this post was submitted on 17 Aug 2023
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Just a few examples that come to mind. Additionally, the pronunciation of the individual words included in an acronym DOES NOT determine the pronunciation of that acronym. See SCUBA as an example.
Good and very informative, thank you.
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I'm still gonna pronounce it (G)IF though.
This, and Gig Git Girl Gibbon Gift Gill Giddy Gigahertz Gimmick Gizzard
I always called it jit 😭
Jit is not git!
As long as you don't shame others with reasons that don't make sense, you can pronounce it gif for all I care
Sure, agree to disagree.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9iafa959JvY - Literally this but with any example either way depending on what side you're on.
It's GIF. Just because you create something doesn't mean you aren't fucking dumb. Eventually, it's no longer yours anyway lol.
Counterpoint: Gift
Literally has gif in it and is pronounced with a hard 'g'.
We don’t pronounced words by what other words they contain. “Americano” is not “American+o.” “Fare” is not “far+e.”
~~For some reason, the hard G advocates for “gif” seem to make up fake language rules to justify pronouncing it wrong.~~
Do you have any examples of words changed by adding a consonant? Additional vowels in words, such as your examples, usually change how a word is pronounced
Also, your attack in the second paragraph is unneeded and contributes nothing to the debate. If an argument cannot be based on logic alone, I ask that you do not make it.
Tom and tomb
And I agree, I’ll remove it.
I acknowledge that you fulfilled my request but personally remain unconvinced using those examples. Tom is generally a nickname for Thomas and borrows pronunciation from that.
However I did remember the words kin and kind but there's also tin and tint. So I'm just going to declare English overall as highly inconsistent and silly, will still pronounce gif with a hard g, but recognize that you have a different point of view. 🙂
Tom is a name for a male animal.
“Bot” and “both” may be more your style. Or, to stick with g, “gin” has a soft g while “gink” has a hard g.
LOL, arguing about English pronunciation based on spelling? Really?
Friend this is the internet, if you're seriously expecting 0 trash-talk with your discussions then you're in the wrong place.
Counter counter point. The inventor of the gif said it’s pronounced like the peanut butter. It’s already been settled.
Just because somebody who made a word wants to pronounce it a certain way doesn't mean that's others will pronounce it.
Heck, look at the at history of the word tomato. Came from the native Nahuatl word tomatl, which was changed to tomate for Spanish and then tomato for English. The British are closer to both the native Nahuatl and Spanish pronunciations of the word but few Americans will say it as "tuh-maa-tow".
I mean that’s literally how it works. You pronounced the peanut butter with a soft J. You probably pronounce Lyft as Lift and JoS A Bank as Joseph A Bank. What a company chooses to name its product (gif was a product trying to be sold to software devs) they can choose however they want it to be pronounced. If you stop thinking of gif as a normal word and more as a product that was and continues to be sold then it makes a lot more sense why they literally gave it a catchphrase; “choosy developers choose gif”
And the person we’re responding here to also uses an example of language that evolved to what it is over a 300 year period FROM changes that happened between language barriers - Central American natives to Spanish to English (of which there are 2 variations).
The hard G or soft are pronounceable by the majority of the world. It’s not really a language barrier or change - it’s just inability to admit that maybe they were wrong in how they read it in their head and make the verbal change when evidence is provided.
With that said, they can continue to pronounce it with a hard g but it’s just being obstinate at this point.
JPEG is the best direct example. Who pronounces the F sound?
For your SCUBA example, is it the U you're talking about?
Underwater vs oonderwater?
Scuhba vs Scooba?
Also, the A stands for Apparatus, so it should be scuhbah since it's Apparatus, not uhpparatus
Scuhba has me laughing.
Yep the U. Scubba dubba doo!
My giant german friend George Gerard gestates and raises giraffes in genuine need of gentle geriatric care. Such a gentleman.
It's jif.
The letter G itself is pronounced "jee".
Soe Wee shud spel ahll owur werds funehtikly? And if uh werd iz nott speld funehtikly itz rong?
Because that's ridiculous. You know perfectly well that letters can make different sounds depending on the word. Stop being obtuse.
do you have a problem with my ˌɡiˈʁafə
OBJECTION!!
First and foremost, pronounced Gif there
Graphics Interchange Format. Not Jraphics. Unless you spell it out as Jee-Ai-Eff
Also, git isn't spelled "jit", it's not "jit gud", nor "jit hub". Other examples that would be wrong: jirl, jirth, jiddy, jirder, jingko
Most of the 'ji' sounding words are rooted from other languages, mostly French (some of them brought over from Latin). Finally, languages where 'ge' and 'gi' sound like 'je' and 'ji' say 'Gif'
By that logic, "scuba" should be pronounced scuh-ba, and "laser" should be pronounced lah-seer.
Also "jee" is also how you say the letter "G".
Gin, Germany, giraffe, gypsy, gib, giblet. Raising examples of words that start with hard and soft Gs is absolutely pointless when both exist and are equally valid.
Why are people arguing about how an acronym is pronounced in the English language anyways? Who gives a shit? When you point out a "rule" in English, there will always be exceptions, many exceptions, to that rule. Even English doesn't even agree with English: "entree" means appetizer in Europe but main course in the US.
So why do you care so much?
Because it's always fun to poke fun at how chaotic, anarchic and directionless the english language is. Besides, some of its rules feel more like suggestions
You clearly didn't even read the whole comment. Acronyms do not need to be pronounced according to their constituent words.