How does one pronounce GIF?
J. Michael Blackford
point out that those folks having great difficulty abandoning the "hard G"
pronunciation of GIF, must not have any friends, relatives, coworkers, or
acquaintances named George or Geoffrey; must never use the words Gentle or
Generous; must never buy Generic products; must not work for General Motors,
Genentech, General Foods, General Electric; and must confuse Genes with
Levi's.
Gust Goking :-)
(bandwidth: use it or lose it)
:-)
--
---------------------------------------------------------------
Mike Blackford Internet: j...@netcom.com
Fax: (408) 973-0514 Compu$erve: 72345,66
---------------------------------------------------------------
Jonathan M Lennox
>In the spirit of continuing this amusing (and moot) thread, I'd like to
>point out that those folks having great difficulty abandoning the "hard G"
>pronunciation of GIF, must not have any friends, relatives, coworkers, or
>acquaintances named George or Geoffrey; must never use the words Gentle or
>Generous; must never buy Generic products; must not work for General Motors,
>Genentech, General Foods, General Electric; and must confuse Genes with
>Levi's.
Of course, you'll notice that every word mentioned there begins with
'ge', whereas GIF is obviously pronounced as 'gift' with the 't'
removed from the end...
I've learned to pronounce it "jiff" (Compuserve invented the format,
they have the right to designate the pronunciation) but I still think
it's illogical...
Jonathan Lennox
jm...@cunixa.cc.columbia.edu
Tig Stone
>In the spirit of continuing this amusing (and moot) thread, I'd like to
>point out that those folks having great difficulty abandoning the "hard G"
>pronunciation of GIF, must not have any friends, relatives, coworkers, or
>acquaintances named George or Geoffrey; must never use the words Gentle or
>Generous; must never buy Generic products; must not work for General Motors,
>Genentech, General Foods, General Electric; and must confuse Genes with
>Levi's.
>
>Gust Goking :-)
>(bandwidth: use it or lose it)
>:-)
>
Or how about anyone who has ever received a GIFt? Or maybe Frank
Gifford is mispronouncing his last name?
8^D
>--
>---------------------------------------------------------------
>Mike Blackford Internet: j...@netcom.com
>Fax: (408) 973-0514 Compu$erve: 72345,66
>---------------------------------------------------------------
>
--
T. Stone
(s875...@titan.ucc.umass.edu)
Il Hwan Oh
> I've learned to pronounce it "jiff" (Compuserve invented the format,
> they have the right to designate the pronunciation) but I still think
> it's illogical...
Well, if we gotta pronounce EISA "ee-sa", then I don't see where
pronouncing GIF "jiff" is a big deal.
--
Il Hwan Oh | "A university is a place where people pay
Computer Facilities Manager | high prices for goods which they then
Univ. of Washington, Tacoma | proceed to leave on the counter when
i...@cac.washington.edu | they go out of the store." -- Loren Eisley
Anthony J Stieber
>
> I've learned to pronounce it "jiff" (Compuserve invented the format,
>they have the right to designate the pronunciation) but I still think
>it's illogical...
And how is JPEG Image Format supposed to pronounced? I think it's
pretty stupid to use a pronunciation that is indistinguishable
with another possible name.
ps. I've never heard of anyone using JIF to refer to anything but
peanut butter.
--
<-:(= Anthony Stieber ant...@csd4.csd.uwm.edu uwm!uwmcsd4!anthony
Fisher S A
In Britain JIF is a type of scouring powder (for getting cookers and sinks
clean I think. I don't know, I am a student and have never used it. That's
what it says it is for on the container).
____ ____ ____ E-Mail fi...@uk.ac.essex
/ / / / 3rd Year Computing Science Undergraduate
/___ /___/ /____ at the University of Essex
/ / / /
___/ / / / Earth shutting down in 5 minutes,
please save all files and log out
Ruth Milner
>pronunciation of GIF, must not have any friends, relatives, coworkers, or
>acquaintances named George or Geoffrey; must never use the words Gentle or
>Generous; must never buy Generic products; must not work for General Motors,
>Genentech, General Foods, General Electric; and must confuse Genes with
>Levi's.
I have lots of friends named Gilbert, Gilda, Gidget, and the Gipper, who have
gimpy ankles and girded loins. I also own a gelding, a gilt, and many gizmos,
and attend a church with a gilded altar. Just at the moment I'm feeling a bit
giddy because my band is playing a gig tonight. So give me a break.
Actually none of the above is true. I'm just pointing out that this is English,
and your argument won't work. :-)
If the G stands for a word with a hard "g", and I think it does, I'll stick to
G-if, thank you. Much more logical.
Also, J-if is peanut butter :-).
--
Ruth Milner NRAO/VLA Socorro NM
Computing Division Head rmi...@zia.aoc.nrao.edu
Rogers George
>
ahem. G.I.F. = Graphics interchange format...
'j'raphics? do you send large, yellow and brown spotted animals
through the net? mmph.
By the way, my last name is George.
panagiotis skagos (187802923)
Hi,
I've noticed that people in western Canada tend to pronounce GIF with
a soft-G sound (like giant or George) but that most people in eastern
Canada tend to pronounce it with a hard G sound (like gone or gang).
Neat stuff ....
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
| Panagiotis Takis Skagos | Stamp out redundancy. |
| (ska...@hercules.cs.uregina.ca) | Stamp out redundancy. |
| Computer Science, Honours. | Stamp out redundancy. |
| University of Regina. | Stamp out redundancy. |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
Techno
Sure is, esp. if you think about what it stands for: _g_irls _i_n _f_iles
^
note the hard 'g' !
Techno
--
| tec...@zelator.in-berlin.de ||| Please do not e-mail from outside Germany ! |
| tec...@lime.in-berlin.de / | \ Hardcore ST user ! ====================== |
| Nothing that's real is ever for free, you just have to pay for it sometime. |
| (Al Stewart) |
<signature virus erased> - whew, finally !
Daniel Smith
> In <1992Apr25.1...@csus.edu> prin...@shazam.ecs.csus.edu (Greg Pringle) writes:
> >"According to Compuserve, GIF is pronounced jif."
> >Bit-Mapped Graphics, Steve Rimmer, Windcrest/Mcgraw Hill 1990.
Well gee, I'm tempted to pronounce it "guyf" (rhyme with "knife") :-)
Just kidding, don't throw electronic tomatoes. I've always
"jif" as in "jiffy". I have a jigabyte hard drive too.
I once heard a radio commercial where the dj was reading
an ad about a computer with a "skoozy" (rhyme with "excuse me") (SCSI)
interface.
Daniel
--
dans...@autodesk.com dan...@world.std.com dans...@well.sf.ca.us
Daniel Smith, Autodesk, Sausalito, California, (415) 332-2344 x 2580
Disclaimer: written by a highly caffeinated mammal
$|=1;for("..."," hacker"," perl"," a","just"){print $l=$_.$l,"\015";sleep 1;}
Cliff Heller
y
>In the spirit of continuing this amusing (and moot) thread, I'd like to
>point out that those folks having great difficulty abandoning the "hard G"
>pronunciation of GIF, must not have any friends, relatives, coworkers, or
>acquaintances named George or Geoffrey; must never use the words Gentle or
>Generous; must never buy Generic products; must not work for General Motors,
>Genentech, General Foods, General Electric; and must confuse Genes with
>Levi's.
I don't have any difficulty "abandoning" the hard "G" pronunciation because
that is the One True Pronunciation.
Also, every word you listed begins with 'ge' not 'gi' and yes that should
make all the difference.
Perform this excercise: Look up any words beginning with 'gif' in your
dictionary. How many of them are pronounced with a soft 'g'?
--
/ \ Reverend fnord | "King Kong died for your sins!"
/ \ fn...@panix.com |
/ <0> \ | "Don't just eat a hamburger,
/_______\ Church of Obfuscatology, Inc. | eat the HELL out of it!"
Clare West
>| ps. I've never heard of anyone using JIF to refer to anything but
>|peanut butter.
>In Britain JIF is a type of scouring powder (for getting cookers and sinks
>clean I think. I don't know, I am a student and have never used it. That's
>what it says it is for on the container).
Yes, same in NZ, but in Britain Jif is also a brand of lemon juice,
sure confused me!
--
Oh, why didn't I listen when they said "Never do a | cw...@cs.aukuni.ac.nz
masters and try to have a life at the same time"? | clare west
BigSis to Chis, Eric and Kristiina
Alfvaen
>
> Hi,
>
> I've noticed that people in western Canada tend to pronounce GIF with
> a soft-G sound (like giant or George) but that most people in eastern
> Canada tend to pronounce it with a hard G sound (like gone or gang).
> Neat stuff ....
Do we? I'm a hard-G person myself, as well as a western Canadian. Maybe
its just residents of Saskatchewan?
As regards the pronunciation of "gif" at least.
Do Spanish-speakers use the "j" sound for gif? French-speakers the "zh"
sound? Just curious.
--
---Alfvaen(a.k.a. Aaron V. Humphrey)
Canadian Network For Space Research, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
You made my day--now you have to sleep in it.
Current Album--Kate Bush:Hounds of Love
Laurent Amon
> Do Spanish-speakers use the "j" sound for gif? French-speakers the "zh"
> sound? Just curious.
French speakers use the 'zh' sound.
Lga.---
Laurent Amon | "Looking at Pentagon policies over the last couple
am...@cs.stanford.edu | of years, I think I can be fairly sure that the US
------------------------+ Navy is using version 2.00 of the program, while the
Air Force for some reason only has the beta-test version of 1.5." -- D.G.H.D.A.
Mauve Marauder
> 187802923 writes
>>
>> Hi,
>>
>> I've noticed that people in western Canada tend to pronounce GIF with
>> a soft-G sound (like giant or George) but that most people in eastern
>> Canada tend to pronounce it with a hard G sound (like gone or gang).
>> Neat stuff ....
>
> Do we? I'm a hard-G person myself, as well as a western Canadian. Maybe
> its just residents of Saskatchewan?
>
as it it one letter off the word "gift". Now, base your pronunication on how
you pronounce that word.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
I. Charles Barilleaux III occasionally know at Miami Univ
CBARI...@MIAVX1.ACS.MUOHIO.EDU as the Mauve Marauder
GRAVITY:
It's not just a good idea. It's the law.
Jerry Gerace
>In article <1992May4.2...@kakwa.ucs.ualberta.ca>, aa...@space.ualberta.ca (Alfvaen) writes:
>> 187802923 writes
>>>
>>> a soft-G sound (like giant or George) but that most people in eastern
>>> Canada tend to pronounce it with a hard G sound (like gone or gang).
>>> Neat stuff ....
>>
>> Do we? I'm a hard-G person myself, as well as a western Canadian. Maybe
>> its just residents of Saskatchewan?
>>
>I to am a hard g person. As an english speaker, I developed this prounouciation
>as it it one letter off the word "gift". Now, base your pronunication on how
>you pronounce that word.
But hey, what about us few who pronounce it with a "zh" sound, like in pleasure?
It's a legal G sound too..."zhif"
Mad Poo Bandit
Ian R Schmidt
(heeheehee)
--
Ian Schmidt | irs...@iastate.edu | "Another Pervert against Censorship"
"Please, put down your weapons!" - RoboCop via MOD.FreudianDream
Dave Schaumann
In article <jeremy.705070071@chao>, jeremy@sw (Jeremy Fitzhardinge) writes:
>Hard 'Guh' gee:
>[...] gila [...]
Whoops! Sorry, and thank you for being our contestant. Gila is a Spanish
word, and is pronounced "hee lah".
--
Dave Schaumann da...@cs.arizona.edu
hillel.e.markowitz
>[just my $.02: I pronounce GIF like gift with a silent t]
>
>In article <jeremy.705070071@chao>, jeremy@sw (Jeremy Fitzhardinge) writes:
>>Hard 'Guh' gee:
>>[...] gila [...]
>
>Whoops! Sorry, and thank you for being our contestant. Gila is a Spanish
>word, and is pronounced "hee lah".
>
In Hebrew it means joy and is also used as a woman's name. It is
pronounced with a hard g.
>--
>Dave Schaumann da...@cs.arizona.edu
Hillel Markowitz H_Mar...@att.com
Doug Landauer
Well, they're wrong. It's obviously pronounced like "gift" but without
the T. Both halves of the acronym pronunciation rule insist on that.
> Well gee, I'm tempted to pronounce it "guyf" (rhyme with "knife") :-)
No, the rule (*) is, whenever possible, you pronounce the acronym or
abbreviation with the sounds that were in the expansion, unless it looks
too much like an English word that contradicts that. In this case, both
the expansion rule *and* the like-English rule push this towards a hard-G,
short-I pronunciation.
For example, "lib" (short for liberation, as in "women's lib") always has
a short I; but "lib" (short for library) always has a long I, as if it
were spelled "libe". In this latter case, the two halves of the rule
conflict, and only people without the proper rule-resolution software (**)
get that one wrong. The only exception (***) allowed in Unix is "/bin",
and that only conflicts if you still think it's short for "binary",
instead of being short for "dustbin".
> I have a jigabyte hard drive too.
Naw, you can't use that. The Politically-Correct Police will complain
that it sounds too much like ... certain derogatory terms that they cannot
repeat. If it had a very large bootstrap program, would that be a
"jigaboot"?
> I once heard a radio commercial where the dj was reading an ad
> about a computer with a "skoozy" (rhyme with "excuse me") (SCSI)
> interface.
Probably some idiot engineer (you know, the kind that spells "kernel" with
an "A") had written the copy for their marketeers, thinking that "skuzy"
was enough to describe the correct pronunciation.
It's a sad commentary on the minds of computer-type people that, when they
felt they had to add a vowel to pronounce "SCSI" they added "uh" after the
"C", instead of adding "e" before the "C".
(*) At least, that's the rule I've observed for the majority of acronyms
and abbreviations in the computer biz, in California, for the past 23
years or so. Of course, there are exceptions (e.g., the S in POSIX is
almost always pronounced as a Z; neither of the O's in COBOL are
right). Actually, that rule tends to apply mostly for consonants, and
the vowels more frequently tend to shift to a pronunciation
appropriate for the acronym. Actually, it's more complicated than
that, so don't bother flaming me about it :::::::-------))))))).
(**) These tend (in my experience) to be people from the
eastern half of the US.
(***) ... that I can think of at the moment ...
--
Doug Landauer - Sun Microsystems, Inc. - Languages - land...@eng.sun.com
"Let's make progress, even if it's illusory progress."
-- Jonathan Shopiro, on [a part of] the ANSI/ISO C++ standard effort
For the satirically challenged: :-)
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ :-)
Michael L Begley
which has a hard G.
I'm sure someone will come up with an exception to this.
--
Michael Begley Ask me how A riot is the language
sp...@iastate.edu Iowa State University of the unheard.
(515) 296-8378 is censoring my usenet access -MLK
John Newman
In this litle corner of the world (Western Australia), everyone
uses GIF with a hard G, otherwise it sounds like the stuff we
use to clean saucepans: JIFF.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
\ John Newman Internet:John_...@QMCC.curtin.edu.au /
/ Computing Centre, "There is less to this than meets the eye." \
\ Curtin University, - Tallulah Bankhead /
/ Perth, Western Australia \
\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/
Jeremy Fitzhardinge
>In <-a-knh...@netcom.com> j...@netcom.com (J. Michael Blackford) writes:
>y
>>In the spirit of continuing this amusing (and moot) thread, I'd like to
>>point out that those folks having great difficulty abandoning the "hard G"
>>pronunciation of GIF, must not have any friends, relatives, coworkers, or
>>acquaintances named George or Geoffrey; must never use the words Gentle or
>>Generous; must never buy Generic products; must not work for General Motors,
>>Genentech, General Foods, General Electric; and must confuse Genes with
>>Levi's.
>
>I don't have any difficulty "abandoning" the hard "G" pronunciation because
>that is the One True Pronunciation.
>
>Also, every word you listed begins with 'ge' not 'gi' and yes that should
>make all the difference.
>
>Perform this excercise: Look up any words beginning with 'gif' in your
>dictionary. How many of them are pronounced with a soft 'g'?
From grep '^gi' /usr/dict/words on my machine:
Soft 'Juh' gee:
giant giantess gibberish gibbet giblet gigantic gin ginger ginmill
ginseng giraffe gist
Questionable (I use hard, like GIF):
gigabit gigabyte gigacycle gigahertz gigaherz gigavolt gigawatt
Hard 'Guh' gee:
gibbon gibbous gibby gibe giddap giddy gift gig gigging giggle gila
gilbert gild gill gilt gimbal gimmick gimmickry gimpy gingham gingko
ginkgo gird girdle girl girlie girlish girth give giveaway given giveth
Overall, there are too many of each for this to be a useful argument
either way.
--
jer...@softway.sw.oz.au ph:+61 2 698 2322-x122 fax:+61 2 699 9174
Many a wonderful picnic has been spoiled by Blubberknife.
Jerry Gerace
>> > >"According to Compuserve, GIF is pronounced jif."
>
>Well, they're wrong. It's obviously pronounced like "gift" but without
>the T. Both halves of the acronym pronunciation rule insist on that.
>
>
it's their acronym, doesn't that give them the right to pronounce it
anyway they want regardless of your "rules"?
BTW - Where on Earth did you get all those rules from anyways? Are they
written in stone (are any grammatical rules such)?
Mad Poo Bandit
Not a flame, a correction.
Steve Poynton
>In <-a-knh...@netcom.com> j...@netcom.com (J. Michael Blackford) writes:
>y
>>In the spirit of continuing this amusing (and moot) thread, I'd like to
>>point out that those folks having great difficulty abandoning the "hard G"
>>pronunciation of GIF, must not have any friends, relatives, coworkers, or
>>acquaintances named George or Geoffrey; must never use the words Gentle or
>>Generous; must never buy Generic products; must not work for General Motors,
>>Genentech, General Foods, General Electric; and must confuse Genes with
>>Levi's.
>I don't have any difficulty "abandoning" the hard "G" pronunciation because
>that is the One True Pronunciation.
>Also, every word you listed begins with 'ge' not 'gi' and yes that should
>make all the difference.
>Perform this excercise: Look up any words beginning with 'gif' in your
>dictionary. How many of them are pronounced with a soft 'g'?
GI,giant,gibe,gin,ginger,gingerly,ginseng ?,giraffe,giro,...
I don't have a proper dictionary here so I may have made a mistake on pronuciation.
Steve P.
John Bickers
> In this litle corner of the world (Western Australia), everyone
> uses GIF with a hard G, otherwise it sounds like the stuff we
> use to clean saucepans: JIFF.
GIF with a hard G just doesn't sound right. It sounds like a word that
has been unexpectedly truncated, as the user waits for the next hard
consonant (as in GIT) to come along, or for the word to tail off (as in
GIVE).
I find that the reverse happens - because I say GIF as JIF, I used to
say GIFTS (one of the pieces of software I maintain) as JIFTS.
> \ John Newman Internet:John_...@QMCC.curtin.edu.au /
--
*** John Bickers, TAP, NZAmigaUG. jbic...@templar.actrix.gen.nz ***
*** "Radioactivity - It's in the air, for you and me" - Kraftwerk ***
Cliff Heller
>> I have a jigabyte hard drive too.
>Naw, you can't use that. The Politically-Correct Police will complain
>that it sounds too much like ... certain derogatory terms that they cannot
>repeat. If it had a very large bootstrap program, would that be a
>"jigaboot"?
Unfortunately, that is the correct pronounciation. Look in the dictionary.
The prefix "giga" comes from the same root as "gigantic" - soft g, and a
short i in some dialects. A recent dictionary will probably include the
hard g version just because it is so often mispronounced. I personally use
the hard g because I prefer the sound, but I am aware that I am making a
conscious error in so doing. In the case of "GIF", it is another story
entirely and I am completely behind you. The soft g pronounciation is an
abomination before the lord.
Cliff Heller
>fn...@panix.com (Cliff Heller) writes:
>>Perform this excercise: Look up any words beginning with 'gif' in your
>>dictionary. How many of them are pronounced with a soft 'g'?
>GI,giant,gibe,gin,ginger,gingerly,ginseng ?,giraffe,giro,...
>I don't have a proper dictionary here so I may have made a mistake on pronuciation.
Hey dipshit, I said 'gif' not 'gi'
Not one of the 'words' you posted meet that criteria. And GI is right out.
And gibe is an alternate spelling of jibe.
You have to take the entire syllable as one phoneme, you can't take the
letters out of context. Sure gi has a soft g in some phonemes, that
depends on the letters and consonants following it, and on the language
that the word derives from, and on the quirks and peculiarities of English.
That is why you have tto resort to 'gif' - there is only one english word
that begins with 'gif' and that is 'gift'
Plus the G stands for Graphics.
James Birdsall
>With all due respect, they Compuserve dudes do say "jif". They oughta know,
>it's their acronym, doesn't that give them the right to pronounce it
>anyway they want
Yes, they can pronounce it any way they want. However, that does not
oblige the rest of the world to pay any attention to them.
I started pronouncing it with a hard G because that seemed the obvious
and reasonable pronunciation. I continue to do so because nobody that I've
met recognizes it with the soft G.
"JIF"... is peanut butter.
--
James W. Birdsall WORK: jwbi...@amc.com {uunet,uw-coco}!amc-gw!jwbirdsa
HOME: {uunet,uw-coco}!amc-gw!picarefy!jwbirdsa OTHER: 71261...@compuserve.com
================== Kitten: a small homicidal muffin on legs. ==================
=========== "For it is the doom of men that they forget." -- Merlin ===========
Doug Landauer
> know, it's their acronym, doesn't that give them the right to pronounce
> it anyway they want regardless of your "rules"?
Nope. Well, yeah, they're welcome to pronounce it their way;
but they're simply wrong, and are due no respect for this blunder.
> BTW - Where on Earth did you get all those rules from anyways?
I made 'em up! Isn't that what programming is all about ??? :-)
> Are they written in stone ?
No, but if you'll wait a while while I get out my chisel ...
--
Doug Landauer -- land...@eng.sun.com _
Sun Microsystems, Inc. -- STE, SunPro, Languages La no ka 'oi.
Liam Greenwood
>
>In Hebrew it means joy and is also used as a woman's name. It is
>pronounced with a hard g.
>
anti-(some hyper-sensitive religion), and must therefore worship the
god Windoze, as promoted by the False Prophet Gates, and be forever
cursed with handwriting which contains subliminal anti-IBM messages?
(I use a hard g myself, otherwise everyone thinks I'm talking about some
kitchen cleaner and expects me to produce something clean. Which, as I
understand it, is not the primary use for GIF files)
--
Liam Greenwood ------ li...@durie.amigans.gen.nz ------ Wanganui, N.Z.
The above is intended to be taken with a :-) or even a :->
Christian Weisgerber
>> I once heard a radio commercial where the dj was reading an ad
>> about a computer with a "skoozy" (rhyme with "excuse me") (SCSI)
>> interface.
>Probably some idiot engineer (you know, the kind that spells "kernel" with
>an "A") had written the copy for their marketeers, thinking that "skuzy"
>was enough to describe the correct pronunciation.
I think the British pronounce it like that...
--
Christian Weisgerber na...@rhrk.uni-kl.de
Nick Haines
land...@morocco.Eng.Sun.COM (Doug Landauer) writes:
Nope. "Scuzzy". Not "skoozy".
Nick Haines ni...@cs.cmu.edu
Jerry Gerace
>In <l0e6jq...@exodus.Eng.Sun.COM> land...@morocco.Eng.Sun.COM (Doug Landauer) writes:
>Unfortunately, that is the correct pronounciation. Look in the dictionary.
>The prefix "giga" comes from the same root as "gigantic" - soft g, and a
>short i in some dialects. A recent dictionary will probably include the
>hard g version just because it is so often mispronounced. I personally use
>the hard g because I prefer the sound, but I am aware that I am making a
>conscious error in so doing. In the case of "GIF", it is another story
>entirely and I am completely behind you. The soft g pronounciation is an
>abomination before the lord.
of gigabyte? Jig? or Gig? Personally, I say jigabyte, but shorten
it to gig (hard g)...
Mad Poo
>
David Lee Matuszek
(1) Modern dictionaries are descriptive, not prescriptive. That is, they
record usage, they don't attempt to legislate it.
(2) Dictionaries are always behind the times. (Probably this has
improved significantly in the past few years, as the publishers
computerize them.)
>The prefix "giga" comes from the same root as "gigantic" - soft g, and a
>short i in some dialects. A recent dictionary will probably include the
>hard g version just because it is so often mispronounced. I personally use
>the hard g because I prefer the sound, but I am aware that I am making a
>conscious error in so doing.
See above.
(3) The last time I saw this go around the net (right after "Back to the
Future"), the concensus seemed to be that physicists tended to prefer
the soft g for "giga-", while computer people tended to prefer the
hard g.
> In the case of "GIF", it is another story
>entirely and I am completely behind you. The soft g pronounciation is an
>abomination before the lord.
(4) Yea and verily! Let's not mix our pictures with our peanut butter.
-- Dave Matuszek (da...@prc.unisys.com) I don't speak for my employer. --
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
| When I was young, my family bought a color TV. Our neigbors, who |
| were poorer, had only a black-and-white set. They bought a piece of |
| cellophane, shaded from red through yellow to blue, and taped it over |
| their screen, so they could claim that they had a color TV, too. |
| Now there's Windows 3.1. |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Peter da Silva
Since just about everything else about Compuserve is majorly screwed up
anything they say has gotta be wrong.
Someone mentions CI$ and their credibility index drops 3 points.
--
%!Peter da Silva, Taronga Park BBS. +1 713 568 0480/1032. `-_-'
% Have you hugged your wolf today? 'U`
systemdict /sig_virus known { eexec } if
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Norman Kraft
>
>>fn...@panix.com (Cliff Heller) writes:
>
>>>Perform this excercise: Look up any words beginning with 'gif' in your
>>>dictionary. How many of them are pronounced with a soft 'g'?
>
>>GI,giant,gibe,gin,ginger,gingerly,ginseng ?,giraffe,giro,...
>
>>I don't have a proper dictionary here so I may have made a mistake on pronuciation.
>
>
>Hey dipshit, I said 'gif' not 'gi'
Then I'm sure you knew when you posted this that in most dictionaries the
only 'gif' entries are all words based on 'gift' (as you point out yourself,
below). Webster, for example, shows only gift, gift certificate, gifted,
gift horse, gift of tongues, and gift-wrap. If you really are going to draw
a pronounciation standard based on a single word in the English language,
you need to go back to the linguistics classes. Pronounciation is a bit more
difficult a call than that.
>You have to take the entire syllable as one phoneme, you can't take the
>letters out of context. Sure gi has a soft g in some phonemes, that
>depends on the letters and consonants following it, and on the language
>that the word derives from, and on the quirks and peculiarities of English.
>That is why you have tto resort to 'gif' - there is only one english word
>that begins with 'gif' and that is 'gift'
No, one would not resort to the hard 'gif'. One would look to the original
sources and ask how they do it.
>Plus the G stands for Graphics.
Yes, and the folks that decided that the G stands for Graphics are the
folks who say that it's pronounced 'jif'. If you plan to redo the stated
original pronounciation, then why not take all those nasty words from
romance languages that start with a soft 'g' and redo them based on the
word 'gift'. Who cares how the French, Italians, Spanish and Chinese
pronounce them? It's the Reverend Fnord way that counts!
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Norman R. Kraft INET : nkr...@bkhouse.cts.com
Senior Partner UUCP : ucsd!crash!bkhouse!nkraft
Argus Computing GENIE : N.KRAFT3
San Diego, CA PORTAL: nkr...@cup.portal.com
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Jerker Nilsson
>you need to go back to the linguistics classes. Pronounciation is a bit more
>difficult a call than that.
I English the pronounciation of abreviations are a lot EASIER than that.
They are simply not pronounced as words, but as a list of letters. Therefore
GIF shall be pronounced 'G-I-F'... Any other is plain wrong. In swedish
we do pronounce abreviations like words (If it is possible), and GIF has
usually a hard G (even though that is also a matter of where in sweden one
live)
/Jerker
Cliff Heller
>Then I'm sure you knew when you posted this that in most dictionaries the
>only 'gif' entries are all words based on 'gift' (as you point out yourself,
>below). Webster, for example, shows only gift, gift certificate, gifted,
>gift horse, gift of tongues, and gift-wrap. If you really are going to draw
>a pronounciation standard based on a single word in the English language,
>you need to go back to the linguistics classes. Pronounciation is a bit more
>difficult a call than that.
It's not based on a single word. It is based on every single occurance of
that letter pattern at the beginning of a word in the english language.
When I first saw "GIF", I had not been englightened as to what it stood for
or where it came from. It was an extension on a file, and there were
programs called "GIF viewers" that I could use to display them. I used
them extensively before I ever spoke the word outloud. Now, without any
prior knowledge, the instinctive pronounciation was "GIFT without the T"
I don't think anyone would come up with the soft G in this situation
because the association with a known english word is too great. My
associates and I never thought twice about using the hard g for years and
years.
Then one day I read that it stands for Graphics Interchange Format and is
pronounced with a soft g. By now it is too late. Anything other than the
pronounciation I am accustomed to is completely awkward.
The definers of the acronym should have known this.
Come to think of it, of the thousands of acronyms in the
scientific/computer world, not one was defined along with its
pronounciation. Who do CI$ think they are anyway. As a matter of fact, I
wouldn't be surprise if they intentionally defined a counter intuitive,
counter conventional pronounciation simply to provoke debate because then
they would make more money from all the connect time it would take for
people to argue about it in their forums (fora?).
>Yes, and the folks that decided that the G stands for Graphics are the
>folks who say that it's pronounced 'jif'.
No one else has ever done that with an acronym. What gives them the right?
In fact, I think from all existing evidence we can add another acronym
pronounciation rule (a self referential one), which states that the
pronounciation of an acronym is determined by the rules and someone cannot
define an acronym and proclaim its pronounciation.
If that rule is not adhered to, chaos could ensue.
My new secret society (so secret that even I don't know about it)
is called the SAPF. (Society for Acronym Pronounciation Freedom)
It is not pronounced "sapf" it is pronounced "I'm going to kill
President Bush" I defined it, I can pronounce it any way I want. I
insist that all of you pronounce it that way as well. In public places.
During parades. While touring the White House on your Washington D.C.
vacation.
Greg Goss
>
> GI,giant,gibe,gin,ginger,gingerly,ginseng ?,giraffe,giro,...
>
> I don't have a proper dictionary here so I may have made a mistake on
> pronuciation.
>
OK, My version of an answer. I pronounce it with a hard "G. Cuz it looks like
that. I've taken note of the "GIFT" arguments and the "derived from Graphics"
arguments and will use them if necessary, but I pronounce it with a hard G
because I feel like it.
Someone earlier said that eastern Canada used the hard G sound and western
Canada used the J sound. I live out here in Vancouver, and everyone I know
uses the hard G sound.
.../greg
--
"say NO to four-line sigs" greg...@mindlink.bc.ca
David Moews
|...Come to think of it, of the thousands of acronyms in the
|scientific/computer world, not one was defined along with its
TeX? (Defined to rhyme with `blech'.)
--
David Moews mo...@math.berkeley.edu
Jonathan M Lennox
(David Moews) writes:
>In article <1992May10....@panix.com> fn...@panix.com (Cliff
Heller) writes:
>|...Come to think of it, of the thousands of acronyms in the
>|scientific/computer world, not one was defined along with its
>|pronounciation....
>
>TeX? (Defined to rhyme with `blech'.)
Yes, but it's not an acronym, just a name.
Jonathan Lennox
jm...@cunixa.cc.columbia.edu
John Hood
>In article <1992May6.2...@ucsu.Colorado.EDU> ger...@ucsu.Colorado.EDU (Jerry Gerace) writes:
>>With all due respect, they Compuserve dudes do say "jif".
>
>Since just about everything else about Compuserve is majorly screwed up
>anything they say has gotta be wrong.
>
>Someone mentions CI$ and their credibility index drops 3 points.
Well, since they *created* the format, perhaps you'll allow the
possibility of their being right, just this once, eh?
--
John Hood, CU student, CU employee, and sometime BananaOp
jh...@albert.mannlib.cornell.edu,jh...@banana.ithaca.ny.us,j...@crnlvax5.bitnet
By any reasonable computer's standard, I'm a virus. So are you.
Peter da Silva
>Well, since they *created* the format, perhaps you'll allow the
>possibility of their being right, just this once, eh?
No.
--
%!Peter da Silva, Taronga Park BBS. +1 713 568 0480/1032. `-_-'
% Have you hugged your wolf today? 'U`
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J. Bayko
<11...@mindlink.bc.ca>
Greg...@mindlink.bc.ca (Greg Goss)
writes:
>> Steve Poynton writes:
>>
>> GI,giant,gibe,gin,ginger,gingerly,ginseng ?,giraffe,giro,...
>>
>that. I've taken note of the "GIFT" arguments and the "derived from Graphics"
>arguments and will use them if necessary, but I pronounce it with a hard G
>because I feel like it.
>
>Someone earlier said that eastern Canada used the hard G sound and western
>Canada used the J sound. I live out here in Vancouver, and everyone I know
>uses the hard G sound.
Grafical Interchange Format
G I F
Jee Eye Eff
Jeeyiyef
JeeIF
JIF
What do you know? There *is* a real reason...
John Bayko.
John Raoul Dombart
once wrote....
> I once heard a radio commercial where the dj was reading
>an ad about a computer with a "skoozy" (rhyme with "excuse me") (SCSI)
>interface.
Good laughs for our italian readers, anyway. As it sounds like "scusi"
in italian, it would be in fact an "excuse me"-interface for them.
R.D.
----
/\ muli - may unexpected love increase
/..\ This system intentionally left online.
/_\/_\ dom...@muli.saar.de