Spyke
lemmy.world

AI is an initialism since you don't pronounce AI. NASA would be an acronym because you pronounce the word.

151
chrash0reply
lemmy.world

this is one of those facts i have to struggle to keep to myself to avoid coming off as an insufferable nerd

98

Wait you do not pronounce AI like a Sopranos character that just found an eye ball on the sidewalk?

20
lemmy.world

Correct:

  • "Sequel"
  • Structured Query Language

Incorrect:

  • "Squall"
  • "Es-queue-el"

The one that people really screw up? PostgreSQL.

9
Sotuandusoreply
lemm.ee

Outside, but you'll have to touch grass to reach it.

2
TheOakTreereply
lemm.ee

It's interesting that Wikipedia says it's pronounced " S-Q-L" but was historically pronounced "sequel."

Also interesting, MySQL says on their site:

The official way to pronounce “MySQL” is “My Ess Que Ell” (not “my sequel”), but we do not mind if you pronounce it as “my sequel” or in some other localized way.

Lastly, for those curious, PostgreSQL says on their site:

PostgreSQL is pronounced Post-Gres-Q-L.

13
Sandilereply
lemmy.world

My people often pronounce nginx as "n-ginsk" not "engine x".

7

We call things "bits", "bytes", and my favorite: "nybbles". IT is rife with wordplay. How could they not think it was a cool way to spell "enigne"?!

1
bitchkatreply
lemmy.world

You're one of those? Its sequel and GIF has a hard g.

6
rubiconreply
lemmy.ca

I called this S.Q.L. until our IT guy corrected me

2

I'm the head of IT for my company and it's S-Q-L and I'm a native speaker.

It's not a grammatically correct pronunciation at all (which is why it seems like non-native English tends to not say "Sequel") and even MySQL documentation specifically calls it out and says it's S-Q-L

3
zeekaranreply
sopuli.xyz

Generally English first language speakers say sequel while everyone else spells it out.

2

Because it's not, it's just something from computing history that is no longer relevant

1

This may be a bit prescriptivist. Most people use the word acronym for all of them.

4
Faridreply
startrek.website

Is initialism a type of acronym? Or do they have an umbrella term? Surely, they are the same thing, but if initialism has easily string-able sounds it's an acronym (ex. CPU vs. RAM). And some are even both depending on person saying it, like LED.

4
mpa92643reply
lemmy.world

Other way around.

An acronym is a type of initialism, which is itself a type of abbreviation.

So acronyms are initialisms where you pronounce the letters like a word (e.g., RAM), initialisms are abbreviations made by taking the initial letters of multiple words and concatenating them regardless of how it's spoken (e.g. FBI for Federal Bureau of Investigation), and an abbreviation is any shortening of a word or phrase into something shorter (e.g., "abbrev." for abbreviation or "US" for United States).

8

I did some research, and apparently, "United States" without "of America" could be a kind of ellipsis. But more likely, it's just an alternative country name. So I think that makes US an initialism (because you pronounce it as [yu-es]) for an alt (bonus info: this is a final clipping, or apocope, of "alternative") name.

Linguistics is such a dirt hut...

2

It doesn't happen very often, but I've heard it used that way. It's usually obvious from context, like I think I heard with "OLED vs. LED". And as @[email protected] mentioned, it's used a lot in languages other than English, in my experience in many slavic ones, for example.

3

Haven't ever heard it in English either, but it's very common in Polish. In Polish LED can even become a proper adjective, e.g. "światło ledowe" (LED light), with the initialism even losing capitalisation

2

On the other hand everyone says "acronym" even when they know the word "initialism" so I'm not entirely sure you're really completely correct

1
voracreadreply
lemmy.world

It can be pronounced though as I or eye or something.

-5
feddit.org

Yeah you can do that. You would be wrong and people around you would wonder why you switched the subject. But you can do that.

21

But how many people would I need to convince to pronounce it for it to turn into an acronym?

1
cm0002reply
lemmy.world

No. That's how we end up with stupid sounding crap like (ugh) "Gooey" for GUI. Just say G-U-I or A-I.

3
Halosheepreply
lemm.ee

I've always said the letters and was surprised when I heard someone say 'gooey' when I entered college.

Still don't like it.

5

The first time I heard the term gooey it was from someone I don't like so now I can't stand it. All I can think about is buying that dude a toothbrush, but then he'd probably go on about how toothbrushes are actually bad for your health.

5
cm0002reply
lemmy.world

some people say G - U - I

It should be that way always, frankly, I don't know why gooey even got started. Something "gooey" is the last thing I'd want associated with computer stuff

But I loathe all of the stupid attempts at shoehorning pronunciations of initialisms where it doesn't belong

It's not "Sequel" its fucking S-Q-L. They're all initialisms. I will go through my entire IT career and die on this hill.

2
cm0002reply
lemmy.world

No because jay-peg actually makes sense and fits well, just like NASA makes sense and fits well. You can say NASA and JPEG without having to introduce additional letters to make it work. Unlike "Gooey", "Sequel", or "Scuzzy" which all require the addon of more letters to actually work

You can just see JPEG and intuitively go "Oh Jay-PEG" you can't say the same for SCSI

-2
lemmy.world

I suppose you called them small computer system interface drives instead of SCSI drives too.

3
cm0002reply
lemmy.world

I just say S-C-S-I instead of "Scuzzy" or whatever it is

Everyone says H-T-T-P, why don't they say "Hettep"‽

3
lemmy.world

No, GUI is a great acronym.

I had a colleague pronounce CLI as an acronym, though, and that stopped a meeting short.

9
A7thStonereply
lemmy.world

It's been called a gooey since at least the mid 80s. All you kids get off my lawn.

7
cm0002reply
lemmy.world

Then it's been wrong since the mid-80s and also becomes probable someone just did it as a joke and then it persisted

1
cm0002reply
lemmy.world

Nah, and I can prove it mathgramatically

In order to make GUI pronounceable you have to add in vowels and blend consonants and fundamentally changes it's pronociation. GUI is meant to have each letter on its own, and on their own those letters cannot make the "oo" and "ee" sounds

On their own they make the following pronunciations:

G: Pronounced as /dʒi/

U: Pronounced as /ju/ (like "you")

I: Pronounced as /aɪ/ (like "eye"), with a long "i" sound

In contrast, true acronyms like "NASA" form a pronounceable word naturally without requiring any modifications, making "Gooey" a grammatically improper pronunciation of "GUI."

0

You're right everyone pronounces taxi as tax eye. You're actually trying to dictate pronunciation in English?

2
angrystegoreply
lemmy.world

TIL you can pronounce it "Gooey" - aww, people are wierd but creative!

7
bitchkatreply
lemmy.world

I've probably said GUI tens of thousands of times. Have you ever heard some pronounce SQL as squeal?

3
lemm.ee

Since ChatGPT learns from internet users, does that mean the majority of internet users are autistic?

102

A place known for highly obsessive and weirdly specific knowledge experts? Surely not

23

As a probably not autistic person, email is one area where warmth is not wanted. Just get to the point, I have a dozen more to get through. And that's precisely why you shouldn't use AI to write email, AI rambles, I want 1-2 sentences, short phrases are fine.

101
slrpnk.net

At my job, Email is either:

  • Jira notifications
  • Long ramblings about some project or fire that happened

All other communication is through our chat (zulip, like Slack) or video calls.

I remember dealing with short emails back in the day. But id flip out these days.

14

Seriously. I want highly detailed, equally highly concise emails. Send me an email with the topic in the subject and only relevant bullet points in the body and I'll love the hell out of you.

5

Someone, in a mail including my boss and other managers, complained that my replies were too short

To which I replied

'They are as long as they need to be.'

So she went 'A little warmth would help communication greatly' or some other bullshit.

So I added automatic top and bottom text to my emails and for the past idk 10 years or so, all my emails start with 'Hi,' and end with 'Cordially.'

6

You really cannot blame them. Especially when Universities partner with OpenAI and cut off all ways to contact advisors aside from text and email right before admissions.

25

Should’ve just said “Ain’t AI. I just dgaf”

It’s work email not a love letter.

20

If only their next meeting had been on a Tuesday, that would have been the perfect plausibly deniable "fuck you" to end the reply with 😄

18

K, I have an Excel sheet that helps me with epitaphs, I'll update it to use next Tuesday if that's the normal

See you next 1727813501

2
lemmy.world

In the future all emails and messages will have to include at least one element of offensiveness to prove you are not AI.

OP is a homo.

6

I don't get the entitlement. I'd need to see the context for the first message but who cares if a robot penned the message?

Even in annoying circumstances, like if it seems you've been auto-rejected by a bot, you can frame it better than "I demand to see your manager human."

Edit: on review, it's less "entitlement", more "smarmy". Equally annoying.

5