rpw3@fortune.UUCP (05/05/84)
#R:ihuxl:-108100:fortune:9700007:000:2342 fortune!rpw3 May 4 20:05:00 1984 Webster's New Collegiate (1981) lists the prefix "giga-" and gives BOTH pronunciations, albeit the soft-G version first [page 481]: giga- \'jig-e, 'gig-e\ "comb form" [ISV, fr. Gk "gigas" giant]: billion <gigaton> <gigavolt> ^ ^ [ASCII doesn't have an upside-down 'e'] ["quotes" are italics] In both cases the "i" is short, NOT long. Further down, it again gives BOTH pronunciations in the entry for gigawatt. While the soft-G (j) is probably closer to the etymology, in the introduction Webster's says [page 11a]: "The presence of variant pronunciations indicates that not all educated speakers pronounce words the same way. A second-place variant is not to be regarded as less acceptable than the pronun- ciation that is given first. It may, in fact, be used by as many educated speakers as the first variant, but the requirements of the printed page are such that one must precede the other." An example is then given of apricot \'A-pri-cot vs. 'AIY-pri-cot\. [Dare I send the NAPLPS characters?] Webster's continues: "A variant that is appreciably less common than the preceding variant is preceeded by the word "also" [italics]" The example (tranliterating) is colleague: \'KAL-eeg, "also" 'KAL-ig\. Since the word "also" was NOT used in the pronunciations of "giga-", I must conclude that the hard-G is perfectly acceptable, and may be more common in the U.S. (due to the ISV etymology). From Webster's again [page 15a]: "...whenever no positive evidence is at hand to show that [the term] was coined in English, the etymology recognizes its international status and the possibility that it originated elsewhere than in English by use of the label ISV (for International Scientific Vocabulary)." Examples given are: megawatt ... "n" [ISV] -ol ... "n suffix" [ISV, fr. "alcohol"] I myself had never heard the soft-G used for "giga-" until recently, and had quite snottily "corrected" an associate who had the temerity to use it in my presence! ;-} Note: This is possibly because I was raised in the Southeast. The "jiga-" sound (phonetic prefix) was "just not used", unless one was deliberately being racist. |-< Rob Warnock UUCP: {ihnp4,ucbvax!amd70,hpda,harpo,sri-unix,allegra}!fortune!rpw3 DDD: (415)595-8444 USPS: Fortune Systems Corp, 101 Twin Dolphin Drive, Redwood City, CA 94065
jsq@ut-sally.UUCP (05/06/84)
I suppose the use of Webster's constitutes spreading rumors.... -- John Quarterman, CS Dept., University of Texas, Austin, Texas 78712 USA jsq@ut-sally.ARPA, jsq@ut-sally.UUCP, {ihnp4,seismo,ctvax}!ut-sally!jsq
mp@ganehd.UUCP (Scott Barman @ Univ. of Ga.) (05/10/84)
< Bugs like these keeps us systems programmers employed > Hey guys, this is net.rumor! Why don't you move this discussion to net.nlang! That's what it's there for!!! (flame away! They will be routed to /dev/null!)
leon@hhb.UUCP (05/11/84)
[I know many people who laugh, but none who 'JUY gle'] Webster has long been known as extremely lax on matters of usage. If that's the way it was used in the Daily News, then it's ok with Webster! "the opinions expressed here probably belong to someone...."