Author Topic: Not A Thread About MEGAß¥TE (Read 27273 times)

Lizard Dude · « **on:** February 14, 2009, 06:48:06 PM »

Do you pronounce gigabyte correctly, like the greeks and Emmett Brown? Or are you a sheep, caving to the perverted language of the masses?

Rao · « **Reply #1 on:** February 14, 2009, 07:42:31 PM »

I pronounce "gigabyte" correctly.

Boo Dudley · « **Reply #2 on:** February 14, 2009, 08:21:45 PM »

I pronounce it with a mouthful of tapioca pudding.

Lizard Dude · « **Reply #3 on:** February 14, 2009, 10:34:28 PM »

Well I see there are 7 people mispronouncing gigabyte so far.

Do you say "gig-antic" too, for gigantic? Because it's the same prefix.

Chupperson Weird · « **Reply #4 on:** February 14, 2009, 11:07:36 PM »

I challenge the statement that the Greeks said "jiga-". In fact, the root, γίγας, would be pronounced roughly like "yi-iyas", much like the correct pronunciation of "gyros".

bobman37 · « **Reply #5 on:** February 14, 2009, 11:09:47 PM »

Correct or not, I think if I heard someone refer to gigabyte with the same pronunciation as gigolo, I would consider them a gigantic tool factory.

Chupperson Weird · « **Reply #6 on:** February 14, 2009, 11:12:31 PM »

Come now, you do have to give Doc Brown some credit for adhering to the National Bureau of Standards.
That said, however, the pronunciation was intended to be "gig a" and not "jig a" when they invented it in the '20s.

Lizard Dude · « **Reply #7 on:** February 14, 2009, 11:49:36 PM »

Uhh, that's talking about a proposal of a guy in the '20s but if the first written usage is from 1947, like the OED says, I don't think German pronunciation proposals from 30 years before the word became real count for anything. Furthermore, it appears that all dictionaries listed "jigga" as the only correct pronunciation up until the last couple decades.

If you say "gig a byte", I sure hope you also say "gig antic", "gim nasium", and "va guy na".

Chupperson Weird · « **Reply #8 on:** February 15, 2009, 01:00:23 AM »

Half of those don't even have a common root.
Anyway, I've made my point already... neither one of the pronunciations is even close to the Greek root, and as far as I can tell, the j-pronunciation isn't in favor anymore. Also, what happened to your revelation that dictionaries are descriptive, not prescriptive?

ShadowBrain · « **Reply #9 on:** February 15, 2009, 08:30:33 AM »

The Greeks didn't invent computer chips, so I'm not pronouncing it "jigabyte".

Luigison · « **Reply #10 on:** February 15, 2009, 08:58:06 AM »

I don't care how anybody pronounces it. I think it's much more important to know what is meant by the prefix "giga-". Does it mean 1,073,741,824 or 1,024,000,000? I guess that depends on if you are using computers or selling them. Or does it simply mean 10 to the 9th power? Which reminds me of the origins of a billion. We now accept 10⁹ to be a billion, but it was originally used as by-million or million-million which is 10¹².

It wasn't how someone pronounced "giga-" that cost us "billions" of dollars and a lost satellite to Mars. It was a mistake with converting numbers.

P.S. I was going to post this as a poll titled "Not A Thread About Lizard Dude", but there have been way too many copy-cat thread lately and I didn't want to start another one.

Edit: to -> too

ShadowBrain · « **Reply #11 on:** February 15, 2009, 09:04:31 AM »

On a somewhat related note, would one refer to an animated picture as a "jif" or a "gif"? Because I was pronouncing it as the latter, but I've been told it's the former.

Glorb · « **Reply #12 on:** February 15, 2009, 09:13:18 AM »

I say Gig a byte. Jig a byte is for grammar losers who like to pronounce cool-sounding words in their lame-sounding proper way, like saying "meme" so it sounds like "mimi".

ShadowBrain · « **Reply #13 on:** February 15, 2009, 09:16:12 AM »

True, Jlorb.

Chupperson Weird · « **Reply #14 on:** February 15, 2009, 10:29:40 AM »

The "correct" pronunciation of GIF is "jif" according to its creators. I don't use the correct pronunciation.

Boo Dudley · « **Reply #15 on:** February 15, 2009, 11:34:04 AM »

ShadowBrain · « **Reply #16 on:** February 15, 2009, 03:40:47 PM »

Yeah, I know...

BP · « **Reply #17 on:** February 15, 2009, 06:08:25 PM »

I've been pronouncing it wrong? I had no idea. May I vote for the correct pronunciation if I will now start saying it right?

dc804 · « **Reply #18 on:** February 15, 2009, 10:39:17 PM »

Quote from: Chupperson Weird on February 15, 2009, 10:29:40 AM

The "correct" pronunciation of GIF is "jif" according to its creators. I don't use the correct pronunciation.

Me either. And I say "gig a bite". But "jig a bite" sounds sexy.

Rao · « **Reply #19 on:** February 21, 2009, 01:32:26 AM »

I don't pronounce GIF as "jif," and I plan never to do so. The same goes for "gigabyte."

Sqrt2 · « **Reply #20 on:** February 24, 2009, 03:19:44 AM »

Quote from: Luigison on February 15, 2009, 08:58:06 AM

I don't care how anybody pronounces it. I think it's much more important to know what is meant by the prefix "giga-". Does it mean 1,073,741,824 or 1,024,000,000? I guess that depends on if you are using computers or selling them. Or does it simply mean 10 to the 9th power?

Computers are based on the binary system. Therefore, a gigabyte is 2⁹ bytes.

Oh, and I pronounce it gig-a-bite, by the way.

Eclipsed Moon · « **Reply #21 on:** February 24, 2009, 04:14:12 AM »

2⁹ bytes would be half a kibibyte. 2³⁰ (= 1,024³ for how the units are divided) bytes is a gibibyte, and 10⁹ bytes is a gigabyte. I use these when I feel I need to be unambiguous, but most of the time I'll use "gigabyte" for either. I wouldn't define it as 1,024,000,000 in any case, as that would be 1,024 megabytes as opposed to mebibytes, mixing SI and binary prefixes;10⁶×2¹⁰ bytes.

EDIT: parenthetical statement placed next to wrong number. Oops for math.

Poll

I say

Author Topic: Not A Thread About MEGAß¥TE (Read 27273 times)