Interesting to me that so many of these "-ify" words and names don't seem to double the final consonant in the way you might expect them to. Spotify isn't spelled like "spotty"; "clubified" isn't spelled like "clubbing"; etc. "Enshittification" seems to be the exception here. Not sure what to make of this!
I've never noticed this before, but Latinate words in "-ify", "-ity", etc., don't seem to do the double-consonant thing after short vowels: "modify", "vilify", "sanity", "amenity". (I don't know any Latin, but I assume that this reflects the spelling of their Latin sources, or maybe French intermediaries.) So maybe that influenced the spelling of these new word+ify coinages?
In a non-linguistic aside, this appeared in Ray Suarez's piece recently in Oldester Magazine: "The insurance and employee benefits firm MetLife estimates 30 million workers, a fifth of the entire labor force, now get their principal salary from gig work."
Interesting to me that so many of these "-ify" words and names don't seem to double the final consonant in the way you might expect them to. Spotify isn't spelled like "spotty"; "clubified" isn't spelled like "clubbing"; etc. "Enshittification" seems to be the exception here. Not sure what to make of this!
Well, Spotify was named by Swedish founders based on a mis-hearing. It's possible they didn't know, or care about, English spelling rules. And I have seen the occasional double-B “clubbification” spelling in the wild. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spotify#:~:text=History,-Daniel%20Ek%20addressing&text=Spotify%20was%20founded%20in%202006,spot%22%20and%20%22identify%22.
I've never noticed this before, but Latinate words in "-ify", "-ity", etc., don't seem to do the double-consonant thing after short vowels: "modify", "vilify", "sanity", "amenity". (I don't know any Latin, but I assume that this reflects the spelling of their Latin sources, or maybe French intermediaries.) So maybe that influenced the spelling of these new word+ify coinages?
An aside: gif is short for Graphic Interchange Format; hence, the hard "g" in gif (or GIF). At least, that's my take, and I'm sticking with it! :-)
In a non-linguistic aside, this appeared in Ray Suarez's piece recently in Oldester Magazine: "The insurance and employee benefits firm MetLife estimates 30 million workers, a fifth of the entire labor force, now get their principal salary from gig work."
https://oldster.substack.com/p/its-a-long-way-down
I read that piece and was equally ... not surprised, exactly, but maybe nonplussed (in the original sense).
I used to intentionally try my hand at being angsty and ironic and speak like those you cited.
But that was when I was younger and angstier (?).
Now I can't help but hear those words and visualize the speaker wearing a bib and acting like a disgruntled toddler.
Man, it's time to retire.
Fascinating! Enjoying these discussions!