Let's End the GIF/JIF Pronunciation Debate Right Now

lifehacker.com

3 pointsourmandave3 comments

The creator should determine the pronunciation. If Knuth says that the X in TeX is the Greek letter Chi, it's Chi.

The frustrating thing is that there's no movement to pronounce JPEG as jay-pheg. That "P" stands for photographic, after all.

That would be the nail in the coffin for language change.

If creators dictate the terms of use for language we wouldn't have dialects or pidgin languages. The English language would not exist in itself given it's a melting pot of Anglo-Saxon, French, German, Greek, and a few other sources. We would still be speaking Old or Middle English.

Linguistic prescriptivism is bad, mmmmmkay

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