The GIMP name controversy, explained
www.spacebar.news
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GIMP was named after a character in Pulp Fiction. More than 20 years later, the name remains controversial and could be holding back the project.

Meanwhile I still don’t know what gimp is besides it being a graphics software.

Liz
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147M

A gimp is any of the following:

  1. A cripple
  2. A particular kind of BDSM role
  3. Twisted silk, worsted, or cotton with cord or wire running through it, used chiefly as upholstery trimming.
  4. (in lacemaking) coarser thread which forms the outline of the design in some techniques.
  5. fishing line made of silk bound with wire.

The last three I got from the internet.

Gimp is a slur for people with physical disabilities in the UK at least

Liz
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37M

It’s kinda a slur in the US in the sense that people claim it’s a slur, but I’ve never heard anyone actually use it that way.

meseek #2982
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Same in Canada and the US. If someone calls you a gimp, it’s a derogatory term that belittles your physical abilities.

Ok, now the name is actually weird.

“Eww, like the coarser thread which forms the outline of the design in some lacemaking techniques!? That is just a bit gross don’t you think?”

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