead, it's obvious that someone would remind them of their wrongdoings: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Repentance

> the pope is dead

While a very large number of past Popes are dead, the Pope (Leo XIV) is alive.

maybe true, but also in my self proclaimed non-keyboard warrior opinion, I think GIMP is a silly name. More so because I am juvenile. Photoshop is kinda a cool dope name, and unfortunately GIMP is not.

Your language and tone make it obvious you do care, so which are you?

It's a dumb name.

Yes, but it's also known by that name. It's a non-issue

apparently it's an issue issue if they're changing it

Outside of places like HN, it is barely known at all, and the name is a big reason for that.

Golly gee, I can't open GIMP, the cool kids are watching...

Yes, as if the name was the reason it never took over Photoshop.

As opposed to the people who heard the name might change and started fuming about “keyboard warriors” — those people are all well-adjusted, accomplished and hot!

I propose “Zed”

Zed's dead, xeonmc. Zed's dead.

Name is least of GIMP's problems.

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