I think I get the gist of this.
(Pronounced with a hard G) ::: this has been another episode of “Explain The Joke Peter”! :::
Finally, a religious argument that makes sense.
I always felt like this was a weird argument. Language is always in flux. It’s why the definition of “literally” now includes a definition that it’s a synonym of “figuratively” since people used it that was so much.
If enough people think gif should be pronounced like “god”, then it should. If the “jif” pronunciation has enough people who use it, then that’s valid, too. Hell, if a bunch of people started legitimately saying it should be a homonym with the word “plankton,” even that’d be valid.
Words are about conveying meaning; the same meaning is intended with both pronunciations, and understood by the people hearing it. There’s nothing to argue about.
Gif is a proper noun and a computer product. It’s not a simple word like “arse”. This would be like people saying Nike should be pronounced “Nick” and the company “Nike” is yelling “no it’s Nike! Like the god!” And people are just like, “nah I don’t care what you want your company to be called, I’m calling it something else.”
If enough people pronounce it differently, then it’s a valid way to pronounce it.
It doesn’t matter if it’s a proper noun, the word is still meant to convey meaning and as long as it effectively does that for the population in general, it’s valid.
There exist countries where Nike rhymes with the name Mike in their language. I’m unwilling to tell people they’re not allowed to pronounce it the way their majority does.
We’ve solidly been talking about English this whole time, since the entire basis for the pronunciation is that it’s a play on an English advertisement “choosy developers choose gif”. I’m not going to argue with other languages. Just like with the dude that is pulling out Ancient Greek, if anyone still speaks that they yeah they can pronounce Nike differently, otherwise it’s a translation to English.
Even English doesn’t have one size fits all rules. Language is social and regional. If one English speaking country pronounces zebra as “zee-bra” and another pronounces it as “zeh-bra” they’re both right.
In English the word “Island” has an ‘s’ in it. This was originally done by someone purposely adding the ‘s’ to make the word look more Latin, even though the English word “eiland” has no Latin root.
So if the original intended usage matters I hope you also correct everyone who uses “island” and tell them “you know it’s spelled eiland right?”
Island isn’t a proper noun, nor a product.
Neither is .gif, it’s a file type. Demonstrated by the fact that you haven’t capitalized it in any of your posts.
Proper nouns have no requirement to be capitalized in modern English. It’s a proper noun and a product.
and the company “Nike” is yelling “no it’s Nike! Like the god!”
So in this example, are they yelling it like their namesake is actually pronounced ( [niː́kɛː] , the i like in “flee”, the e like in “bad”), or in the english pronounciation (i like in “die”, e like in “flee”)?
Oh good! Someone that thinks there’s multiple ways to pronounce it. Thankfully wiktionary only has a single IPA pronunciation for both the shoe and the brand and they’re the same.
ˈnaɪkiː. Though I do appreciate you pulling out the Ancient Greek pronunciation as a “gotcha”.Thankfully wiktionary
Okay, so common consensus is a valid source then?
Your arguments are inane. Please stop talking to me.
Generally “sane” people just stop talking to people they do not wish to hear from. When you don’t reply to people they tend to not reply back.
Talking to someone in order to say you don’t want to talk to them is…
I didn’t say insane, I said “inane”. Please learn to read.
Thankfully wiktionary only has a single IPA pronunciation for both the shoe and the brand and they’re the same.
ˈnaɪkiː.In English. It’s not even an english word though.
My point, which you seem to not understand, is that the company doesn’t define how the name is pronounced (especially if they would go “like the godess”). It was a word before they used it. And “gif” is an acronym first, regardless of what the creator of the image format might think.
My point, which you seem to not understand, is that the company doesn’t define how the name is pronounced
They do. They created the product they get to create the pronunciation.
It was a word before they used it.
Are you talking about Nike or gif, cause gif was not a word before.
And “gif” is an acronym first, regardless of what the creator of the image format might think.
… this has no bearing on the pronunciation at all.
the “literally means figuratively now” argument is stupid, saying it in non literal scenarios is used as hyperbole. You would never say “I’m figuratively dying of thirst”
I wasn’t trying to discredit the validity of its use, I was trying to say that it’s valid specifically because it’s used. It doesn’t matter if you want to say “I’m figuratively dying of thirst.” or “I’m literally dying of thirst.” since they convey the same meaning, and are interpreted as such by the listener.
I think most people who argue this either way aren’t actually serious about it. You do have solid points, however.
Regardless, I will continue to argue about this point (opposite of whatever side whoever I’m talking to is taking) until it feels more annoying than fun to me.
I bet people have always argued about language like this and people have been killed over some pronunciation before. Ce la vie?
okay Jraphics Interchange Format
jif is peanut butter not meme
It’s an acronym, people! Say it right:
“Gee” “Eye” “Eff”
…or impress us all with your knowledge: Graphics Interchange Format.
Make CompuServe proud.
pronunciation of the words that make up an acronym have nothing to do with how you pronounce an acronym. see: atm is ay tee emm not aw tel mah nor is it atom. it’s just however it would make sense as a standalone word. some make a single sound and some require letter by letter and some combine.
soft ‘g’ jif makes perfect sense and is what the creator said is the the way it’s pronounced. hard ‘g’ gif sounds like someone saying ‘gift’ got candlejacked, thank you for coming to my ted tal
NASA, not NAySA, SCUBA, not SCUBbA, LASER, not LASsER. Many such cases.
ATM is not an acronym, though, just an initialism, so the letters are pronounced individually.
All initialisms are acronyms
From that link:
The word acronym typically applies when the resulting thing can be read as a word; for example, radar comes from “radio detection and ranging” and scuba comes from “self-contained underwater breathing apparatus.” The word initialism only applies when the resulting thing is read as an abbreviation; for example DIY, which comes from “do it yourself,” is pronounced by saying the names of the letters.
Right, typically, not exclusively.
If it’s an acronym it wouldn’t be pronounced like that, that would be an initialism.
What about this fucking radio station in Germany?:
I loved Idea Channel.
Here’s an idea: bring back Idea Channel
The perfect compromise.
We should normalize adding gif gif after tomato tomato.
I start pronouncing it yiff whenever someone complains. Eventually they beg me to say it how I want to say it.
gif pronunciation rights are human rights
Linearity uses LASER ARGUMENT!
LASER is actually an acronym that stands for “Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation” however it is widely pronounced as “lazer”.
Reason, phase, rose, busy, raise, chose, kaiser, miser, rise, lose
This will be included in Alecto The Ninth, mark my words.
It’s pronounced .jif
