“Sigh” isn’t just corrupted by physicists, it’s also corrupted by Classics (Ancient Greek) teachers. Having taken a year of the language in high school, that’s how I end up saying it, though now I see the light.
I think my Calculus III professor said either ‘sigh’ or ‘see’, but I can’t remember which, and his accent (Indian) didn’t help my chances of remembering.
Serif is ‘sigh’ and sans serif is ‘see’ for me. I suppose the distinction is lost on the listener when I don’t point it out, but this way I get a laugh when there are a bunch of /phi’s.
Hugh Hamilton, who taught me diff. eqs. and the first half of ad. calc., always said, “Psee” as that let him describe solving diff. eqs. as,”Deep sea fishing.”
I actually say ‘psigh’ or ‘psee,’ depending on what other letters are around it. My meager understanding of Greek has led me to believe that those letters, like phi, as well, are pronounced dependant on whether or not the previous letter is a vowel or not. For example, the phi in the fraternity phi-beta-kappa is pronounced ‘figh,’ but the phi in the sorority alpha-phi is pronounced ‘fee,’ because it’s preceded by a vowel.
Adding the ‘p-‘ on the front of the word isn’t just pretention; it’s to distinguish the letter from the words sigh and see.
@Eli @Eric Yeah, from dealing with teachers, in class I will say”psigh,” though outside of class I tend to say “see.” does that make me tainted by pretentious physicists?
I always say p-sigh, and that was my greek master at school. His mnemonic for those 3 double letters at the end of the greek alphabet being fish and chips.
Imagine Leo lecturing at university on quantum mechanics; “Now ket thingie can be defined in a finite dimensional paradigm as the sum of the…” Quite singular.
In health care, we use that symbol as an abbreviation to refer to psychiatry. In general, if it was written in someone’s chart, it would be read “psych.”
Discussion (34) ¬
Yea, subtle. Really subtle. And yes, I have been tainted by too many physicists.
Oh, i see..well i mean, I psee :D
I say “psee” but I’m Dutch and this is how I learned it in grammar school. What does that make me? :-)
I say psigh, which I guess means that I’ve been tainted by pretentious physicists.
Is that boy on a stick saying psi?
“Sigh” isn’t just corrupted by physicists, it’s also corrupted by Classics (Ancient Greek) teachers. Having taken a year of the language in high school, that’s how I end up saying it, though now I see the light.
I think my Calculus III professor said either ‘sigh’ or ‘see’, but I can’t remember which, and his accent (Indian) didn’t help my chances of remembering.
I often hear ‘p-sigh’ (mostly from non-native English speakers), and I pronounce it that way myself.
Other: psigh. I’m an English speaker, but my first regular encounters with the letter were through a German-speaking lecturer. Does that help my case?
“Sigh” is also used by those of us who say “pie” and want to be consistent.
Pussy, for us horny bastards
I call it scary-pitchfork-thing
Serif is ‘sigh’ and sans serif is ‘see’ for me. I suppose the distinction is lost on the listener when I don’t point it out, but this way I get a laugh when there are a bunch of /phi’s.
This easter egg is a little too subtle. Can haz hint? Is it related to the missing 961??
Hugh Hamilton, who taught me diff. eqs. and the first half of ad. calc., always said, “Psee” as that let him describe solving diff. eqs. as,”Deep sea fishing.”
REH
I actually say ‘psigh’ or ‘psee,’ depending on what other letters are around it. My meager understanding of Greek has led me to believe that those letters, like phi, as well, are pronounced dependant on whether or not the previous letter is a vowel or not. For example, the phi in the fraternity phi-beta-kappa is pronounced ‘figh,’ but the phi in the sorority alpha-phi is pronounced ‘fee,’ because it’s preceded by a vowel.
Adding the ‘p-‘ on the front of the word isn’t just pretention; it’s to distinguish the letter from the words sigh and see.
I also say “p’sigh.” And I’m a physicist. But most of my teachers have been non-American, so maybe that’s affected how I say it.
I wish I said “backslash pee ess ai”.
@Eli @Eric Yeah, from dealing with teachers, in class I will say”psigh,” though outside of class I tend to say “see.” does that make me tainted by pretentious physicists?
Also, awww, someone said it before I had. Fail.
I always say p-sigh, and that was my greek master at school. His mnemonic for those 3 double letters at the end of the greek alphabet being fish and chips.
I’m a brit, if that’s any help
I say Quake! Gamer :P
I linked to this cartoon from http://www.abstractmath.org/MM/MMAlphabets.htm#psi
I say pitchfork. Sometimes I also say ‘cup’ when the script has heavy serifs.
I say “thingie” :(
Touchdown!
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/psi
Physicist FTW!
Imagine Leo lecturing at university on quantum mechanics; “Now ket thingie can be defined in a finite dimensional paradigm as the sum of the…” Quite singular.
In health care, we use that symbol as an abbreviation to refer to psychiatry. In general, if it was written in someone’s chart, it would be read “psych.”
hehe. people getting defensive about the psee being pretentious clearly didn’t see the easter egg ^_^
Or maybe it’s not nice to be called pretentious even if we did see it. Maybe THAT.
Psigh as well, but that’s because I’ve spent too much time learning quantum mechanics. Interestingly enough, I say “fee” for \phi
“wavefunction” (when doing physics)
What would you say about the people that call it “Trident”? I’ve run into enough of this type…