3 ms·
language evolves. How the creator of a word pronounced a thing is irrelevant. Witness essentially every word in the English dictionary. None (possibly literally
by masukomi 6y ago
language evolves. How the creator of a word pronounced a thing is irrelevant. Witness essentially every word in the English dictionary. None (possibly literally) of them are pronounced as they originally were (frequently not spelled as they originally were either) unless they are _very_ new.
the "correct" pronunciation is whatever the community decides, despite what we may individually think of it.
As such "jif" is decidedly _not_ the "correct" pronunciation because essentially the entire community says "gif"
"jif" would be the "archaic" pronunciation. Technically valid, but not used by anyone except for hold-outs and people who refuse to accept modern pronunciation standards.
- dylan604 6y agoYou remind me of a history teacher I had in high school that lectured me in front of the entire class on how my name was being mispronounced based on the way it was spelled. At the time, I just thought to myself "what an idiot" and carried on with my life.
- Cyberspy 6y agoIn the UK, the shop Lidl was supposed to be pronounced Lie-del and I think that is how it is pronounced in Europe. But, everyone pronounced it with a short 'i' and now they've adopted that in adverts - 'Every little [lidl] helps' - doesn't work if you pronounce it Lie-del! If they wanted it pronounced Lie-del - they should have spelt it like that - Lidle!