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How could you forget that antics of Doc Brown as he excitedly explains the Flux Capacitor to Marty McFly. If you don’t know what we are talking about, go watch Back To The Future right now! We’re not kidding.
This Flux Capacitor Replica is reproduced with full light effects and adjustable power settings, fully capable of being integrated into your very own time machine. Great if you don’t have the cash for your own DeLorean. Even better, you don’t need 1.21 jiggowatts of lightning power to launch the capacitor into lit mayhem. Get your own for $220. — Andrew Dobrow
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That’s gigawatt’s, not jiggowatts. 🙂
No but really, it is.
No, it should be “jigowatts”, not “jiggowatts”.
Yes Eric, we know that in reality it should be “gigawatts”, but there’s a whole internet culture built upon the fact that Doc Brown says “jigo”. 🙂
It is Gigawatts because back then we were not commonly using the prefix to talk about gigabytes. Now we are – now its seems silly that they used the soft g pronunciation.
It is correctly pronounced “jig-a-watt”. The prefix giga is from the Latin gigas (for “giant”). Words using this prefix are pronounced with the “j” sound. We say “Ji-gantic” and “Ji-ant”, not “Gig-antic” and “Guy-ant”. Doc Brown is the only one who pronounced it properly. The “whole internet culture” is incorrect. It has fallen into accepted use simply because so many of us mispronounce it thus. Even I gave up the crusade in about 1993… 🙂
Thanks SilentBoy. I can finally rest easy now that this debate has been put to rest.
“jig-a-watt” oh yeah!