Re: [Gimp-developer] Gimp in private schools and educational institutions

[Elle Stone <ellestone ninedegreesbelow com>]

On 04/11/2015 06:54 AM, Simon Budig wrote:
> Hi Sam.
>
> Sam Bagot (dsmurl gmail com) wrote:
> > Is there any thought on salvaging the marketing effort and renaming this
> > product so that it can be taken seriously by people and institutions?
> > Also, a big barrier to entry adopting Linux for people is a solid
> > graphic manipulator.  The bad branding is causing many people in my art
> > communities around Austin to avoid Linux in general.
> >
> > What are the plans on renaming and success?
>
> Basically our approach is to redefine what "Gimp" means. In the vast
> majority of the world "Gimp" refers to the Gnu Image Manipulation
> Program, the alternate interpretation is unknown to most people in the
> world.
>
> Renaming Gimp would hurt our brand badly and is not an option.
>
> If it is a problem in your local area (some areas in the US typically)
> that is unfortunate, but we need to rely on your powers to explain that
> we're helping in getting rid of the derogatory interpretation of the
> term "Gimp".

There is no denying that in the US (the entire US, not geographically 
limited), the name "Gimp" sounds odd and has unfortunate associations 
that have nothing to do with image editing.

I was told on IRC that the name is not Gimp or gimp but "GIMP", Gnu 
Image Manipulation Program. If you always refer to GIMP instead of Gimp, 
the name is more obviously an acronym and some of the unwanted mental 
associations don't spring so easily to mind.

It might help if GIMP developers and the GIMP website consistently use 
the word "GIMP" instead of Gimp/gimp (the website already mostly does 
use GIMP, but the logo on the home page is lower-case).

If teachers and school administrators balk at the name, perhaps they 
could think of it as an opportunity for some sensitivity training. The 
English language is full of perfectly fine words that have unfortunate 
connotations. If we stop using words just because someone might be 
offended by the connotations, we will run out of words altogether.

Best,
Elle