GUI: "Gooey" or "Gee-You-Ai"?

I think people commenting on GUI may be inclined toward sometimes pronouncing it Gee-you-ai, but as someone who has made GUIs and worked with others working on GUIs, I have only ever heard GUI pronounced "gooey". Gee-you-ai just sounds odd to me, and I can't imagine saying it in a practical work setting. It's an acronym, not an initialism.

I can see why some might pronounce it like that from an academic standpoint, but it just isn't how I've ever heard it pronounced in practical use.

I pronounce each individual letter separately, because I don't like the way "gooey" sounds, but even among software developers there seems to be little consensus on this. It's kind of like the "GIF" situation where some people will argue it passionately from one side or the other, even though it doesn't really matter that much, and ultimately not understanding that in language we get to choose how we pronounce words.

Wait, there are people who don't pronounce it "giff"?

It's an acronym. Who the fuck says "Gooey"

Both. Some times I say 'Gooey' other times G-U-I but mostly the latter.

Gee-yew-eye. Gooey sounds so dumb.

Computer people. SATA is Sa-Tuh. SCSI is Scuzzy.

In computing,^[1]graphical user interface (GUI, pronounced 'gooey') ^[2] is a type of user interface that allows users to interact with electronic devices using images rather than text commands.

I say gooey cause its fun and faster.

Gooey, I always heard it like that when I was learning Python way back in the day and that is how I have always used it now.

Executable.

I don't think i've ever heard anyone say "Gee-You-Ai". Usually it's "Gooey" or just plain "UI".

Gooey! What the hell is wrong with all of you? lol

Also, GUID is Goo-Id. If I had powers, I would strike everyone down who said Gwid. Same with people that don't pronounce Varchar as vare-care. So many people pronounce it as vawr-char (char as in charred). Just say variable character and you then realize how to pronounce varchar =)

EDIT:

One other thing that makes me laugh is people saying SQL as S-Q-L; it's Sequel.

SCSI is Scuzzy.

As a software engineer surrounded by other people with degrees in computer science and engineering who code GUIs, I've only heard it pronounced as "gooey." Now if you were to say UI, then it's "you-eye." CLI is "see-ell-eye."

Feel free to mispronounce it though. I think it's kind of funny.

Edit: Also, SCSI is "scuzzy."

@tycobb: vare-care? I've only heard it pronounced var-car.

I feel like, based on these responses, it typically goes that people who often deal with people who understand computers say "gooey" because it's just an accepted, easier way of saying the term, while others who deal with the less computer-literate say G-U-I. That's the case for me, I feel like i'd seem like an idiot talking about a "gooey" to someone who knows little about that kind of thing.

Also, I pronounce it U-I, not ooey.

Gah. Mistype.

@sergio: Does that mean you pronounce "character" as "caracter" or "char" as "car"? Varchar = Variable Character -- therefore it is vare-care. =)

No on says: A-S-C-I-I, or.. Other stuff. ~ So its, gooey.

ITT: people who work with computers and actually use the term regularly vs. people who don't

@barrock said:

Ahem:

Almost a full day was devoted to agreeing to name the standard "Small Computer System Interface," which Boucher intended to be pronounced "sexy", but ENDL's^[6] Dal Allan pronounced the new acronym as "scuzzy" and that stuck.

I just like to throw that out there when SCSI comes up. All you G-U-I people are crazy two finger typists with coffee mugs sitting in your optical drive trays, by the way.

If you say gooey, you sound like a douchebag.

Yeah. what the hell, people actually say Gee You Ai?

That's like saying GIF is pronounced like gift, minus the t, because of the 'G' sound in Graphics, ignoring what it's inventors say, "JIFF."

The difference though is that G's can have a J sound. However, I don't pronounce GIF as JIFF. I wouldn't pronounce Git as Jit.

If gooey is the proper way to say it we need a new term to replace it

G-U-I. Whenever someone says 'Gooey' I always remember Peter Molyneux talking about Fable 3. *cringe*

So you don't pronounce gin as "jin"?

Take GUI, the 'I' in "Interface" is not pronounced with an "ee," and you even agree that it is pronounced "gooey," and not "goo-ih."

But it sounds like your pronunciation of GUID is correct, "goo-id," and not, "goo-eyed" or "goo-eye-dee," even though the "ID" is for "Identifier."

The pronunciations of computer-related abbreviations and acronyms don't always share the same sounds as the words they represent.

Gooey because that's how they said it in my computer science classes, and I'm not about to argue with people who have PhD's over pronunciation (see also: physics professors and the Greek alphabet)

BOTH-y. or B-O-T-H

I do =)

I wasn't trying to say that it's the same every time. It's all subjective and personal preference because they are just acronyms and abbreviations like you said. But I will fight to death for Varchar because of the 2 words it stands for. Vare-care also sounds better than var-car or var-char (CH = H sound not K).

All three of the programming teachers I have had say "gooey" so I'll go with that.

Just UI. You-Eye. Because who the fuck is making non-graphical user interfaces?

People that are making $200,000 a year because there are few people around that know how code against old UNIX main frames. Old POS systems are all text based. There are still a lot of systems out there that are purely text based.

I've always spelt it out "G-U-I" but there are definitely people in my engineering/comp. sci. school who seem to prefer saying "Gooey" which I think is gross.

@tycobb said:

UI doesn't necessary refer to something on a screen at all. Physical interfaces (i.e. physical buttons, sliders, switches) are often also referred to as a user interface.

BOOM KNOWLEDGE BOMB ON YOUR ASS

also it's pronounced Laura.

just realized you mean point of sale systems and not piece of shit systems.

Both, depending on how I'm feeling. But I typically purposefully mispronounce stuff, and obviously the real answer is gooey.

Nope. Easy example is NATO.

It depends on who I'm talking to. If it's a person who knows this stuff, I say Gooey.

If it is someone who doesn't I say G-U-I or Graphical User Interface so I don't get the "uhh whats a gooey herp derp" question.

@turambar: Why quote me and correct me, when in the edit I made I've realised my mistake? I also made another post with the realisation and correction of myself.

Reading comprehension!

Out of curiosity, how much concern is actually given to UI for text based systems, relative to graphical systems? There are plenty of people who work where I do that code for main frames with text interfaces, but I don't think we have any UI designers who specialize in those.

To answer the thread topic, I've said both, but for the most part I just say UI (you-eye). It's not really important whether it's images on a screen or a physical object or words. The basic principles of usability and presentation, and the way you tackle the problems are more or less the same. (Phil Fish and Olly Moss happened to talk about this very thing on one of the GDC streams recently.)

Because I totally misread your edit.

@snail: Since GUI is an acronym in its truest sense (an new, pronounceable word formed from initials of multiple words), Gooey is indeed the most logical way to pronounce it. However, since it's derived from UI, which is not an acronym but an initialism (not pronounceable), one might argue that prefixing it with the G might indicate that pronouncing it G-U-I makes more sense.

Ultimately it's a matter of preference as it is more work to pronounce a full on Gee before saying Youu Aii and Gooey is a quick and convenient way to blurt it out. After all, nobody says "show me your id" when asking for your I.D. :) (thinking about it, that could lead to some interesting interactions lol)

And and as for my vote, I barely ever hear anything calling it GUI anyway. All I hear these days is UI. So ... G-U-I it is? :)

@scrawnto: I don't think there is of any concern and doubt there would be someone specialized in it in today's world. I would think anyone could design a text based UI with little problems. You are mainly just focusing on user efficiency.

I think... I may be talking out of my ass here. I have not worked against that stuff before and just have little bits and pieces of what co-workers have told me over the years.

Wait are you saying you pronounce character as careactor? Wtf.

I think it's more like care-ick-ter. No one says char-ick-ter or car-ick-ter, and no one says char-actor. I don't know where you got the 'actor' part.

Gooey here.

That's what she said.

I don't know what kind of crazy foreign English you speak, but it's most definitely pronounced char-actor. Actor and Acter are pronouced the same.

Wait, are you a cowboy? That's what a really bad impression of a cowboy would sound like if they said character.

Never knew there was such heated debate about this. Well, I think GUI sounds better, so I pronounce it that way. "Gooey" sounds like some kid made a mess with Play-Doh, or something.

Where in the English speaking world is character pronounced that way? Are you Ryan Davis?