Lost SPACECRAFT believed FOUND ON COMET

The European Space Agency has released an image it says hints at where the Philae lander dispatched to Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko came to rest. Comet-watchers will recall that Philae was carried to 67P by the Rosetta spacecraft, which dropped the washing-machine-sized lander last November 12th. All went well until the …

[Michael H.F. Wilkinson]

When philae wakes up

we might hear

"I appear to be lying at the bottom of a deep, dark hole. That seems a familiar concept, what does it remind me of?... Ah, yes! ...Life. Maybe if I lie still and ignore it, it will go away again"

Alternatively, we might just receive a message:

"I think you ought to know I am feeling very depressed"

OK, I'm going. The one with the cassette tapes of the HHGTTG radio play in the pocket please

[Andrew Newstead]

Re: When philae wakes up

+1 for radio play reference - the one, true, Hitch-Hikers.

[Ben Bonsall]

Re: When philae wakes up

They're all the one true hitchhikers :) I;m sure Addams said they all happen in slightly parallel universes because some jokes don't work in some universes...

Except the movie. Because most of the jokes are there, but only the first half of them. And because Marvin.

[John Brown (no body)]

Re: When philae wakes up

""I appear to be lying at the bottom of a deep, dark hole..."

There are exits to the North, South and East. I hear the sounds of a Kobald on the distance

Enter command (Verb, Noun)>_

[willi0000000]

Re: When philae wakes up

It's dark. _

[Anonymous Coward]

BORING: "Yes, we are pointing out that “GIF” is pronounced “jif”. Again."

Stop being pathetically boring - the majority of the world use a hard G as in Geekishness.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: BORING: "Yes, we are pointing out that “GIF” is pronounced “jif”. Again."

Maybe it ought be be renamed "CIF" to remove the ambiguity in the international usage.

Now is that a soft "C" or a hard "C" ?

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: BORING: "Yes, we are pointing out that “GIF” is pronounced “jif”. Again."

>Maybe it ought be be renamed "CIF" to remove the ambiguity in the international usage.

You're evil. It of course, has to be a soft C, just to annoy MS. Revenge is sweet.

However, just because the inventor of the format doesn't know how to speak properly, that doesn't mean that we should follow him in his error. Either of his errors. Use png.

Take the following example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-3zJ1keyh70 It is all lovely right up to the point when she wants to free you of the hurt and the pain.Yes, you could mute it, but the sound makes it just a little more hypnotic, until it jars you from your reverie.

[Vladimir Plouzhnikov]

It's very simple

Beware of Greeks bearing GIFs

[MrT]

Re: It's very simple

... rename it 'Marathon'.

[VinceH]

Re: BORING: "Yes, we are pointing out that “GIF” is pronounced “jif”. Again."

"Take the following example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-3zJ1keyh70 It is all lovely right up to the point when she wants to free you of the hurt and the pain.Yes, you could mute it, but the sound makes it just a little more hypnotic, until it jars you from your reverie."

Freeing you of something is nowhere near as bad as not knowing the questions. (Although later, they do admit it's the answers to the questions they want.)

Or maybe it is as bad. or worse. I dunno. That opening line's just always annoyed me.

[John Tserkezis]

Re: BORING: "Yes, we are pointing out that “GIF” is pronounced “jif”. Again."

"However, just because the inventor of the format doesn't know how to speak properly, that doesn't mean that we should follow him in his error. Either of his errors. Use png."

Ok, and how do you pronounce "png"? It sounds like a foreign language translation of a herb that causes death, that is also suitable for sprinkling on your pasta, or your pea soup.

[Bleu]

Re: BORING: "Yes, we are pointing out that “GIF” is pronounced “jif”. Again."

PNG is pronounced 'ping', with a sharp rising inflection, like in the quote from an old English comedy sketch, 'the machine that goes ping'.

Really only ever heard pea N G.

I remember seeing a cleaning product called Jif or Jiff overseas, I can't remember what it was for cleaning, but I will stay with gift -t.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: BORING: "Yes, we are pointing out that “GIF” is pronounced “jif”. Again."

"I remember seeing a cleaning product called Jif or Jiff overseas, I can't remember what it was for cleaning,"

It was a non-scratch cream cleaner for kitchen sinks etc. It was renamed to "CIF" - apparently because the original name's "J" caused problems outside the English-speaking areas. Unfortunately a hard or soft "C" pronunciation seems equally ambiguous.

[Crisp]

Re: BORING: "Yes, we are pointing out that “GIF” is pronounced “jif”. Again."

You mean the G isn't silent like in gnome?

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: BORING: "Yes, we are pointing out that “GIF” is pronounced “jif”. Again."

the majority of the world use a hard G as in Geekishness.

Would that be because the majority of the world are ignorant gits? They're certainly not Geeks, or Geeky or have much Geekishness if they are that ignorant. GIF has been pronounced as "jif" ever since the format first appeared. Ask the creator of the format if you don't believe it.

[Ivan Headache]

Re: BORING: "Yes, we are pointing out that “GIF” is pronounced “jif”. Again."

Shouldn't that be 'ignorant jits' then?

[Captain DaFt]

Re: BORING: "Yes, we are pointing out that “GIF” is pronounced “jif”. Again."

"Ask the creator of the format if you don't believe it"

So, if he'd said that it was pronounced "wafflebangzitshammer", would the grammar pedants still insist on using his pronunciation, or would they finally realise that their leg was being pulled?

[Bleu]

Re: BORING: "Yes, we are pointing out that “GIF” is pronounced “jif”. Again."

Captain Daft,

I love your suggestion of 'wafflebangzitshammer' as the way to pronounce 'GIF'.

... but you let your point down by confusing pronunciation and grammar.

Giving you a vote for wafflebangzitshammer anyway, hope you made it up!

[Captain DaFt]

Re: BORING: "Yes, we are pointing out that “GIF” is pronounced “jif”. Again."

"Giving you a vote for wafflebangzitshammer anyway, hope you made it up!"

Yep, as far as I know, totally original, but it was my fifth try.

(Due to being a 'dirty old man' in training, the first four were definitely NSFW.)

[Dr Patrick J R Harkin]

Re: BORING: "Yes, we are pointing out that “GIF” is pronounced “jif”. Again."

I pronounce it gif. But then I'm gust a jeek.

[Joey]

GIF

The G is for Graphical not Jraphical!

[hplasm]

Re: GIF

Isn't a Jraph a tall horsey?

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: GIF

The G is for Graphical not Jraphical!

That is correct. But it doesn't change the proper and original pronunciation of GIF as "jif".

[Martin Budden]

Re: GIF

But it doesn't change the proper and original pronunciation of GIF as "jif".

It may not change the original pronunciation, but the original pronunciation was not proper: the inventor mis-pronounced it. G is for Graphical. The inventor stuffed up the original pronunciation.

[no-one in particular]

Re: GIF

> The inventor stuffed up the original pronunciation.

So you don't think that the inventor has the right to name and pronounce his invention any way he pleases?

Or you simply don't believe that the soft-g exists?

[Martin Budden]

Re: GIF

I do think the inventor has the right to name and pronounce his invention any way he pleases. I also think I have the right to pronounce it any way I please, even if my way differs from his.

Yes I do believe the soft-g exists, it's just not appropriate in this instance.

[Anonymous Coward]

So they've not so much found it as they suspect they know where it roughly is. That's a bit like claiming you've found your lost car keys because you know they are somewhere in the house - you still can't drive your car.

[Anonymous Coward]

"Yes, we are pointing out that “GIF” is pronounced “jif”. Again."

Not by anyone I know, but there again my friends and I pronounce words as the English do.

[dr2chase]

And that's why I use PNG.

[DJV]

Yeah, but how do you pronounce it?

[Anonymous Coward]

Pronouncing PNG

It sounds like Pee Engine, which is Bill Gates' next project.

[waldo kitty]

Yeah, but how do you pronounce it?

Pee Inn Gee just like is it spelled :)

[Anonymous Coward]

Pee In Gates'

[Trainee grumpy old ****]

>> Yeah, but how do you pronounce it?

Papua New Guinea?

[Can I have a frothy?]

Throat Wobbler Mangrove?

[Phuq Witt]

@dr2chase

*"And that's why I use PNG."*

That's OK. As long as you remember the Reg requires that you pronounce it 'PINGE'

[micheal]

Send something through space for 10 years into the correct place

Then misplace it at the last minute

tsk tsk

[Martin Budden]

Re: Send something through space for 10 years into the correct place

Try to think positively will you? They got three or four touch-downs for the price of one!

[Bleu]

Hitchhiker's

the novel closely followed the plot of a US novel called Venus on the Half-Shell.

The parallels are so close that the probability that Adams didn't use that as his model (for the first novel) asymptotically approaches zero.

To maximize down-votes, I will add that I was the first Reg. commentard to note that Philae had likely failed altogether ... as indeed it has.

Wishful thinkers will be wishful thinkers.

I would have liked it to succeed, but spiteful comments about our asteroid probe (which at least got back to earth) and Russia's Phobos-ground make a certain schadenfreude at those commentards inevitable.