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What's the most petty/pointless/pedantic hill you're willing to die on?
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this post was submitted on 23 Aug 2024
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Agreed. I think since the “G” stands for “graphics” it should be pronounced like the G in graphics.
But why? We don't pronounce any other acronyms like that, so why treat GIF different? The U in SCUBA isn't pronounced like it is in Underwater. The first A in CAPTCHA isn't pronounced the same as in Automated and the CH isn't split up to be pronounced like Computer and Human. The second A in NASA isn't pronounced like in Administration and the I in PIN doesn't get pronounced like Identification.
We read acronyms as their own words, not as a collection of the first sounds of each constituent word.
Tbf, you're pointing out the vowels which make the sounds needed to pronounce the acronym as a word. But I get it, either way, we're pronouncing the word as a standalone word.
Right in the same neighborhood... Jpeg (photographic)
The S in laser is changed from Lassy to Lazy.
🤷 just cause?
Also, “gift”
Have any examples where the first letter of the acronym isn’t pronounced the same? (I’m sure there are some)
AWOL, OSHA, AIDS, ICE
UFO, not that that’s a super relevant question if we’re already admitting that our opinions are “just cause.” I think at that point the better question is “if just cause, why is there such a split in opinions?”
I think the reason GIF is so contentious is that if we can there’s a tendency to make acronyms sound like words if possible. FUBAR and SCUBA are pronounced the way they are because we’re trained from words like tuba to see the UBA and use a long U. Something like “oofo” (or “uh-fo” as you would likely argue) for UFO sounds like half a word, hence pronouncing the letters individually. The thing about GIF is that both pronunciations sound like a word, and so both feel valid enough that there can be a split in opinions. Any arguments one way or the other is just trying to justify a gut feeling about which way is “proper.”
To be fair, UFO is an initialism, not an acronym. But at the same time, if it was, I think it'd still be an example, because we'd likely pronounce the U like "oo" (as in "boo"), lol
Nearly all acronyms are technically initialisms
Nah, there's plenty of both, even mixed in very similar subject matter. Example:
An ATM (initialism) takes a card then asks you for its PIN (acronym).
I always respond that in that case, "jpeg" should be pronounced "jfeg".