post jif or retract!

[Adam Funk]

It turns out that the man who invented the Graphics Interchange Format
says that "gif" should only be pronounced with a /j/.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/05/22/jif_gif/


--
Unix is a user-friendly operating system. It's just very choosy about
its friends.

[Mike Barnes]

Adam Funk <a24...@ducksburg.com>:

>It turns out that the man who invented the Graphics Interchange Format
>says that "gif" should only be pronounced with a /j/.
>
>http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/05/22/jif_gif/

Well, yes, but it's not really for him to say is it? The world has
decided that the hard G is acceptable, and he's just going to have to
get used to that.

--
Mike Barnes
Cheshire, England

[Glenn Knickerbocker]

On 5/23/2013 7:36 AM, Adam Funk wrote:
> It turns out that the man who invented the Giraffics Interchange Format

> says that "gif" should only be pronounced with a /j/.

> http://imgur.com/gallery/SxgEy

I fixed your cervical alignment for you.

¬R

[David DeLaney]

On 2013-05-23, Adam Funk <a24...@ducksburg.com> wrote:
> It turns out that the man who invented the Graphics Interchange Format
> says that "gif" should only be pronounced with a /j/.
>
> http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/05/22/jif_gif/

Choosy brothers choose Jif!

Dave, let's ask mikey, he hates everything
--
\/David DeLaney posting thru EarthLink - "It's not the pot that grows the flower
It's not the clock that slows the hour The definition's plain for anyone to see
Love is all it takes to make a family" - R&P. VISUALIZE HAPPYNET VRbeable<BLINK>
http://panacea.phys.utk.edu/~dbd/ - net.legends FAQ/ I WUV you in all CAPS! --K.

[R H Draney]

Adam Funk filted:

>
>It turns out that the man who invented the Graphics Interchange Format
>says that "gif" should only be pronounced with a /j/.

Choosey mother!...r


--
Me? Sarcastic?
Yeah, right.

[Stan Brown]

On Thu, 23 May 2013 12:36:36 +0100, Adam Funk wrote:
>
> It turns out that the man who invented the Graphics Interchange Format
> says that "gif" should only be pronounced with a /j/.
>
> http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/05/22/jif_gif/

The article actually says it should be pronounced "jif" and "with a
soft G". Is that /j/, or /dj/? (That's a real question, not
disguised snark. :-)

--
"The difference between the /almost right/ word and the /right/ word
is ... the difference between the lightning-bug and the lightning."
--Mark Twain
Stan Brown, Tompkins County, NY, USA http://OakRoadSystems.com

[Stan Brown]

On Thu, 23 May 2013 13:39:51 +0100, Mike Barnes wrote:
> Well, yes, but it's not really for him to say is it? The world has
> decided that the hard G is acceptable,
>

Really? I've never heard anyone use a hard G, but then the occasions
for speaking the word are few and far between.

I personally have always though of it as having the initial consonant
of genius, because to me a G followed by i or e is soft, with the
usual exceptions like "get".

[Glenn Knickerbocker]

On 5/23/2013 6:52 PM, Stan Brown wrote:
> The article actually says it should be pronounced "jif" and "with a
> soft G". Is that /j/, or /dj/?

No. It's /dZ/.

ŹR

[annily]

On 24.05.13 08:23, Stan Brown wrote:
> On Thu, 23 May 2013 13:39:51 +0100, Mike Barnes wrote:
>> Well, yes, but it's not really for him to say is it? The world has
>> decided that the hard G is acceptable,
>>
>
> Really? I've never heard anyone use a hard G, but then the occasions
> for speaking the word are few and far between.
>

I've never heard anyone use a soft G. The nearest English word that
comes to mind is "gift", so a hard G is logical.


--
Lifelong resident of Adelaide, South Australia

[pete]

On 5/23/2013 8:59 PM, annily wrote:
> On 24.05.13 08:23, Stan Brown wrote:
>> On Thu, 23 May 2013 13:39:51 +0100, Mike Barnes wrote:
>>> Well, yes, but it's not really for him to say is it? The world has
>>> decided that the hard G is acceptable,
>>>
>>
>> Really? I've never heard anyone use a hard G, but then the occasions
>> for speaking the word are few and far between.
>>
>
> I've never heard anyone use a soft G. The nearest English word that
> comes to mind is "gift", so a hard G is logical.

How do you pronounce "gigabyte"?

The nearest English word is "gigantic".

--
pete

[Tony Cooper]

On Thu, 23 May 2013 18:53:59 -0400, Stan Brown
<the_sta...@fastmail.fm> wrote:

>On Thu, 23 May 2013 13:39:51 +0100, Mike Barnes wrote:
>> Well, yes, but it's not really for him to say is it? The world has
>> decided that the hard G is acceptable,
>>
>
>Really? I've never heard anyone use a hard G, but then the occasions
>for speaking the word are few and far between.

I don't hear it all that frequently, but belonging to two camera clubs
(which means I have a meeting every Monday night) where various image
formats and Photoshop techniques are discussed, I do hear it more
frequently than some might.

And, both ways. Usually with a hard g, but no one leaps out of their
seat in protest or shock with the j-sound is used.

What is more at issue is whether the correct way to write the image
file format most of us shoot is Raw, raw, or RAW.

>I personally have always though of it as having the initial consonant
>of genius, because to me a G followed by i or e is soft, with the
>usual exceptions like "get".
--

Tony Cooper - Orlando FL

[R H Draney]

pete filted:

"'Cleanliness is next to godliness'? Who came up with that one? I checked the
dictionary; cleanliness is next to cleavage!"
-- Gallagher

....r

[Dr Nick]

annily <ann...@annily.invalid> writes:

> On 24.05.13 08:23, Stan Brown wrote:
>> On Thu, 23 May 2013 13:39:51 +0100, Mike Barnes wrote:
>>> Well, yes, but it's not really for him to say is it? The world has
>>> decided that the hard G is acceptable,
>>>
>>
>> Really? I've never heard anyone use a hard G, but then the occasions
>> for speaking the word are few and far between.
>>
>
> I've never heard anyone use a soft G. The nearest English word that
> comes to mind is "gift", so a hard G is logical.

As in "Beware of geeks bearing gifs".

[annily]

Hard G again.

> The nearest English word is "gigantic".
>

Not everything is logical :)

[Mike Barnes]

pete <pfi...@mindspring.com>:

Yebbut "giga" is Greek, isn't it?

[Mike Barnes]

Stan Brown <the_sta...@fastmail.fm>:

>On Thu, 23 May 2013 13:39:51 +0100, Mike Barnes wrote:
>> Well, yes, but it's not really for him to say is it? The world has
>> decided that the hard G is acceptable,
>
>Really? I've never heard anyone use a hard G, but then the occasions
>for speaking the word are few and far between.

I've never heard anyone use a soft G.

>I personally have always though of it as having the initial consonant
>of genius, because to me a G followed by i or e is soft, with the
>usual exceptions like "get".

And more relevantly, "gift".

[Yusuf B Gursey]

On May 23, 7:36 am, Adam Funk <a24...@ducksburg.com> wrote:
> It turns out that the man who invented the Graphics Interchange Format
> says that "gif" should only be pronounced with a /j/.
>
> http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/05/22/jif_gif/
>

also, with video

http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/05/23/battle-over-gif-pronunciation-erupts/?hpw

[Apteryx]

On 24/05/2013 10:53 a.m., Stan Brown wrote:
> On Thu, 23 May 2013 13:39:51 +0100, Mike Barnes wrote:
>> Well, yes, but it's not really for him to say is it? The world has
>> decided that the hard G is acceptable,
>>
>
> Really? I've never heard anyone use a hard G, but then the occasions
> for speaking the word are few and far between.

Me neither, but I don't think I can recall hearing the word spoken since
the 90's (clearly a softer time).

Apteryx

[Eric Walker]

On Thu, 23 May 2013 22:21:29 -0400, pete wrote:

[...]

> How do you pronounce "gigabyte"?

No one asked me, but with a soft G; a hard-G pronunciations makes me
wince every time.

> The nearest English word is "gigantic".

Just so: giant, gigantic, gibber, gibberelic (acid), gibbet, gibbous,
gibe, giblets, Gibralter, Gibran (Kahlil), and on and on. Words
beginning with gi- that have a hard G seem to be exceptions (gib, gibbon,
gid, giddy, gift, &c).

--
Cordially,
Eric Walker

[Leslie Danks]

OTOH, gif is an acronym of "graphic interchange format" (with a hard 'g'). I
don't know whether acronyms usually follow the pronunciation of the entities
from which they are derived.

--
Les (BrE)
"... be skeptical of government guidelines. The Indians learned not to trust
our government and neither should you." (Fallon & Enig)

[Adam Funk]

ouch! OK, better now.


--
I don't quite understand this worship of objectivity in
journalism. Now, just flat-out lying is different from being
subjective. --- Hunter S Thompson

[Adam Funk]

On 2013-05-24, Leslie Danks wrote:

> OTOH, gif is an acronym of "graphic interchange format" (with a hard 'g'). I
> don't know whether acronyms usually follow the pronunciation of the entities
> from which they are derived.

Well, "grif" would've been unambiguous.


--
svn ci -m 'come back make, all is forgiven!' build.xml

[Adam Funk]

On 2013-05-23, Stan Brown wrote:

> On Thu, 23 May 2013 12:36:36 +0100, Adam Funk wrote:
>>
>> It turns out that the man who invented the Graphics Interchange Format
>> says that "gif" should only be pronounced with a /j/.
>>
>> http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/05/22/jif_gif/
>
> The article actually says it should be pronounced "jif" and "with a
> soft G". Is that /j/, or /dj/? (That's a real question, not
> disguised snark. :-)

My error: should have been "j" or /dZ/.


--
Destiny is what you are supposed to do in life. Fate is what kicks
you in the ass to make you do it. --- Henry Miller

[TimC]

On 2013-05-24, pete (aka Bruce)
was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea:

I would have thought the nearest English word would have been other
words with a giga- billion prefix, such as gigaHertz (hard G).

For this purpose, I would tend to follow the cheese eating surrender
monkeys and ask them how they defined "giga" in the SI prefix
standards.

--
TimC
I saw a slow moving, sad faced old gentleman as he bounced off the
roof of my car. -- insurance claim

[Christian Weisgerber]

Eric Walker <em...@owlcroft.com> wrote:

> Just so: giant, gigantic, gibber, gibberelic (acid), gibbet, gibbous,
> gibe, giblets, Gibralter, Gibran (Kahlil), and on and on. Words
> beginning with gi- that have a hard G seem to be exceptions (gib, gibbon,
> gid, giddy, gift, &c).

The basic pattern for initial g before i and e is this:
* Loans from Old Norse have /g/: fish gills
* Those from Old French have /dZ/: liquid gills
* In words that were transmitted from Old English, it's /j/ and
spelled y: yield

--
Christian "naddy" Weisgerber na...@mips.inka.de

[Leo]

On Thursday, 23 May 2013 21:06:36 UTC+9:30, Adam Funk wrote:
> It turns out that the man who invented the Graphics Interchange Format
>
> says that "gif" should only be pronounced with a /j/.
>
>
>
> http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/05/22/jif_gif/
>
>

Use gif, not jif. And gaypeg, not jaypeg.
Smash the system!

[Glenn Knickerbocker]

On 5/24/2013 5:50 AM, Eric Walker wrote:
> gibe, giblets, Gibralter, Gibran (Kahlil), and on and on. Words
> beginning with gi- that have a hard G seem to be exceptions

Only if you never associate with the commoners. Soft-G words come from
Romance languages. Hard-G words are Anglo-Saxon.

Some borrowings have even migrated from soft to hard as they joined the
English language, like "gewgaw" and "gecko"--the latter not even
originally spelled with a G. That suggests to me that soft G was
historically the exception and has been Anglicized into hard G.

¬R

[David DeLaney]

On 2013-05-24, Eric Walker <em...@owlcroft.com> wrote:
> Just so: giant, gigantic, gibber, gibberelic (acid), gibbet, gibbous,
> gibe, giblets, Gibralter, Gibran (Kahlil), and on and on.

"Have you ever ... tried pronouncing the G ... as a K?"

Wait, wrong Monty Python sketch.

Dave, what a silly gunt

[Leo]

On Thursday, 23 May 2013 21:06:36 UTC+9:30, Adam Funk wrote:
> It turns out that the man who invented the Graphics Interchange Format
>
> says that "gif" should only be pronounced with a /j/.
>

Aslo in "Human Gnome Project".

[Adam Funk]

Or the Garden Genome Project.


--
A recent study conducted by Harvard University found that the average
American walks about 900 miles a year. Another study by the AMA found
that Americans drink, on average, 22 gallons of alcohol a year. This
means, on average, Americans get about 41 miles to the gallon.
http://www.cartalk.com/content/average-americans-mpg

[Adam Funk]

I like that, especially the 3rd bit.

What about loans from *New* French? ;-)

I was surprised to learn that the (US) National Bureau of Standards
picked the /dZ/ pronunciation decades ago. I honestly think it's been
rare for me to hear that one.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giga-#Pronunciation


--
You're the last hope for vaudeville.
--- Groucho Marx to Alice Cooper

[Adam Funk]

On 2013-05-24, TimC wrote:

> I would have thought the nearest English word would have been other
> words with a giga- billion prefix, such as gigaHertz (hard G).
>
> For this purpose, I would tend to follow the cheese eating surrender
> monkeys and ask them how they defined "giga" in the SI prefix
> standards.

They pronounce it /ʒiɡa/ (with the sound in the middle of "azure" or
"measure").


--
War is God's way of teaching Americans geography.
[Ambrose Bierce]

[jgharston]

Mike Barnes wrote:
> Well, yes, but it's not really for him to say is it? The world has

> decided that the hard G is acceptable, and he's just going to have to
> get used to that.

The world has decided that 'graphics' starts with a hard 'g',
consequently, Graphics Interchange Format starts with a hard 'g'.

And JIF is a different type of file format, a mild caustic cleaner,
prepacked lemon juice for people to lazy to squeeze a real lemon, and
a type of peanut butter.

JGH

[Leslie Danks]

Adam Funk wrote:

> On 2013-05-24, Christian Weisgerber wrote:
>
>> Eric Walker <em...@owlcroft.com> wrote:
>>
>>> Just so: giant, gigantic, gibber, gibberelic (acid), gibbet, gibbous,
>>> gibe, giblets, Gibralter, Gibran (Kahlil), and on and on. Words
>>> beginning with gi- that have a hard G seem to be exceptions (gib,
>>> gibbon, gid, giddy, gift, &c).
>>
>> The basic pattern for initial g before i and e is this:
>> * Loans from Old Norse have /g/: fish gills
>> * Those from Old French have /dZ/: liquid gills
>> * In words that were transmitted from Old English, it's /j/ and
>> spelled y: yield
>
>
> I like that, especially the 3rd bit.
>
> What about loans from *New* French? ;-)
>
> I was surprised to learn that the (US) National Bureau of Standards
> picked the /dZ/ pronunciation decades ago. I honestly think it's been
> rare for me to hear that one.

I've never heard it (or even thought it).

> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giga-#Pronunciation

...which also says:
[quote]
In 1998, a poll by the phonetician John C. Wells found that 84% of Britons
preferred the pronunciation of gigabyte starting with /ɡɪ/ (as in gig), 9%
with /dʒɪ/ (as in jig), 6% with /ɡaɪ/ (guy), and 1% with /dʒaɪ/ (as in
giant)
[/quote]

[Skitt]

Eric Walker wrote:

> pete wrote:

>> How do you pronounce "gigabyte"?
>
> No one asked me, but with a soft G; a hard-G pronunciations makes me
> wince every time.
>
>> The nearest English word is "gigantic".
>
> Just so: giant, gigantic, gibber, gibberelic (acid), gibbet, gibbous,
> gibe, giblets, Gibralter, Gibran (Kahlil), and on and on. Words
> beginning with gi- that have a hard G seem to be exceptions (gib, gibbon,
> gid, giddy, gift, &c).
>

Jonathan Gibralter? Or did you mean Gibraltar?

--
Skitt (SF Bay Area)
http://home.comcast.net/~skitt99/main.html

[Evan Kirshenbaum]

jgharston <j...@mdfs.net> writes:

> Mike Barnes wrote:
>> Well, yes, but it's not really for him to say is it? The world has
>> decided that the hard G is acceptable, and he's just going to have to
>> get used to that.
>
> The world has decided that 'graphics' starts with a hard 'g',
> consequently, Graphics Interchange Format starts with a hard 'g'.

This is, of course, the reason that the format created by the Joint
Photographic Experts Group is pronounced /dZeI fEg/ (jay-feg) and the
Phase Alternating Line television format is /pOl/ (pawl). The
Computer Emergency Response Team is /kRt/ (kert). Read-Only Memory is
/roUm/ (rome). And the compiler construction tool "yacc" (for "Yet
Another Compiler Compiler") is universally /j@l/ (yuck).

> And JIF is a different type of file format, a mild caustic cleaner,
> prepacked lemon juice for people to lazy to squeeze a real lemon, and
> a type of peanut butter.

--
Evan Kirshenbaum +------------------------------------
Still with HP Labs |Politicians are like compost--they
SF Bay Area (1982-) |should be turned often or they start
Chicago (1964-1982) |to smell bad.

evan.kir...@gmail.com

http://www.kirshenbaum.net/

[Stan Brown]

On Thu, 23 May 2013 20:59:21 -0400, Glenn Knickerbocker wrote:

>
> On 5/23/2013 6:52 PM, Stan Brown wrote:
> > The article actually says it should be pronounced "jif" and "with a
> > soft G". Is that /j/, or /dj/?
>

> No. It's /dZ/.

Thanks!

--
"The difference between the /almost right/ word and the /right/ word
is ... the difference between the lightning-bug and the lightning."
--Mark Twain
Stan Brown, Tompkins County, NY, USA http://OakRoadSystems.com

[Stan Brown]

On Fri, 24 May 2013 12:57:42 +0000 (UTC), Christian Weisgerber wrote:
> Those from Old French have /dZ/: liquid gills
>

I never knew that; I thought it was pronounced with a hard "g".

Luckily, I haven't pronounced it wrongly, ever. :-)

[Stan Brown]

Me too. At work we have occasion to talk about gigabytes or "gig"
frequently, and both g's are hard in both.

[Bill Marcum]

On 05/24/2013 03:06 PM, Adam Funk wrote:
> On 2013-05-24, TimC wrote:
>
>> I would have thought the nearest English word would have been other
>> words with a giga- billion prefix, such as gigaHertz (hard G).
>>
>> For this purpose, I would tend to follow the cheese eating surrender
>> monkeys and ask them how they defined "giga" in the SI prefix
>> standards.
>
>
> They pronounce it /ʒiɡa/ (with the sound in the middle of "azure" or
> "measure").
>
>

Like the Jackie Gleason movie "Gigot"? (Not to be confused with Gidget)

[David Hatunen]

On Fri, 24 May 2013 20:05:00 +0100, Adam Funk <a24...@ducksburg.com>
wrote:

I'm very used to the hard "g"; they used the soft "g" pronunciation
for "gigawatts" in the "Back to the Future" movies and when I rewatch
one from time to time it still bothers me.

[Adam Funk]

On 2013-05-24, Evan Kirshenbaum wrote:

> jgharston <j...@mdfs.net> writes:
>
>> Mike Barnes wrote:
>>> Well, yes, but it's not really for him to say is it? The world has
>>> decided that the hard G is acceptable, and he's just going to have to
>>> get used to that.
>>
>> The world has decided that 'graphics' starts with a hard 'g',
>> consequently, Graphics Interchange Format starts with a hard 'g'.
>
> This is, of course, the reason that the format created by the Joint
> Photographic Experts Group is pronounced /dZeI fEg/ (jay-feg) and the
> Phase Alternating Line television format is /pOl/ (pawl). The

That's just because of a freaky convention for transliteration from
Greek. They ought to be JFEG & FAL. :-P

> Computer Emergency Response Team is /kRt/ (kert). Read-Only Memory is
> /roUm/ (rome).

I thought CERT was /sRt/ (like the beginning of "certificate"); I'm
pretty sure I've only heard /rAm/ for "ROM".


--
And remember, while you're out there risking your life and limb
through shot and shell, we'll be in be in here thinking what a
sucker you are. [Rufus T. Firefly]

[Adam Funk]

That's the only American /dZ/ pronunciation I think I've ever heard.
I occasionally hear it in the UK, but it's still mostly /g/.


--
Some say the world will end in fire; some say in segfaults.
[XKCD 312]

[annily]

On 25.05.13 19:49, Adam Funk wrote:
> On 2013-05-24, Evan Kirshenbaum wrote:
>
>> jgharston <j...@mdfs.net> writes:
>>
>>> Mike Barnes wrote:
>>>> Well, yes, but it's not really for him to say is it? The world has
>>>> decided that the hard G is acceptable, and he's just going to have to
>>>> get used to that.
>>>
>>> The world has decided that 'graphics' starts with a hard 'g',
>>> consequently, Graphics Interchange Format starts with a hard 'g'.
>>
>> This is, of course, the reason that the format created by the Joint
>> Photographic Experts Group is pronounced /dZeI fEg/ (jay-feg) and the
>> Phase Alternating Line television format is /pOl/ (pawl). The
>
> That's just because of a freaky convention for transliteration from
> Greek. They ought to be JFEG & FAL. :-P
>
>> Computer Emergency Response Team is /kRt/ (kert). Read-Only Memory is
>> /roUm/ (rome).
>
> I thought CERT was /sRt/ (like the beginning of "certificate"); I'm
> pretty sure I've only heard /rAm/ for "ROM".
>
>

Likewise. I think (hope) that Evan was being facetious.

--
Lifelong resident of Adelaide, South Australia

[Evan Kirshenbaum]

Adam Funk <a24...@ducksburg.com> writes:

> On 2013-05-24, Evan Kirshenbaum wrote:
>
>> jgharston <j...@mdfs.net> writes:
>>
>>> Mike Barnes wrote:
>>>> Well, yes, but it's not really for him to say is it? The world has
>>>> decided that the hard G is acceptable, and he's just going to have to
>>>> get used to that.
>>>
>>> The world has decided that 'graphics' starts with a hard 'g',
>>> consequently, Graphics Interchange Format starts with a hard 'g'.
>>
>> This is, of course, the reason that the format created by the Joint
>> Photographic Experts Group is pronounced /dZeI fEg/ (jay-feg) and the
>> Phase Alternating Line television format is /pOl/ (pawl). The
>
> That's just because of a freaky convention for transliteration from
> Greek. They ought to be JFEG & FAL. :-P
>
>> Computer Emergency Response Team is /kRt/ (kert). Read-Only Memory is
>> /roUm/ (rome).
>
> I thought CERT was /sRt/ (like the beginning of "certificate"); I'm
> pretty sure I've only heard /rAm/ for "ROM".

Why exactly did you assume I was being serious about "CERT" and "ROM",
but not "JPEG" and "PAL"?

--
Evan Kirshenbaum +------------------------------------
Still with HP Labs |Never attempt to teach a pig to
SF Bay Area (1982-) |sing; it wastes your time and
Chicago (1964-1982) |annoys the pig.
| Robert Heinlein
evan.kir...@gmail.com

http://www.kirshenbaum.net/

[Evan Kirshenbaum]

Adam Funk <a24...@ducksburg.com> writes:

> On 2013-05-25, David Hatunen wrote:
>
>> On Fri, 24 May 2013 20:05:00 +0100, Adam Funk <a24...@ducksburg.com>
>> wrote:
>
>>>I was surprised to learn that the (US) National Bureau of Standards
>>>picked the /dZ/ pronunciation decades ago. I honestly think it's been
>>>rare for me to hear that one.
>>>
>>>https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giga-#Pronunciation
>>
>> I'm very used to the hard "g"; they used the soft "g" pronunciation
>> for "gigawatts" in the "Back to the Future" movies and when I rewatch
>> one from time to time it still bothers me.
>
>
> That's the only American /dZ/ pronunciation I think I've ever heard.
> I occasionally hear it in the UK, but it's still mostly /g/.

I heard "gigahertz" pronouncced with /dZ/ back in the early '90s by
the (American) inventor of the first portable cesium beam atomic
clock, Len Cutler. I was very surprised. I can't be sure I've heard
it again from an American in a technical field.

--
Evan Kirshenbaum +------------------------------------
Still with HP Labs |The only man I know who behaves
SF Bay Area (1982-) |sensibly is my tailor; he takes my
Chicago (1964-1982) |measurements anew each time he sees
|me. The rest go on with their old
evan.kir...@gmail.com |measurements and expect me to fit
|them.
http://www.kirshenbaum.net/ |
| Shaw, _Man and Superman_

[Odysseus]

In article <9NiMy0Sj...@34klh41lk4h1lk34h3lk4h1k4.invalid>,
Mike Barnes <mikeba...@gmail.com> wrote:

> pete <pfi...@mindspring.com>:

<snip>

> >How do you pronounce "gigabyte"?
> >

> >The nearest English word is "gigantic".
>

> Yebbut "giga" is Greek, isn't it?

If modern Greek has the prefix, I suppose it would be transcribed as
"ghiya-".

--
Odysseus

[Adam Funk]

On 2013-05-25, Evan Kirshenbaum wrote:

> Adam Funk <a24...@ducksburg.com> writes:
>> On 2013-05-25, David Hatunen wrote:

>>> I'm very used to the hard "g"; they used the soft "g" pronunciation
>>> for "gigawatts" in the "Back to the Future" movies and when I rewatch
>>> one from time to time it still bothers me.
>>
>>
>> That's the only American /dZ/ pronunciation I think I've ever heard.
>> I occasionally hear it in the UK, but it's still mostly /g/.
>
> I heard "gigahertz" pronouncced with /dZ/ back in the early '90s by
> the (American) inventor of the first portable cesium beam atomic
> clock, Len Cutler. I was very surprised. I can't be sure I've heard
> it again from an American in a technical field.

Maybe he knew a thing or two about flux capacitors. Did you get a
sense of déjà vu when you met him?


--
Slade was the coolest band in England. They were the kind of guys
that would push your car out of a ditch. --- Alice Cooper

[Adam Funk]

On 2013-05-25, Evan Kirshenbaum wrote:

> Adam Funk <a24...@ducksburg.com> writes:
>
>> On 2013-05-24, Evan Kirshenbaum wrote:

>>> This is, of course, the reason that the format created by the Joint
>>> Photographic Experts Group is pronounced /dZeI fEg/ (jay-feg) and the
>>> Phase Alternating Line television format is /pOl/ (pawl). The
>>
>> That's just because of a freaky convention for transliteration from
>> Greek. They ought to be JFEG & FAL. :-P
>>
>>> Computer Emergency Response Team is /kRt/ (kert). Read-Only Memory is
>>> /roUm/ (rome).
>>
>> I thought CERT was /sRt/ (like the beginning of "certificate"); I'm
>> pretty sure I've only heard /rAm/ for "ROM".
>
> Why exactly did you assume I was being serious about "CERT" and "ROM",
> but not "JPEG" and "PAL"?

Nuts. For some reason my brain missed the /f/ in JPEG & the /O/ in
PAL didn't seem quite so weird.


--
It is probable that television drama of high caliber and produced by
first-rate artists will materially raise the level of dramatic taste
of the nation. (David Sarnoff, CEO of RCA, 1939; in Stoll 1995)

[pete]

I *liked* the way that "gigawatts" sounded in Back To The Future,
and it is for that very reason that I use that pronunciation.

--
pete

[Peter Moylan]

On 24/05/13 20:17, Leslie Danks wrote:
> OTOH, gif is an acronym of "graphic interchange format" (with a hard 'g'). I
> don't know whether acronyms usually follow the pronunciation of the entities
> from which they are derived.

We pronounce the "u" in "Qantas".

--
Peter Moylan, Newcastle, NSW, Australia. http://www.pmoylan.org
For an e-mail address, see my web page.