View Full Version : GUI and other acronyms
autodata
2004-07-26, 10:26
Some wanna-be staff member at my work just said "gooey" in a meeting, clearly in an attempt to make management think he was "techie" so maybe someday he could get some more perks in his dead-end job. I realized how long it's been since I heard it pronounced as a word rather than an acronym, but when I looked online, it appears every site claims it should be pronounced as gooey. Everyone likes to pronounce gif and png, but sometimes, like in the case of GUI, it just seems silly. Some people, like this guy today (who, incidentally, I really don't like) use it as a crutch to make up for the fact that they don't have enough of an interest to really learn anything. I like that MySQL makes a point not to be "my sequel." In a way, it goes against usability priniciples to have hidden ways of pronouncing acronyms. Sometimes, like in the case of UNMOVIC, it's obviously necessary. But in the case of GUI, gooey seems harder to pronounce, so what purpose does it serve? In fact, when he said it, someone else in the meeting had to ask what that word meant. Had he just said "graphical interface" like a normal person, conscious of his audience and not trying to "sound techie" it would have taken far less time to make the point, and everyone would have known exactly what he was talking about from the beginning.
Anyway, I'm just curious what you guys' thoughts are.
psmith2.0
2004-07-26, 10:39
STFU. :lol:
But seriously, I've worked around people with that approach. They're never mindful of the people they're actually talking to, so they just beat everyone over the head with acronyms and tech-speak. Partly, maybe because that's what they know and do, and it's simply second-nature, with no bad intentions.
But there are some people, no doubt, who do that stuff on purpose and think it makes some sort of impression on others. The verbal equivalent of stuffing a cucumber down the front of one's pants, I guess.
:rolleyes:
autodata
2004-07-26, 10:48
STFU. :lol:
If he says it again around me I'm going to tell him to "stuffoo." :)
For as many years as I can remember since GUIs became mainstream, GUI has always been pronounced "gooey". It rolls off the tongue easier and quicker and has a catchy sound to it. I mean... gooey. What kid at heart doesn't like something named gooey? :) GUI as a word is pronounced with mostly vowel sounds that slur together in only two syllables. How is that more difficult than three staccato letter names?
I think if an acronym can be pronounced as a word, you shouldn't resist it. Whole words are easier for people to remember than concatinated strings of letters. WYSIWYG, is a prime example. How many people will remember "double-you why ess eye double-you why gee" over "wizzywig"?
And besides, so what if Joe Sixpack doesn't understand all the intricacies of a term like GUI? At least he is familiar enough with it to understand the basic definition and to use it properly. My roommate may not have any idea how a PNG's compression works, but that doesn't mean I'm going to snicker when he says PNGs look better than JPEGs -- because he's right even if he doesn't know why. I give 'em the benefit of the doubt.
Internet chat acronyms are a whole different story. LOL and STFU and such came about as a shorthand since we can't speak directly over the internet (without special software and fast connections). I've never heard someone say "Man, I LOLed so much when I saw that movie" and I think if I did I'd slap em. :p
On a related note, even though nearly everyone pronounces GIF like the word "gift", the original creator and a few others swear that it's supposed to be pronounced "jif".
Saying "gooey" doesn't bother me. What does is when people pronounce "GIF" like "JIF". It stands for Graphics Interchange Format, and last time I checked I'm not a Juraphic Designer. Therefore it should be like "gift" without the T. :P
I say gooey, gif, jaypeg, ping, tif but not sure where I stand calling an eee pee ess an "ehps". Generally i just pronounce it as letters. I also don't call a cee oh bee (cut out background) a "cob", but maybe thats just me. ;)
I've generally say "Lih-nicks" though I think I read somewhere that that the proper pronunciation should be "Lie-nicks" after Linus Torvalds. Oh well I don't use that OS anyway... heh.
Saying "gooey" doesn't bother me. What does is when people pronounce "GIF" like "JIF". It stands for Graphics Interchange Format, and last time I checked I'm not a Juraphic Designer. :PSee above post. ;)
People say "jif" because that's the "correct" pronounciation according to GIF's creators. A quick Google search will give you an explanation.
The original creators are momos then!
("moe-moes")
Found THE page Brad.... http://www.olsenhome.com/gif/
I think I'll have to continue calling it GIF not JIF just to piss off all the anti-mac people. Incidentally I do kind of like JFEG too. haha. :P
Brad, I'm not listening to anything you say about how you're supposed to pronounce anything, because you said that "mouses" was correct. It's Gee-Yu-Eye, Giff, Jay-Peg, and Pee-En-Gee. And I ain't changing it.
I do remember it took me quite a while to start pronouncing Magrath Library (library here on campus) as Ma-graw instead of Ma-grath. In that case, though, it's actually named after a person whose name was pronounced Ma-graw, so there's not much room for argument.
Everyone likes to pronounce gif and png, but sometimes, like in the case of GUI, it just seems silly
Silly? Yes, I say G-U-I.
As for png...that is silly to try and pronounce...at least the others have vowels in them! ;)
Gooey, Jif, Ping, Jay-peg.
RTFM, STFU, TMT* all spelled out.
*Too Many TLA**s
** Three Letter Acronym
autodata
2004-07-26, 11:52
GUI as a word is pronounced with mostly vowel sounds that slur together in only two syllables. How is that more difficult than three staccato letter names?
For me, the hard "g" coupled with an "oo" is makes me push my lips out while forcing air through my tightened vocal cords for the "g." In contrast, the beginning of gui is just a quick flick of the toungue letting out a short dart of air. Then again, if you already have enough air in your lungs, gooey might be easier. Maybe. :)
Hey, you asked. ;)
WYSIWYG, is a prime example. How many people will remember "double-you why ess eye double-you why gee" over "wizzywig"?
I totally agree. However...
And besides, so what if Joe Sixpack doesn't understand all the intricacies of a term like GUI?
I don't usually deal with joe sixpack, but what I deal with every day are coworkers who know little about technology. If I said wizzywig to one of them, they'd be lost, so I actually would say the whole phrase so I know they are with me. The only time I would use the pronounced acronym would be with someone I know would understand it.
On a related note, even though nearly everyone pronounces GIF like the word "gift", the original creator and a few others swear that it's supposed to be pronounced "jif".
I've always said jif, but I see it as just another case of potayto potahto
For the record, I do say WebGooey when referring to the CMS...
autodata
2004-07-26, 12:47
OMiG, another one of my cowokers that was in the meeting just tried to say "rifid" for RFID. I'm going to totally lose it.
last time I checked I'm not a Juraphic Designer
I thought all of the Juraphic designers had been dead for tens of millions of years?
Brad, I'm not listening to anything you say about how you're supposed to pronounce anything, because you said that "mouses" was correct. It's Gee-Yu-Eye, Giff, Jay-Peg, and Pee-En-Gee. And I ain't changing it.
All exactly correct!
:D
A cookie to anyone who can pronounce MP3.
...or RTFD.
:smokey:
Emm-Pee-Three
Arr-Tee-Eff-Dee? Read-Teh-Fuxing-Document? :p
At least I haven't heard anyone refer to Apple's iTunes downloads as "ACK" or "ACHE" files. Maybe the l33t refer to them as "map" (i.e. M4P) files, but I somehow doubt that since anyone who would read a 4 as an A wouldn't be paying for music.
I meant pronounce them as words, not how to say the letters in the acronym.
The file extension used for AAC files is .m4a as far as I know. .m4p refers only to AAC files that are encrypted.
:p
Ah. So... Mmm-Pee? (the 3 is an E in this case)
RTFD I can't even begin to pronounce...
Anyway, I was referring to the iTMS (It-Mms?), so I did mean protected files.
Ah, the joys of attempting to pronounce words without vowels...
http://www.macfilez.net/images/451.jpg
SilentEchoes
2004-07-26, 18:44
Its always annoyed me when people try to sound out acronyms instead of just saying them. It always made them sound less likely to know what they are talking about to me. The only exception is if its a huge acronym anyways like WYSIWYG.
I guess its because the way I talk and think I am thinking the acronym out in my head like Graphical user interface as I say GUI and I have a hard time doing that if I am saying gooey.
It makes me want to sound out other acronyms that you simply cant sound like www and keep doing it over and over just so they can try and figure out what the hell I am saying like I have to do to them. If some one said ping to me one of the last things I am going to think of is PNG.. Just take an extra second out of your god damn time and say the letters..
Okay so I guess there is like 3 reasons I hate when people sound out the acronym.
curiousuburb
2004-07-26, 19:32
If I need to silence one of these folks, I pull out the king of the absurd computer acronyms.
TWAIN (pronounced "twayne" as in 'never the twain shall meet')
Used in computing to refer to software scanner modules/components.
other origin info from Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TWAIN)
stands for (believe it or not):
Technology
Without
An
Interesting
Name
It's almost like there's an entire subculture devoted to thinking these things up and tracking (http://www.google.com/search?q=computer+acronym&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8) them
Well, while we're on the subject, the "longest" acronym I know is WINE.
Because it's recursive. :D
WINE Is Not an Emulator.
WINE Is Not an Emulator Is Not an Emulator.
WINE Is Not an Emulator Is Not an Emulator Is Not an Emulator.
And so on. ;) Wiki page (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WINE).
I'll top you, Brad.
ZWEI Was EINE Initially
ZWEI Was EINE Is Not Emacs Initially
ZWEI Was EINE Is Not Emacs Was EINE Is Not Emacs Initially
and so on...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recursive_acronym
Those nutty Unix geeks. I love how in almost every case, the various acronyms that stand for "(blank) is not (blank)" are exactly the opposite of the truth. WINE actually is an emulator (right?). LAME Ain't an MP3 Encoder... is.
SilentEchoes
2004-07-26, 21:05
Well, PNG really isn't GIF ;)
thuh Freak
2004-07-26, 21:16
years ago, the uber-cool MacAddict magazine had an article about how to sound cool (in the geek sense) around techno-geeks. acronyms like "RAM", and "ROM" with vowels in the middle are to be pronounced like words. that was the only part of the article i remember. 't seems silly to me that people spell out 'lol'. it seems so natural to pronounce it. anyhoo, in my cs classes the teachers always called it "gooey", and when i first started interface programming, the author of whatever book i read at the time mentioned it as such as well. it'll always be gooey to me. wysiwyg, when i first learned the term, wasn't acronym'd, so i always say out the words. even when i see the acronym, i say to myself "what you see is what you get," usually i insert beasty boi lyrics at that point. back in the hotline days, there was some server or something called the sadwwyw spider (or something like that), and all the servers mentioned it either saying "affiliated with the sadwwyw spider" or not affiliated... i pronounced it the "sad wwwuhwwuhw spider." hotline wasn't too popular in the flesh world so that didn't come up too often. warez is an interesting term, though not an acronym. some people accent the 'e', while others do not. ... i got into the habit of calling linux, "linix" probably in a half-dislexic half-stoned stupor. i do pronounce linus as "leenus" (which i think is that doods name), atleast thats how i remember it. for a long time i pronounced "gnu" as gee-ehn-you, though apparently the proper way is "guh-new". ... sometimes i pronounce "the gap" as "the jap" just to throw people off. i really dont like that letter "g". its too ambiguous.
when i grow up and get my fill of cool points, i'm going to come up with some software or technology with a really cool name & acronym. and it will put all the others to shame. monuments will be made in my likeness. and the heavens shall sing in glee for "BIRCN", as in "BIRCN is a really cool name". dont' u playas try to steal that, its trademarked.
WINE actually is an emulator (right?).Nope, it's not.
Nope, it's not.
Allow me to elaborate. Brad is right, it's not an emulator... WINE runs on x86 hardware and translates calls that were originally meant to go to Windows libraries and tools to their Linux counterparts. Since both the Linux parts and the Windows parts run on x86, there is no "emulation"... just translation.
WINE is not an emulator, it's a translation engine.
LAME started out as something other than an MP3 encoder and morphed into one.
I don't say gooey because people don't know WTF I'm talking about, I just say "graphics" or "text." I've always pronounced ACC "Ack" as in "Ack, it's not compatible with anything except Apple so I'm going to have to spend days reripping my music library."
Barto
Woohoo thread necromancy! I just discovered today that GNOME and GNU are supposed to be pronounced like "Guh-nome" and "Guh-new".
Does anybody actually do this, or does this fall along the lines of the "Lie-nux /Len-ux" pronunciation debate? Personally, I think guh-nome sounds guh-stupid :p
I've always pronounced them with the G sound, but I don't know where I learned that as the "correct" pronunciation.
Also, len-ux.
psmith2.0
2010-12-20, 18:11
I believe Batman gets the trophy for Biggest Thread Bump Ever. Don't you have rooftops and alleys to patrol? :)
I've always pronounced them with the G sound, but I don't know where I learned that as the "correct" pronunciation.
Also, len-ux.
The worst name for anything ever is gNewSense. Gnuisance would be punny enough, but then they tried to add another pun...ugh. Who thought that was a good name? Was it named by committee?
Does anybody actually do this, or does this fall along the lines of the "Lie-nux /Len-ux" pronunciation debate? Personally, I think guh-nome sounds guh-stupid :p
I don't know if you're trolling, but it's Lee-nooks. :p
I always thought it was LIH-nooks, myself.
What Capella said.
Lih-nuks. The guys at my workplace drive me NUTS when they say LIE-nooks.
Linus (Lih-nus) Torvalds' first name is not pronounced the same as the kid on Charlie Brown (Lie-nus).
I don't know what you mean by "Lih", then. In any case, it rhymes with "ski books".
ezkcdude
2010-12-21, 10:40
Woohoo thread necromancy! I just discovered today that GNOME and GNU are supposed to be pronounced like "Guh-nome" and "Guh-new".
Does anybody actually do this, or does this fall along the lines of the "Lie-nux /Len-ux" pronunciation debate? Personally, I think guh-nome sounds guh-stupid :p
Huh. Like Gary Guh-nu?
http://thegazette.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/garygnu.jpg
I don't know if you're trolling, but it's Lee-nooks. :p
Apologies, no trolling intended - just me failing at spelling out the pronunciations I was trying to represent.
Ah yes, the requisite link to Linus himself saying "Linux" (http://www.paul.sladen.org/pronunciation/torvalds-says-linux.wav).
ezkcdude
2010-12-21, 11:22
Can we talk about LaTeX now?
jk
ezkcdude
2010-12-21, 13:35
La-tech!
Louisiana Tech? :lol:
Some wanna-be staff member at my work just said "gooey" in a meeting, clearly in an attempt to make management think he was "techie" so maybe someday he could get some more perks in his dead-end job..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkDD03yeLnU
[Relevant: talk about self-important (and ridiculous). :lol: ]
I always "knew" it should be pronounced gooey but I just think it sounds too ridiculous. However I have some idiosyncrasies myself...I've always prounced FAQ as "fack." hahahah. :p
vBulletin® v3.6.4, Copyright ©2000-2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.