• scholar@lemmy.worldEnglish
    131·
    1 month ago

    But wasn’t nearly as contentious as naming their software ‘Gimp’.

  • NABDad@lemmy.worldEnglish
    12·
    1 month ago

    My childhood cat was named Gimpy. My sister named him.

    When my dad found him, Gimpy was running around on his elbows. He was running so well, my dad had a tough time catching him.

    The reason he was running on his elbows was because both his front legs were broken.

    The smart thing to do would have been to just let him die in the field. However, my dad foolishly took him home and showed him to me.

    We couldn’t get him to eat anything. We tried giving him cat food, but he wouldn’t eat it. Then we soaked the cat food in milk until it was wet mush, but he still wouldn’t eat it. Then I picked him up and put small drops of mushy wet cat food on my arm and he would lick it off my arm while I held him.

    I think I was 10 or 11. Of course I fell in love with this kitten. This led to my parents searching for a vet who would save him. They eventually found one and paid an amount to fix him that would be thousands in today’s money.

    Keep in mind how extraordinary this was. He was a barn cat. The vet who saved him tried to get me to give up. He told me he’d find me a different kitten, but I said I didn’t want a different kitten.

    Every other kitten born on that farm died. Gimpy lived about 20 years.

    His legs were never quite right. One healed strange and bent out at an angle. The other didn’t heal and had to be whittled down to a stump. He never stopped trying to use the stump to walk.

    He was an absolutely fantastic cat.

    All that to say that the word, “gimpy”, will forever mean something different and special to me.

    “Gimp” just makes me think of Pulp Fiction.

      • insomniac_lemon@lemmy.cafeEnglish
        21·
        1 month ago

        I think that’s the closer meaning anyhow. At least there is one splash screen, somewhat NSFW here (scroll down to GIMP 2.7.2 and 2.7.3 by Alexia Death.). Note that the extra arm on the goat lady isn’t an error, it’s a reference to GEGL (Generic Graphics Library / Genetically Engineered Goat, Large)

    • sqw@lemmy.sdf.orgEnglish
      31·
      1 month ago

      its an offensive term for a disabled person. i dunno if the authors were aware.

      • Seppo@sopuli.xyzEnglish
        3·
        1 month ago

        Honestly had never heard anyone complain about it until joining the fediverse.

        • sem@piefed.blahaj.zoneEnglish
          1·
          1 month ago

          I heard about it lol

          That’s how i learned that it was a slur. After that i started noticing when people used the slur in conversation sometimes without knowing what it means, just because they heard someone else use it as an adjective like “broken/defective”, and a few times I’ve been able to interrupt them and tell them what the word means.

            • sem@piefed.blahaj.zoneEnglish
              0·
              17 days ago

              I would argue that the people who have it used against them know that it is offensive.

              Only people who haven’t had that have the luxury of not knowing what they’re doing.

              • CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.orgEnglish
                1·
                17 days ago

                I guess, but I don’t really have a problem hearing “kraut” or “polack”, because it’s just an obsolete insult. At he end of the day words are just words. It’s the intent behind them that can be nasty.