A new word order: digital wuffie

by Steven Garrity

A friend of mine has put a new spin on the word “WiFi”. From this day forth, wifi shall be known as “wuffie” (hear it pronounced – WAV). It can rhyme with party, which is convenient.

Also, harkening back to the old classic “gif” vs. “jif” debate, this same friend has started pronouncing the “g” in digital as a hard “g” (hear it pronounced “digital wuffie” WAV).

Spread the word. I’m living in the wellspring of language.

 

15 thoughts on “A new word order: digital wuffie”

  1. Along the same lines. Conversation I’ve had:

    Peter B: The proper pronouniation of “gif” is gg-if, not jj-if. It’s Graphics Interchange Format.

    Me: So, really “jpeg” shouldn’t be pronounced jay-peg it should be jay-pheg. It’s the Joint Photographic Experts Group.

  2. You can’t pronounce it “whuffie”. Whuffie is something else – and may very well be used as the basis for digital reputations. Please don’t pollute the namespace 🙂

  3. Wouldn’t it be “why-fee”? This would be a aural equivalent to the endearment “my dear wifie”.

  4. GIF and JPEG are acronyms — hence, they ought to be pronounced just like HTML and TXT. If they weren’t acronyms, but where instead actually named Gif and J’peg, with no other meaning, then I guess the people behind the names could argue how they wanted to pronounce it. As it stands, neither one is a name or word, and thus, logically, should be pronounced G-I-F and J-P-E-G.

    WiFi, on the other hand, being an abbreviation, is perfectly safe for interpretation.

  5. Andy – no one pronounces J-P-E-G. It is “jay-peg” to most. By your rule, “Nay-toe” is improper for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

  6. At the end of the day the majority always wins when it comes to defining language… regardless of any so-called rules.

    Does anyone actually say T-X-T file, and not just “text file”?

    Wifi is an abbreviation of quite a meaningless phrase “Wireless Fidelity”, surely created by some marketing types who remembered how successful “HiFi” was at selling stereos.

  7. My folks still have an @1958 lp which shows the qualities of “stereophonic HiFi” through playing various noises like trains going from the left speaker to the right.

  8. Whuffie features prominently in Cory Doctorow’s Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom. Here’s a definition: “Whuffie embodies respect, karma, mad-props; call it what you will, the web runs on it.” (http://www.craphound.com/down/archives/2003_01.php#000023)

    Also, there’s this from the official DAOITMK blog:

    Q: Where does the word Whuffie come from?

    A: It’s just a made-up word we used interchangably with “Brownie Points” in high-school. Some people have suggested that it might have come from the Arsenio Hall show’s “woof woof woof” noises.
    (http://www.craphound.com/down/archives/2003_01.php#000038)

  11. Sarcasm is hard to do well on the web (it’s also a refuge for the cowardly and weak-minded – but that’s another issue all together) – Perhaps I should have whipped out my <sarcasm> tags.

    That said, we actually do use the term wuffie around the office in a are-we-being-sarcastic–I-don’t-even-know-anymore kinda way.

    Scott’s got it. Huffie – nice.

    Also, I am aware that the term wuffie is used in Doctorow’s book, Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom. I even have an alternatively-style HTML version of the book here on this site. Highly recommended.

  12. Beneith the sarcasm, isn’t there the preliminary question of the validity of imposed or correct pronunciation? Porsche owners pronounce the final “-e” to make a point to others – you do not own a Porsche. In a world where some say “bagle” as “bay-gle” while others say “beg-le” and other “bah-gle”, can vagaries of accents in vowels ever be fixed by an authority?

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