• guy@lemmy.world
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    3 months ago

    So what’s the deal with GNU? When I first saw it, I was sure the G was silent, or formed a dipthong, like gnat or gnocchi or gnaw or gnarly or gnome or just any word starting with gn in English. But IRL, I’ve only heard it pronounced with a hard G, same with Gnome.

    • bigmclargehuge@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      Well thats the thing, generally if I see an acronym and have to ask myself how it would be pronounced as a word, by my rule I just spell it out.

      For a great example of this (unrelated to FOSS), look at LGBTQIA+. Even though it’s a mouthful to say each letter individually, no one wrestles it into “Leguhbuht’kwia plus”, it just doesn’t make sense and saying it that way would probably ellicit a dead stare from whoever heard it. Unless it’s painfully simple to morph into a word or single syllable, I don’t bother.

      I’m not trying to say this is the right way, mind you. It’s just the way that makes the most sense to me.

      • Melmi@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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        3 months ago

        Except GNU is a great example of an acronym that is pronounceable. It’s even in the dictionary. The GNU mascot is a gnu, in fact.

        LGBTQIA+ is essentially unpronounceable, thus we treat it as an initialism. Not that that’s a requirement, there are examples like VIP where even though we could pronounce it we pronounce each letter individually.

        • aulin@lemmy.world
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          3 months ago

          there are examples like VIP where even though we could pronounce it we pronounce each letter individually.

          This always seemed a bit weird to me. In Sweden we do pronounce that as a word. Vipp.