What are your favourites and why do you like them?
Memes
My favourite "meme" is probably the French one. It means "same". Then again I wasn't aware that there were any others, although there are lots of languages in which I am far from fluent of course.
It is not, however, my favourite French word. I think that honour probably goes to "parapluie". I like the fact that it does exactly what it purports to do. Also exclaiming "tres bien", whenever anyone walks through the door carrying a tray-full of food or drinks, never fails to raise a laugh...
Genuine question: how do you pronounce MEME? "memmi" or "meem" or what?
Meem.
And gif is gif, not jif.
Isn't Jif, Cif now?
Quote: Gordon Bennett @ 15th July 2017, 12:34 PMGenuine question: how do you pronounce MEME? "memmi" or "meem" or what?
I always pronounce it mem ('e' as in set, bet, etc) because I assume it's the French word they're using. But maybe the rest of the world thinks differently.
One pronunciation which has irked me for some time, until finally I googled it yesterday - the way British folk pronounce 'Ibiza'
as Eye - bee- tha. I couldn't understand why they didn't pronounce 'I' as 'ee' at the start. This seemed to me to be contrary to Spanish pronunciation and sure enough, I discovered I'm RIGHT! So why do they pronounce the first 'I' as 'Aye' when they correctly, pronounce the second one as 'ee' and the 'z' as 'th'? So I'll wend my way through life, from now on, deliberately bringing 'Eebeetha' into the conversation.
Quote: keewik @ 15th July 2017, 4:07 PMOne pronunciation which has irked me for some time, until finally I googled it yesterday - the way British folk pronounce 'Ibiza'
That annoys me as well. The Vengaboys did a good job at trying to educate people and it seemed to work for a while but it's slipped again. I don't pronounce the z sound but I never start it with the Eye sound. That's so Wayne and Waynetta.
I've always thought Meme is pronounced 'mee mee' like RoadRunner or if I repeat it over and over then it's like Beaker from The Muppets.
Thanks, I hate it when I'm not sure how to pronounce a certain word...have to mumble them to not completely embarrass myself although I don't think many of my fellow Swiss would even notice. I love using memes on forums or in e-mail but I've never heard it spoken out so I finally wanted to make sure.
Btw, how is it with the word 'privacy'? Heard it being pronounced 'pr-eye-vacy' and 'pree-vacy'...I guess both are correct but which one is the "Oxford" way?
Quote: zooo @ 15th July 2017, 12:37 PMAnd gif is gif, not jif.
I remember this "controversy" being discussed in The Big Bang Theory once. 
Quote: Billy Bunter @ 15th July 2017, 10:54 AMMy favourite "meme" is probably the French one. It means "same". Then again I wasn't aware that there were any others, although there are lots of languages in which I am far from fluent of course.
It is not, however, my favourite French word. I think that honour probably goes to "parapluie". I like the fact that it does exactly what it purports to do. Also exclaiming "tres bien", whenever anyone walks through the door carrying a tray-full of food or drinks, never fails to raise a laugh...
N'est pas - isn't it!
Quote: zooo @ 15th July 2017, 12:37 PMMeem.
And gif is gif, not jif.
(What the f**k are they talking about?)
Quote: Chappers @ 16th July 2017, 12:55 AM(What the f**k are they talking about?)
I'm glad I'm not the only one thinking along those terms. I have no idea what a meme or a gif is. Does that make me a bad person?
(And I note that, despite this thread now having 9 replies, no-one has addressed the original question. So I suspect I'm not the only one.)
Quote: Billy Bunter @ 16th July 2017, 1:32 PMI have no idea what a meme or a gif is. Does that make me a bad person?
I think the modern definition of "meme" -- an online image with a pithy comment -- was coined by Richard Dawson (Newkirk on Hogan's Heroes) in his seminal book, The Selfish Giant.
Quote: Gordon Bennett @ 15th July 2017, 4:41 PMHow is it with the word 'privacy'? Heard it being pronounced 'pr-eye-vacy' and 'pree-vacy'...I guess both are correct but which one is the "Oxford" way?
Priva-cy. Like a privet hedge. Not a private hedge.
Well that makes it a lot clearer!
You say tomato, otherwise I don't know what the f**k any of you are talking about.............or care.
He means memes like this;
