The other day I watched Back to the Future! It was so cute! I got a kick hearing Doc pronounce the word gigawatt like JIGawatt. I never use the word gigawatt in conversation but I very often use the word gigabyte which I pronounce GIGabyte, just as Micky, Davy, Peter (Tork is a Dork), and Mike would say, “We got a gig tonight!” Have I been pronouncing it wrong? Bartleby.com shows jig as the preferred pronunciation and gig as the second pronunciation. Who knew!?! I’m sticking with gig mainly because I think people would think I was insane if I said jig.
BTW I pronounce forte with one syllable, like the English word fort, the t is silent in often and I never pronounce the h in forehead.
What ever happened to Crispen Glover…?
ME LOVE CRISPIN GLOVER!!!!! He has been a little more productive of late… Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle …. Willard … Bartleby … Charlie’s Angels …
Donna, you’re one of the few people who pronounce “forte” correctly.
This is what dictionary.com says:
Usage Note: The word forte, coming from French fort, should properly be pronounced with one syllable, like the English word fort. Common usage, however, prefers the two-syllable pronunciation, which has been influenced possibly by the music term forte borrowed from Italian. In a recent survey a strong majority of the Usage Panel, 74 percent, preferred the two-syllable pronunciation. The result is a delicate situation; speakers who are aware of the origin of the word may wish to continue to pronounce it as one syllable but at an increasing risk of puzzling their listeners.
Props.