Your comment made me curious and I tried looking for an answer. I found this forum post from 2008 asking basically the same thing. https://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?t=17953
The founder Clem answered:
Why the name MINT??
Long story... I was writing articles/tutorials for linuxforums.org for a while and I eventually decided to publish them myself, so I needed a .com and I thought of a name. Mint is cold, it's short, it's fresh, it's easy to type and to remember and in English it even means "cool", "good condition", "perfect" etc... I also liked the way Linux was associated with the poles, the penguins, the ice.. the way a pristine kernel was called "vanilla"... and so Mint was kind of close to all of that. Great name, no particular meaning... just a series of nice subjective associations I guess.
Clem do you like Mint?
It's my favorite non-alcoholic drink. If you ever go to Paris on a sunny day do order a "Diabolo Menthe" :wink: I also love the smell of Mint and the flavor (especially with lamb)
Translation: Even if your bowels are ripping, never go break shitting.
I tried to keep the rhyme, even if the English translation isn't grammaticaly correct.