this post was submitted on 18 Jan 2024
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[–] [email protected] 6 points 11 months ago (2 children)

I just don’t think that usual linguistic rules should apply to a thing that a guy literally invented and named.

The person who invented it gets to name it.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Except he didn't invent the words used to name what he invented. If he had just named it gif and pronounced it jif and non of those letters stood for anything I would see your point, but he didn't. He named it graphic interchange format, shortened to gif. That said, who gives a shit pronounce it how you want. Language evolves anyways.

[–] hardaysknight 8 points 11 months ago
[–] samus12345 7 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

Nobody pronounces it with a hard G because of what the G stands for. Acronyms don't work like that. They do it because a hard G is more common when starting words in English than a soft one.

[–] [email protected] -2 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Sure, but that doesn't change anything in my mind. Descriptivism FTW!

[–] samus12345 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)

You better be consistent, then! Jfeg!

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago

Huh? I don't follow.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 11 months ago

Except... all words are invented by someone, sometime.