7 ms·

Yeah a better option would be "like Gift" or "like Jiffy"

by jffry 5y ago

xdennis 5y ago
Or, "Do you pronounce 'GIF' like 'giant/ginger/gibbon' or incorrectly?
- thaumasiotes 5y ago
  > Or, "Do you pronounce 'GIF' like 'giant/ginger/gibbon' or incorrectly? ...you are aware that "gibbon" isn't pronounced with /dʒ/?
bee_rider 5y ago
I think a better option would be, "Like Gila or like dagga?"
BugsJustFindMe 5y ago
A more better option would be "like Gin or like Ginkgo" because it makes it obvious that the "gift has a hard G, therefore..." people have made a mistake. So many people come up with so many fake rules for why it should have a hard G, but there are only two real rules for names, and, yes, GIF is a name (of a format). 1) If the named thing can't speak for itself, the people who named it dictate how the name is pronounced. 2) If it can speak for itself, it dictates. Nobody who isn't the named thing or its namer(s) gets to say how its name is pronounced regardless of what they think of the spelling.
- thaumasiotes 5y ago
  > because it makes it obvious that the "gift has a hard G, therefore..." people have made a mistake. That's obvious anyway; gift is one word (well, also give) swamped in a sea of other gi- words. And gift is a very strange one. What is it, a loan from Norse? You'd think, if it were a native word, that it would have turned into something more like "yift", the way we see in e.g. day, I, or yard.
  - sethammons 5y ago
    Yard -> Gard/Jard -> Garden. Mind blown.
    - thaumasiotes 5y ago
      English has a few words taken from Norse that also maintain native equivalents. See also ship / skiff[1]; shirt / skirt. [1] This one's not Norse.
- bener 5y ago
  In my opinion this is only true until the "unplanned" usage becomes mainstream. Language is always evolving. Once the majority is using the g sound from "gift" not "gin", the majority rule is correct, even though they would have been initially incorrect. Consider the changes of people's names as they migrated around the world. In NZ, we pronounce Craig as "Crayg", in the US they pronounce it "Creg", which I struggle to make sense of, but that doesn't make it wrong. There are better examples than Craig but that was the first one that came to mind.
  - dalmo3 5y ago
    At least you don't say it "Creag" as with Air NZ :D
    - bener 5y ago
      Maybe I'll start now!
  - iainmerrick 5y ago
    but that doesn't make it wrong I agree with everything you said except that bit, it’s megawrong
    - bener 5y ago
      You mean that saying Craig->Creg is wrong? It's always bothered me and it's very jarring, but if you grew up being called Creg, then it wouldn't be wrong. But it sounds so wrong to me. I feel like it doesn't make sense, because then Greg should be spelled Graig, but that's the whole point, language evolves in an inconsistent way, and the only defining point of correct pronunciation is really "how do the majority of people say it", and that is often only a regional thing too. Either way, the assertion that because something is a name it cannot evolve in pronunciation is easily disproved.
      - iainmerrick 5y ago
        I’m mostly being facetious (but only mostly)
- ZeroGravitas 5y ago
  Gin derives from Jenever and Wikipedia suggests the Dutch pronounced it differently. It's mispronounciation all the way down. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jenever https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jenever
- mypalmike 5y ago
  There are only 2 rules for making up arbitrary rules on the internet. 1) The person making up the rule can demand the rule be followed. 2) People will do what they want regardless of the earnestness of the arbitrary internet rule maker.

Yeah a better option would be "like Gift" or "like Jiffy"

by jffry 5y ago

Yeah a better option would be "like Gift" or "like Jiffy"

xdennis 5y ago

Or, "Do you pronounce 'GIF' like 'giant/ginger/gibbon' or incorrectly?

thaumasiotes 5y ago
> Or, "Do you pronounce 'GIF' like 'giant/ginger/gibbon' or incorrectly? ...you are aware that "gibbon" isn't pronounced with /dʒ/?

bee_rider 5y ago

I think a better option would be, "Like Gila or like dagga?"

BugsJustFindMe 5y ago

A more better option would be "like Gin or like Ginkgo" because it makes it obvious that the "gift has a hard G, therefore..." people have made a mistake. So many people come up with so many fake rules for why it should have a hard G, but there are only two real rules for names, and, yes, GIF is a name (of a format). 1) If the named thing can't speak for itself, the people who named it dictate how the name is pronounced. 2) If it can speak for itself, it dictates. Nobody who isn't the named thing or its namer(s) gets to say how its name is pronounced regardless of what they think of the spelling.

thaumasiotes 5y ago
> because it makes it obvious that the "gift has a hard G, therefore..." people have made a mistake. That's obvious anyway; gift is one word (well, also give) swamped in a sea of other gi- words. And gift is a very strange one. What is it, a loan from Norse? You'd think, if it were a native word, that it would have turned into something more like "yift", the way we see in e.g. day, I, or yard.
- sethammons 5y ago
  Yard -> Gard/Jard -> Garden. Mind blown.
  - thaumasiotes 5y ago
    English has a few words taken from Norse that also maintain native equivalents. See also ship / skiff[1]; shirt / skirt. [1] This one's not Norse.
bener 5y ago
In my opinion this is only true until the "unplanned" usage becomes mainstream. Language is always evolving. Once the majority is using the g sound from "gift" not "gin", the majority rule is correct, even though they would have been initially incorrect. Consider the changes of people's names as they migrated around the world. In NZ, we pronounce Craig as "Crayg", in the US they pronounce it "Creg", which I struggle to make sense of, but that doesn't make it wrong. There are better examples than Craig but that was the first one that came to mind.
- dalmo3 5y ago
  At least you don't say it "Creag" as with Air NZ :D
  - bener 5y ago
    Maybe I'll start now!
- iainmerrick 5y ago
  but that doesn't make it wrong I agree with everything you said except that bit, it’s megawrong
  - bener 5y ago
    You mean that saying Craig->Creg is wrong? It's always bothered me and it's very jarring, but if you grew up being called Creg, then it wouldn't be wrong. But it sounds so wrong to me. I feel like it doesn't make sense, because then Greg should be spelled Graig, but that's the whole point, language evolves in an inconsistent way, and the only defining point of correct pronunciation is really "how do the majority of people say it", and that is often only a regional thing too. Either way, the assertion that because something is a name it cannot evolve in pronunciation is easily disproved.
    - iainmerrick 5y ago
      I’m mostly being facetious (but only mostly)
ZeroGravitas 5y ago
Gin derives from Jenever and Wikipedia suggests the Dutch pronounced it differently. It's mispronounciation all the way down. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jenever https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jenever
mypalmike 5y ago
There are only 2 rules for making up arbitrary rules on the internet. 1) The person making up the rule can demand the rule be followed. 2) People will do what they want regardless of the earnestness of the arbitrary internet rule maker.