Vi + Imitation

It's understood in the Vim community that the name 'Vim' stands for 'Vi + Improved', because this tool improves upon the classic Vi text editor.

Last night at the Vim Chicago Meetup, I learned that 'Vim' once stood for 'Vi + Imitation.' Bram Moolenaar, the creator of Vim, changed the name when the feature surpassed the tool it was originally built to imitate.

This was one of many facts I learned during from a fantastic lightning talk on the history of Vim. We recorded it and plan to post it online soon.