Be warned this is a rant!
It really erks me when I hear the term “Oh did you Photoshop that?” but what they really mean is that you have altered an image (from original) using some software to do something that wasn’t in the original image. Now do a search with your favorite search engine and see what comes up… Now apart from a lot of links pointing you to pirate versions available for “FREE”¹ you won’t find a direct hit that uses this term! So why is it then this term exists? Simple, its product association! as we all know Photoshop is software from Adobe!
Now for those of us that are using Linux, do we use the term “Oh did you GIMP that?” No because we know better! and yes GIMP is available for Windows & Mac and its free!
So next time you use the term… “Did you Photoshop that?” just think about the meaning of that term as it really doesn’t make much sense!
¹. Most websites that offer so called free versions have the potential to include more than you bargain for, they usually contain viruses! I do not support nor do I encourage such activity, but you have been warned!
². photoshopfamily_lr2_fma.jpg sourced from Adobe
³. End of my little rant!
Comments
2 responses to “Why do people use the term "Photoshop" ?”
It is a sign of our ever evolving language.
A noun that has been turned into a verb that is used in everyday language.
Similarly, ‘google’ – Have you googled it?
‘Hoover’ – Did you ‘Hoover’ the carpet?
Another spin on it could be the power of marketing, the marketers want to introduce product names into everyday language. They have achieved this when their products become common language.
We need to make ‘Open source’ or ‘Linux’ or ‘GIMP’ a household name in order for it to become popular.
Yes sadly you are correct! similarly the term “take some panadol” when really they mean paracetamol 😀