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 94065jsq@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!jsqmp@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...."