The Wikipedia definition seems to indicate it has origins as a racist term and I’ve never understood why unix users have adopted this terms instead of something benign like “themes” or “theming” which I remember being in use long before I ever heard “rice”. So what gives? Why use “rice” instead of “theme”?

  • Pat
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    1 year ago

    When I hear gimp outside of the context of the software, I think of gimp suits. In my area I’ve never heard gimp used as a slur for disabled people.

    I get that there’s regional slang and what not, but if every word that offended anyone anywhere was banned, we would have to limit our words to the point of barely being able to communicate.

    In my area, depending who you are, a silly term as “goof” is offensive. I almost got beat up for calling a guy one as a joke. Should I petition Disney to rename Goofy?

    • @[email protected]
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      21 year ago

      if every word that offended anyone anywhere was banned…

      I’m hearing this point a lot, but it just makes clear that people aren’t reading or understanding my other remarks. This isn’t a random word that someone decided was offensive. This is a slur that is well known to large number of disabled people. They have been telling us this for some time. You haven’t heard it used that way? That’s great, but that also doesn’t mean that it isn’t. You know who does know what slurs are used against them? The people who are targeted by them. I’ll bet there are plenty of slurs you haven’t heard of that are, in fact, still slurs regardless.