Re: Pronouncing "gigabyte"; TAKE A STAND!

[Don M Chaffee <dchaffee -at- WORLD -dot- STD -dot- COM>]

Steve Fouts <sfouts -at- ellison -dot- sc -dot- ti -dot- com> writes:

>Don Chaffee writes:

>|} Dear fellow docos:
>|}
>|} The fact that pronunciation seldom darkens the thresholds of our cubes
>|} notwithstanding, I propose that we all make ourselves truly obnoxious in
>|} our respective places of employment by correcting those amazingly
>|} unlettered engineers, marketing-lizards, and management types of all
>|} kinds, by correcting them every time they pronounce "gigabyte" with a
>|} hard "g," as in "good."
>|}
>|} It's "jigabyte," dammit, and don't let anyone tell you otherwise! I am
>|} not making this up.

>All my dictionaries, including the one I consider the absolute authority
>on technical terminology in the digital world, THE JARGON FILE, list both
>as proper. However, while we are on this topic, lets take a stand for the
>strict use of K (1024) and k (1000). How many times do you see a want add
>with a salary range to $60K? Hey, I'll take the 2.4% raise of $1500 a year.

>And while we're airing the real petty stuff, it is NOT a 1.44 MB floppy.
>That little 3.5" jobby contains 1440 KB which when converted to MB is
>1440 / 1024 = 1.406 MB. You can't go around saying an M is 1024 * 1000,
>it's either 1024 * 1024 or 1000 * 1000. Jeez! And that little inaccuracy
>is printed right on the disk!

>I also plan to stop plate tectonics in my lifetime. Put me down for any
>more hopeless causes that you can think of.

Steve:

Valid point. It ain't worth the hassle. The pronunciation of gigabytes is
like the meaning of prophylaxis: What the heck does toothpaste and
flossing have to do with birth control?

(I'll bet you that 2.4% of your salary you can't stop those Techtonics;
they're the best vocal group I've heard since Manhattan Transfer and I'm
betting they top the charts in two, maybe three, months.)

Don