this post was submitted on 03 Jun 2024
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I mean, just because you don't care doesn't mean nobody does.
If I was running a school where students with physical challenges attended, I would not feel comfortable asking them to use software called Gimp, so I would just avoid it.
That said, I would avoid it anyways in favor of Krita, I'm just saying.
Plenty of words have multiple meanings, but I rarely think of them when I'm using a word to mean a specific thing. I know the meanings of gimp, but I never think of them when using GIMP; perhaps because it's capitalized and I always assumed it stood for something (and it does).
But anyway, and more importantly than that, what you describe is a problem that you might run into with any word.
A small subset of the world population can view it as an insult, but for the vast majority it means nothing. Sort of like the word "negro" in Spanish, which some English people take offense to when they hear it. I even searched "gimp" in 3 different search engines, and the first 2 to 5 results were always the GIMP. Most people have no other concept for the word.
Let me put it this way: you say you'd favor Kira, but how do you know that there aren't some kids in Egypt, or Russia, or someone else in the world, that take offense to the word "Kira"?
I understand. You are correct that, in the right context, pretty much any word can be offensive or insulting to someone. So I consider it my responsibility, once I am aware of this context, to try to be inclusive because I like to have as diverse a group of people around me as possible, it builds strength.
So if "Krita" ended up being derogatory to Russians or Egyptians or whatever, I would absolutely be cautious about that, yes. Especially if I was working with kids.
Off course, that's fair. This was a while ago, but I believe my point was more generally about whether to rename an existing popular application. I think it's commendable that you make that effort to protect the kids you work with.