The father of the first-person shooter, John Romero, has settled a debate we didn't even know existed, definitively proving why you should never ask questions you aren't prepared to hear the answers to; we regret to inform you that you have mostly likely been pronouncing "gib" wrong.
"Gib" is a term in FPS-speak that means to blow apart an opponent's body, to reduce them to their component pieces in a withering hail of gunfire, until nothing but bloody giblets remain — gold star to any who can see where this one is going. Unwittingly opening Pandora's box, Romero was asked by Twitter user Brian Reynolds: "Is the 'g' in 'gibs' hard like in 'goober gobble' or soft like 'ginormous gentleman'?"
His response may shock and alarm you. Romero fatefully decreed that: "Gibs is pronounced with a soft 'g' like in 'giblets, ,the word from which it originates, or 'gentleman'."
We still haven't quite recovered from the creator of the GIF (Graphics Interchange Format) suggesting that those funny little videos we like so much should be referred to as "jiffs" despite the passage of over a decade. Romero knew exactly what he was doing here; we suspect this was payback for Daikatana.
Will you adapt to the brave new world where we pronounce the word "gib" correctly, or will you cling to the old ways? Remember that John Romero can't make you do anything you don't want to do in the comments section below.
[source twitter.com]
Comments 23
Who are we to argue with Gohn Romero?
I've been playing games, FPS included for over 30 years, and have never heard of this term. Is it in general use??
Yeah... pronouncing them as j's just doesn't work for me.
The terms took a life of their own and the "corrections" come far too late to change it.
@PapaGlitch yes. But only in the fun fps ...
I still remember the satisfyingly squishy sound they made in Quake 2 😌 Then Quake 3 came around and made them splatter all over the place 😅 Ah those were the days..
@LowDefAl Ah I skipped over the Unreal Tournament and Quake stuff. I did play Doom back in the day so if it turned up there maybe I just forgot
I heard Ed Boon say "jibs" probably 25 years ago and that's been it since then. When you realize it's short for giblets, it's so logical. Have others been saying it with the hard G?
Gibs should be gibs, the way Barry intended them.
Besides, Romero forfeited his opinions after Daikatana.
Tomato, tomato. Potato, potato.
It doesnt matter how you say it.
As I’ve never heard nor said it before, it doesn’t impact my in the slightest! But I do appreciate the pronunciation given the etymology of the word.
I say jib for gib, however, "jif" for gif is still wrong to me.
At least the explanation makes sense. The pronunciation of GIF just seems awkward, it is pronounced with a soft G as in Graphics Interchange Format!?!
It was obviously pronounced "jib". As mentioned in the article it comes from the word giblets which is pronounce "jib-lets". Has anyone actually been pronouncing it wrong all this time?
I’ve always pronounced it with a soft g because the word obviously comes from giblets. I didn’t even realise this was a discussion to be had. But then I haven’t been in a CoD lobby since 2011 so maybe things have moved on since my day…
As a Gib, I disagree.
Gib obviously comes from gibbon.
I always thought Gibs was short got Giblets anyway!
Next week John explains how to pronounce Gymnasium and Ginger or better still moves on to "H" and explains "hyperbole"
I did look at this and wonder why, but then I have the advantage/disadvantage of being English, so I can appreciate some may not have been saying it correctly, not that it massively matters.
I can't believe that this was not obvious to people. I understood the reference over 25 years ago when I was a teenager.
There is a difference between a shortened word and an Acronym.
'Gib' is a shortened version of Giblets so I have always said this with a 'soft' G.
GIF is a n Acronym and the first word of that starts with a hard G (graphics) so its a GIF with hard G - regardless
Who the hell pronounced it with a hard G? It was very clearly short for giblets. How did people not know that?
This is such old news I'm not even sure it counts as such.
That's how I've always said it. It was common knowledge in the early 90s that it was short for giblets. I believe it was the first time "giblet" was used as a verb.
I don’t care. I’m doing it as a hard G like I always have. Wrong and proud of it
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