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TIL When you hover over a piece of the phonetic notation on (English) Wikipedia, it shows you an example for its pronunciation
(sh.itjust.works)
this post was submitted on 26 Sep 2025
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How much time is required before something is allowed to change?
When "Iegland" was first spelled as "Island" that was wrong. It was incorrect and stupid. It wasn't okay because "Iegland has been around long enough so we can change it now." It became correct because that is how people started using it.
It's not the amount of time, it's how language is used and understood.
However long it takes for something to be more or less universally accepted. GIF's pronunciation, despite being defined and sounded out for people, is not currently widely accepted in either pronunciation, or we wouldn't be having this conversation.
How is this different from the argument that GIF being pronounced with a hard G is incorrect and stupid? It was wrong then and over much time became right.
It takes time for linguistic changes to propagate and it doesn't happen because one person decides it should change. If you walked around back when island was first invented and said "nice island" to a bunch of leglanders, they'd think you were an idiot because there hadn't been enough time for people to start using it.
It is widely accepted in both pronciations. "Aluminum" has a different pronouciation in the UK then it does in the Americas. Both are correct depending on where you are. If you hear someone use the pronouciation you're not used to it might take your half a second to mentally adjust, but you'll understand just fine and can continue the conversation.
Correct. Over time the hard G became right because that's how it was used. Notice how I am not arguing the people should actually be using "Iegland".
Which is exactly what you are arguing for.