Today we're asking the big questions:
is it "ee-oss" or "e-o-s"?
"I-S-O" or "ISO"? "Bo-kay" or "bo-kah"?
You know, the stuff that really matters.
Let's get Undone.
[offbeat music]
♪ Gerald undone ♪
♪ He's crazy ♪
What's happening, everybody? I'm Gerald Undone,
and in case I don't see you:
Good afternoon, good evening and good night.
Alright, so, photography mispronunciations.
Let's start off with one that's actually kind of a bonus,
that isn't actually something that's mispronounced,
but I think is misunderstood, and that's "Raw."
Despite it being done all over the internet,
raw files shouldn't be capitalized.
And by that, I mean, the word "raw".
If you were to say, "Do you shoot in raw?"
Don't write "raw" in all-capitals.
Raw doesn't stand for anything,
and it's not even a common file extension.
And even if it was your file extension,
you shouldn't be capitalizing it anyway,
because file extensions are written in lower case.
Like ".mp4" shouldn't be written ".MP4".
Now, there is actually a .raw file extension,
but you're more likely to encounter .cr2,
.rw2, .nef, etc.
So, basically stop writing raw in all caps.
Now, JPEG, on the other hand, is a different story.
It also has file extensions like .jpg and .jpeg,
but if you're referring to the compression method
as a whole, it actually does stand for something:
Joint Photographic Experts Group,
and so you should capitalize it, but not "raw".
Raw's just like saying "raw meat,"
and you wouldn't capitalize that.
OK, now let's get into the mispronunciations-- and no,
we're not going to be covering the Nikon Z series,
because that largely depends on how you pronounce
the letter "Zed," which changes from region to region,
and is remarkably uninteresting.
Instead, our first case is going to be
Canon's EOS series of cameras.
Now, this was named after a Greek Titaness,
Eos, who was also the goddess of the dawn--
which seems kind of fitting for a product rooted
in photography, which in Greek means "drawing with light."
But it gets more complicated, because according to Canon,
EOS also stands for Electro-Optical System,
and many people read this out as an initialism, EOS.
And I don't blame those people, because
Canon also decided to capitalize all
the letters rather than leave it in its original case.
But it still can't be right to say it as an initialism,
if it's named after a Greek goddess.
In order for it to be an initialism,
it can't be based on a word, because if it's based
on a word, it becomes an acronym,
and you're supposed to say it out. In this case: "ee-oss."
And so, personally, I think that whole
"Electro-Optical System" thing is actually a reverse acronym
where they try to apply meaning to a word
that they already wanted to go with,
which was Eos from Greek mythology.
And the modern Greek way of pronouncing it
would be with a bit of a step up on the second syllable,
-so "ee-oss"... -[man] "Ee-OSS."
And I say modern Greek, because the Ionic or Homeric Greeks
would have you pronouncing it as "Ay-oss,"
or "Hey-ohss", but "ee-oss" is fine.
And in case you don't believe me,
here's a clip of the president and COO
of Canon USA pronouncing it "ee-oss."
"Ee-oss" 5D Mark II...
"Ee-oss" R system-- the "Ee-oss" R!
Alright, let's move on to another similar case,
but with ISO. Now, this one also
has Greek roots and is also misidentified as an initialism.
Now, ISO in cameras these days isn't quite
what it was in film days, but the general notion
is that it's a standardized way
of equating things across the world.
And in this case, done by the International Organization
for Standardization, and that should set off
some flags right there, because if it was actually
supposed to be an initialism, wouldn't it be IOS and not ISO?
And wouldn't it change from country to country
depending on the language?
In fact, the organization actually
addresses this and puts this argument
to rest on their website by saying:
Of course, the probably mean initialism and not acronym,
because like we were saying earlier,
an acronym is when you pronounce it like a word.
And also it's peculiar that they
changed it from the original Greek,
because it's not pronounced "Isos," but "ee'-sos".
But either way, they clearly state that they want
to be called ISO, despite them taking a Greek word and putting
it all in upper case just like Canon did with EOS.
But none the less, we have an answer: it's ISO.
Alright, let's step away from Greek
and move on to Japanese with our final word: bokeh.
Now, this one doesn't have any complicated
issues with its origin or letter case.
It's just more that people aren't really familiar
with pronouncing Japanese words.
The trick is to separate
the syllables and hit them hard.
The easiest way that I can describe it,
it's like saying "OK" in a choppy way: "oh-kay".
-"Boh-keh". -Bokeh.
The two common mispronunciations are "Bokayy,"
where you drag it on too long and try and tie it together,
almost like you're trying to say "bouquet of flowers."
And then the famous "Bokuh," which is just wrong.
Now, there's another element of confusion when it
comes to bokeh, and it has to do with its definition.
Bokeh is the aesthetic quality in the blur
in the out of focus components of an image.
It's not the quantity of blur.
What I mean is that you can't have more or less bokeh,
but you can have good or bad bokeh.
What you really mean is you want
larger circles of confusion or a shallower depth of field,
or bigger blur-balls, but not more bokeh.
What you want out of your lens is pleasing bokeh.
Bokeh that's nice to look at.
Now you know why the expression,
"I want more 'bo-kah'" is just all kinds of wrong.
Now, keep in mind, this video is just for fun,
and so if a client were to say to you, "I want more 'bo-kah,'"
you would probably know what they mean, and so they
would have succeeded at communicating their message.
I think that it's a good thing to be accurate
and as informed as possible,
but being pedantic to the point of hurting communication
is definitely not a good thing.
But that's gonna be it for me. I hope you found
this video helpful or at least entertaining
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Alright... I'm done.