4 ms·

"I'd like a gin and tonic." "It's pronounced 'jin'." "WHAT?! I DON'T CARE! I'LL DO WHAT I WANT!" (If people were irrational about a similar word's pronunciat

by bluthru 13y ago

"I'd like a gin and tonic." "It's pronounced 'jin'." "WHAT?! I DON'T CARE! I'LL DO WHAT I WANT!" (If people were irrational about a similar word's pronunciation.)

obviouslygreen 13y ago
That's one way to look at it... another is that "gin" is a word, and "GIF" is an acronym. If you want to pronounce it, it's "jee eye eff." This, of course, is from someone in the unapologetic hard-g camp. :)
- bluthru 13y ago
  Acronyms don't strictly take on the pronunciation of their constructive words. SCUBA, POTUS, NASA, etc. all deviate from the phonetics of the words used to construct the acronym.
  - jlgreco 13y ago
    People pronounce POTUS?
gagege 13y ago
Yes, for some reason folks get so upset at me when I tell them 'jif' is the author-intended pronunciation.
donutdan4114 13y ago
GIF is an acronym. GIF stands for Graphics Interchange Format. The word graphics starts with a "g" that sounds like gurgle, good, golf, gallbladder, gun, grapes, etc... NOT giraffe. Thus, it should be pronounce "giff". The inventor of GIF made a format, but he didn't invent acronyms. Pronouncing it like "jiff" would be like pronouncing GIF like "fignewtons". It doesn't make sense. Giff4life.
- bluthru 13y ago
  As stated elsewhere... Acronyms don't strictly take on the pronunciation of their constructive words. SCUBA, POTUS, NASA, etc. all deviate from the phonetics of the words used to construct the acronym. Why do people take this so personally?
  - jlgreco 13y ago
    > Why do people take this so personally? This is not really about an image format. Linguistic prescriptivism is the real issue.
    - snogglethorpe 13y ago
      In this case, though, the two pronunciations are roughly half-and-half anyway, so a little nudge from authority might actually make a difference... [Of course in reality, the format will probably become irrelevant, and the word forgotten, before there's any consensus on the pronunication... ^^; ]
    - waterlesscloud 13y ago
      Or people could just say "Oh, I was wrong" and adjust...
      - jlgreco 13y ago
        > wrong They are only "wrong" if you subscribe to prescriptivism... The issue, and the objections being raised by many, are not limited to this particular word. Did you read my post? it was not long.

by bluthru 13y ago

"I'd like a gin and tonic." "It's pronounced 'jin'." "WHAT?! I DON'T CARE! I'LL DO WHAT I WANT!" (If people were irrational about a similar word's pronunciation.)

obviouslygreen 13y ago

That's one way to look at it... another is that "gin" is a word, and "GIF" is an acronym. If you want to pronounce it, it's "jee eye eff." This, of course, is from someone in the unapologetic hard-g camp. :)

bluthru 13y ago
Acronyms don't strictly take on the pronunciation of their constructive words. SCUBA, POTUS, NASA, etc. all deviate from the phonetics of the words used to construct the acronym.
- jlgreco 13y ago
  People pronounce POTUS?

gagege 13y ago

Yes, for some reason folks get so upset at me when I tell them 'jif' is the author-intended pronunciation.

donutdan4114 13y ago

GIF is an acronym. GIF stands for Graphics Interchange Format. The word graphics starts with a "g" that sounds like gurgle, good, golf, gallbladder, gun, grapes, etc... NOT giraffe. Thus, it should be pronounce "giff". The inventor of GIF made a format, but he didn't invent acronyms. Pronouncing it like "jiff" would be like pronouncing GIF like "fignewtons". It doesn't make sense. Giff4life.

bluthru 13y ago
As stated elsewhere... Acronyms don't strictly take on the pronunciation of their constructive words. SCUBA, POTUS, NASA, etc. all deviate from the phonetics of the words used to construct the acronym. Why do people take this so personally?
- jlgreco 13y ago
  > Why do people take this so personally? This is not really about an image format. Linguistic prescriptivism is the real issue.
  - snogglethorpe 13y ago
    In this case, though, the two pronunciations are roughly half-and-half anyway, so a little nudge from authority might actually make a difference... [Of course in reality, the format will probably become irrelevant, and the word forgotten, before there's any consensus on the pronunication... ^^; ]
  - waterlesscloud 13y ago
    Or people could just say "Oh, I was wrong" and adjust...
    - jlgreco 13y ago
      > wrong They are only "wrong" if you subscribe to prescriptivism... The issue, and the objections being raised by many, are not limited to this particular word. Did you read my post? it was not long.