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Comment by biot | Hacker News Reader

I know this ship has sailed, but the G in GIF is pronounced like in "gin", not like in "gig".

As a student of philosophy of language I love/hate this debate. I'll say this, I feel badly for people who think the creator gets to control the pronunciation. Hopefully the prescriptivists will learn language evolves irregardless of whether we want it to. Whenever you think you have firm rules, you will find they will change momentarily. Let me know if you spot what I snuck in there.

<3 <3

We were just talking about this yesterday with some friends, and they put it nicely as "Language has no master"

Perhaps more accurately put, the "English language has no master."

Many--perhaps most--European languages, do have prescriptivist masters. Spanish, French, German, Portuguese, Russian, and dozens more.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_language_regulators

Even then, those "masters" only have limited control of the language.

You snuck in "irregardless" and I claim my $5 reward.

(Maybe you also snuck in "hopefully": http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/hopeful... )

Please, I expect better than that from HN!

Think there are a few more - "feel badly", "momentarily"

Good eye. Only one more!

No second clause in the "whether"? That's "sneaking out", though.

Also, feh, descriptivists...

It's "snuck" rather than "sneaked." Considered incorrect by many for nearly 50 or so years.

Seriously? "Snuck" is incorrect? That's the first time I hear about this.

It's not though, that's the entire point. All usages except irregardless, which is well on its way, are considered correct, though not so in the past.

Also, snuck is the last accepted irregular verb, rather than pronoun.

Sneaked?

Yep

I should of known its a loosing battle.

I upvoted this 10 times, even though it counts once. Thank you, scoofy.

You really should have done it 9 or 11 times. :P

I notice you couldn't bring yourself to use the modern oxymoronic definition of "literally"

Then they should've called it Jif. Tasty, tasty Jif.

Also, my handle is pronounced "James Luxury Yacht". Which is in turn pronounced "Throatwobbler Mangrove".

As the initialization for Graphics Interchange Format, a hard g is just as appropriate as a soft g.

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