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From: Mike Dana <mike.dana@boeing.com>
Subject: Re: New IEC proposal: 1 kibibyte = 1024 bytes
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Xref: glinda.oz.cs.cmu.edu comp.std.internat:6795 sci.lang:68655

bmeyer@bruce.cs.monash.edu.au wrote:
> 
> Mike Dana <mike.dana@boeing.com> writes:
> 
<snip> 
> >This LOOKs like the age-old American dispute over the correct
> >pronunciation of "greasy":  gree see in the West vs. greee zee in the
> >North-East.  Which one is "correct" appears to depend on where you are
> >geographically.
> 
> Well, it certainly only _looks_ that way --- "Siemens" was German, and
> even thouigh some parts of Germany have strange and beutyful dialects,
> none that I know of "mispronounce" that first S
> 
> Bernie
<sig. snipped>

Yes, Bernie, Deutchland does have many dialects; but is "geography"
limited to the boundaries of a single country?  While monoglot languages
like Deutch generally have strict, consistant pronunciation rules,
polyglot languages like English generally do not (yes, mother, I know
I've "invented" an unusual usage for the "glots"...).  People living in
Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Iceland, South
Africa, etc. probably DO *automatically* pronounce it "zee menz". 
People in a different *geographic* location, say North America, where
the airwaves are saturated with advertising by a Company spelling its
name *exactly* the same way and pronouncing it "see menz* are likely to
look at you funny, and possibly not know what you are talking about, if
you pronounce it differently from the way they are used to (not that
most people in the U.S. would know that it's a unit of measure,
anyway).  Therefor, geography plays a role in determining the "correct"
pronunciation because of its role in separating languages/cultures.  How
is it generally pronounced in the U.K., N.Z. or Australia? (rhetorical)
These are geographically separate, as well, aren't they?
 
-- 
Mike Dana
Everett, Washington, U.S.A.
[This message contains the opinion only of the author, not of The Boeing
Co.]
"Fere libenter homines id quod volunt credunt"  -- Julius Ceasar
