this post was submitted on 17 Dec 2025
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[–] dontsayaword@piefed.social 287 points 3 weeks ago (5 children)

and the g in gnu stands for gnu

[–] Klear@quokk.au 102 points 3 weeks ago (5 children)

So if I'm getting it right, gobject is short for gnugnu(...)gnuimptklibobject.

[–] pennomi@lemmy.world 43 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)
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[–] marcos@lemmy.world 16 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Following the modern C conventions, the text following the series of (gnu) doesn't matter and you can write anything you want there.

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[–] mech@feddit.org 68 points 3 weeks ago (5 children)

Fun fact: The K in GNU stands for Kernel.

[–] Hupf@feddit.org 18 points 3 weeks ago
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[–] panda_abyss@lemmy.ca 55 points 3 weeks ago (7 children)

Then what does the g in gnu stand for?

[–] Zink@programming.dev 102 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

you're not gonna believe this...

[–] jaybone@lemmy.zip 31 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

I’ve got g’news for you…

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[–] QBertReynolds@sh.itjust.works 33 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

I think this is sarcasm, but just in case it isn't... GNU is a recursive acronym for "GNU's Not Unix".

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[–] mech@feddit.org 22 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)
[–] cypherix93@lemmy.world 14 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

as in the inventor of chess, THE Gary Chess?

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[–] merc@sh.itjust.works 21 points 3 weeks ago (3 children)

Yeah, they missed the best part.

GNU stands for GNU's Not Unix, which is a recursive acronym. And, when pronounced properly (like the animal) the G is silent. The entire Linux ecosystem has words that start with G based on an acronym where G essentially comes from nowhere, and isn't actually pronounced.

[–] rocnat@lemmy.world 17 points 3 weeks ago (3 children)

Well, I dont wanna start a debate, but the official website of GNU indicate that the "g" in GNU isn't silent.

So it depends on whether you want to pronounce it "properly" or as it was intended.

The name “GNU” is a recursive acronym for “GNU's Not Unix!”; it is pronounced as one syllable with a hard g, like “grew” but with the letter n instead of r.

https://www.gnu.org/gnu/pronunciation.en.html

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[–] zqwzzle@lemmy.ca 105 points 3 weeks ago (15 children)

Is it pronounced gnu or jnu?

[–] slothrop@lemmy.ca 99 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)
[–] zqwzzle@lemmy.ca 44 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

Jnu enough to stoke an ancient flame war for my personal entertainment.

[–] slothrop@lemmy.ca 19 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)
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[–] Klear@quokk.au 19 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

You can easily answer this for yourself by looking up what the G stands for.

Wait...

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[–] kubica@fedia.io 68 points 3 weeks ago

A topic with a a lot of gnuances.

[–] myotheraccount@lemmy.world 67 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

Does the g in gspot also stand for gnu?

[–] 3abas@lemmy.world 66 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)
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[–] Hadriscus@jlai.lu 16 points 3 weeks ago

it actually stands for garam masala

[–] Masterkraft0r@discuss.tchncs.de 66 points 3 weeks ago (3 children)

and the g in gnu also stands for gnu

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[–] grue@lemmy.world 53 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

gnusnotuniximagemanipulationtoolkitlibraryobject

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[–] DupaCycki@lemmy.world 41 points 3 weeks ago (6 children)

In case you were wondering the 'w' in 'wine' stands for 'wine', and the full acronym is 'Wine Is Not an Emulator'. What do you think the 'w' in 'Wine Is Not an Emulator' stands for?

[–] toynbee@lemmy.world 19 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

I once tried to play "PHP" in Scrabble and argued that it should be infinite points.

The opponent didn't agree.

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[–] cogman@lemmy.world 17 points 3 weeks ago

As a younger teen trying to get starcraft running on my linux box, my parents were definitely upset when they saw me browsing "winehq". They thought I was trying to get booze shipped to our house :D

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[–] raman_klogius@ani.social 35 points 3 weeks ago

Things to do on Christmas:

  • Unwrap gifts ❌
  • Unwrap acronyms ✔️
[–] velindora@lemmy.cafe 34 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

I wish we knew some new gnu jokes.

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[–] Kolanaki@pawb.social 28 points 3 weeks ago (5 children)

I remember a time when almost every category of tool had something named "Yet Another [Thing]" because there were already so many options to choose from when they decided to make their own.

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[–] Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world 28 points 3 weeks ago (4 children)

I.......I lost track of what just happened. G stands for......something, I imagine.

[–] ghen@sh.itjust.works 24 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)
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[–] Strawberry@lemmy.blahaj.zone 18 points 3 weeks ago

Well it kind of stands for nothing, because at the center of this onion is GNU, which is recursive. It stands for "GNU's Not UNIX", so the G in GNU stands for GNU.

[–] AnarchistArtificer@slrpnk.net 16 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)
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[–] Vinylraupe@lemmy.zip 27 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Gnus and gnomes can break my bones?

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[–] TheJesusaurus@sh.itjust.works 24 points 3 weeks ago

Never thought about it and I'm gonna go back to not thinking about it

[–] ZILtoid1991@lemmy.world 21 points 3 weeks ago

Opportunity missed in not calling it GnObject.

[–] Phoenix3875@lemmy.world 21 points 3 weeks ago
[–] Onomatopoeia@lemmy.cafe 19 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (22 children)

And this really exposes a major challenge with FOSS.

Names have meaning - it's why Office is called Office.

This gnu naming isn't much of an issue, because this is stuff only technical folks handle. But if we want end-users to embrace things, we need meaningful names - meaningful to them.

Whenever I tell my friends or family to install Jellyfin so they can access my media, the look on their face says it all.

MediaMonkey - alright, I get it (yea, not FOSS)

Plex? OK, if someone then says "think MultiPlex Theaters", you get it. (Also not FOSS)

Jellyfin? What is that? Jam on a sharkfin?

These work really well:

Resilio SYNC (Yeah, not FOSS, but the name makes sense)

SyncThing (FOSS)

FolderSync (not FOSS)

Notice a trend here?

I have a printed spreadsheet for all the software I use - if I haven't touched a service for a couple months, I'll forget the meaningless name.

[–] BlueKey@fedia.io 48 points 3 weeks ago (4 children)

Counterarguments:

  • Chrome
  • Edge
  • Sky
  • Adobe Acrobat
  • Outlook

All wellknown programs or services where the name has no relation to the purpose.

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[–] schnurrito@discuss.tchncs.de 14 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

Compared to how Microsoft names things, FOSS naming is harmless on average.

Think of them naming the gaming app on Windows PCs "Xbox", or the distinction between "VS Code" and "Visual Studio Code", or "edit" (msedit), etc etc

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[–] db2@lemmy.world 17 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)
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[–] Jayjader@jlai.lu 16 points 3 weeks ago

Banger title

[–] Jankatarch@lemmy.world 15 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

Oh so what's g in grep and git stand for?

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[–] rockerface@lemmy.cafe 15 points 3 weeks ago

You've been gnomed

[–] Shanmugha@lemmy.world 14 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (2 children)
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