• @Cronization
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    2 years ago

    Counterpoint: Gift

    Literally has gif in it and is pronounced with a hard ‘g’.

    • @[email protected]
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      2 years ago

      We don’t pronounced words by what other words they contain. “Americano” is not “American+o.” “Fare” is not “far+e.”

      For some reason, the hard G advocates for “gif” seem to make up fake language rules to justify pronouncing it wrong.

      • @Cronization
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        2 years ago

        Do you have any examples of words changed by adding a consonant? Additional vowels in words, such as your examples, usually change how a word is pronounced

        Also, your attack in the second paragraph is unneeded and contributes nothing to the debate. If an argument cannot be based on logic alone, I ask that you do not make it.

          • @Cronization
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            62 years ago

            I acknowledge that you fulfilled my request but personally remain unconvinced using those examples. Tom is generally a nickname for Thomas and borrows pronunciation from that.

            However I did remember the words kin and kind but there’s also tin and tint. So I’m just going to declare English overall as highly inconsistent and silly, will still pronounce gif with a hard g, but recognize that you have a different point of view. 🙂

            • @[email protected]
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              42 years ago

              Tom is a name for a male animal.

              “Bot” and “both” may be more your style. Or, to stick with g, “gin” has a soft g while “gink” has a hard g.

        • @AnUnusualRelic
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          22 years ago

          LOL, arguing about English pronunciation based on spelling? Really?

        • @Lizardking27
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          -32 years ago

          Friend this is the internet, if you’re seriously expecting 0 trash-talk with your discussions then you’re in the wrong place.

      • @Cronization
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        2 years ago

        Just because somebody who made a word wants to pronounce it a certain way doesn’t mean that’s others will pronounce it.

        Heck, look at the at history of the word tomato. Came from the native Nahuatl word tomatl, which was changed to tomate for Spanish and then tomato for English. The British are closer to both the native Nahuatl and Spanish pronunciations of the word but few Americans will say it as “tuh-maa-tow”.

        • snowe
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          32 years ago

          I mean that’s literally how it works. You pronounced the peanut butter with a soft J. You probably pronounce Lyft as Lift and JoS A Bank as Joseph A Bank. What a company chooses to name its product (gif was a product trying to be sold to software devs) they can choose however they want it to be pronounced. If you stop thinking of gif as a normal word and more as a product that was and continues to be sold then it makes a lot more sense why they literally gave it a catchphrase; “choosy developers choose gif”

          • @WindyRebel
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            2 years ago

            And the person we’re responding here to also uses an example of language that evolved to what it is over a 300 year period FROM changes that happened between language barriers - Central American natives to Spanish to English (of which there are 2 variations).

            The hard G or soft are pronounceable by the majority of the world. It’s not really a language barrier or change - it’s just inability to admit that maybe they were wrong in how they read it in their head and make the verbal change when evidence is provided.

            With that said, they can continue to pronounce it with a hard g but it’s just being obstinate at this point.