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>Don,
> What's your source? I've heard computer scientists
>use the hard "g," and both are accepted in my Webster's.
LaVonna:
OK, so I learned to set type from a California Job Tray and the lead
poisoning has caused my left earlobe to twitch uncontrollably in bad
weather. I use Webster's Second Unabridged for all things of import, and
only refer to the Third when I must.
This is key. No one with pied type in their cuffs or a quoin in their hip
pocket will look at anything BUT the 2nd. Not even the OED, unless you
need etymologies.
Ultimately, usage does prevail, and in our superbly fluid language, the
word probably will wind up being officially recognized as "ghigabyte."
Usage is one thing; rational argument and etymology are another. I didn't
take four years of Latin for nothing!
By the way, of the twelve different dictionaries I have in the house, not
one allows the "ghigabyte" pronunciation. All say "jigabyte," period. OK,
so none of them was published before 1950.
