Re: Pronouncing "gigabyte"; TAKE A STAND!

["Craig Haggart, Accelerator Ops" <haggart -at- SSRL01 -dot- SLAC -dot- STANFORD -dot- EDU>]

I wrote (in part):
     >> ...Both pronunciations are listed in my dictionary.  As always,
     >> usage will decide; my money's on hard G.  Ask any English-
     >> speaker who deals with equipment operating in the microwave
     >> range to pronounce "gigahertz."

And Don Chaffee made this reasonable request:
   > Craig: OK, cite the dictionary. Which one? Which edition? See how
   > far it ghets you!

The two at hand: American Heritage, third edition; Merriam Webster's New
Collegiate, 1979.  Uh oh, is this discussion now at the "my references
are bigger than your references" level?  Time to exit, stage left.

Wait a minute - Don, aren't you the one who told us that all of your
dictionaries predate the Eisenhower administration?  If so, there's
nothing left for me to do but bow to your venerable sources.  Of course,
I can no longer use the words "transistor" or "byte," but what the heck.

   > [D]on't tell _me_ about microwave range! Grampa Chaffee wrote the
   > textbook on thermionic vacuum tubes...

Which textbook was that?  Oh, *THE* textbook.  Golly!

   > ...and I NEVER heard him say "ghigahertz." Come to think of it, I
   > never heard him say "jigahertz" either.

Don't you whippersnappers know nuthin'??  Why, back in those days,
didn't HAVE no frequencies that high.  Couldn't see past the color
green, neither!  Nope, kilocycles was plenty good enough for everybody,
and a Ford didn't cost no ten thousand bucks!  Yep, I tell ya, them was
the days <grumble grumble fart>.

-Craig Haggart
 Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lab at SLAC
 Menlo Park, California
 (haggart -at- slac -dot- stanford -dot- edu)