{"id":61649,"date":"2020-05-07T13:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-05-07T18:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/?p=61649"},"modified":"2020-05-11T11:33:53","modified_gmt":"2020-05-11T16:33:53","slug":"how-do-you-spell-wifi-wi-fi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/61649-how-do-you-spell-wifi-wi-fi\/","title":{"rendered":"How Do You Spell WiFi \/ Wi-Fi \/ wifi \/ wi-fi \/ Wi Fi \/ WI-FI? 😩"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Call this a PSA of sorts.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

I was searching the Rocket Yard Blog for a specific article on WiFi. Or was it wi-fi? Hmmm \u2013 maybe it was WIFI in all caps with no hyphen? Or Wi Fi, with a space? All lowercase with no space? Should it even matter? *sigh*<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, how do you correctly spell WiFi?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Well… that depends.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Wi-Fi” is a trademark of the Wi-Fi Alliance, a network of companies that promotes wifi technologies and certifies products to make sure they conform to specific standards. So, if they’re the ones who oversee the adoption of this technology, then I guess the correct spelling of Wi-Fi is settled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Well… not necessarily.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is WiFi?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

It really depends on how you use the term. When most of us say “wifi,” we are usually referring to a WLAN (Wireless Local Area Network). “What’s your wifi password? Is there wifi at the hotel? Dude, my new refrigerator has wifi!”<\/em> So, basically, we are way off the mark and have been using the wrong term for quite some time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why is that?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

My theory is that once people started seeing the Wi-Fi certification logo on products, they just assumed the technology itself was called Wi-Fi. Which it isn\u2019t. It\u2019s the IEEE 802.11 family of standards. Plus, how the heck would you pronounce WLAN anyway? Wuh-Lan? Double-You-Lan? There could be wars the likes of how to correctly pronounce GIF<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But just as we tend to call all adhesive bandages \u201cBand-Aids,\u201d flying plastic discs \u201cFrisbees,\u201d and facial tissues \u201cKleenex,\u201d society has usurped the Wi-Fi branded name. And they changed the spelling to \u201cwifi\u201d along the way. That\u2019s probably a good thing because, as previously mentioned, \u201cWi-Fi\u201d is trademarked. We wouldn\u2019t want the wireless cops arresting little Johnny for an essay he wrote showing his grandmother how to connect to the internet so she can FaceTime him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Time will tell<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Remember when we had \u201ce-mail?\u201d Then for a while, it was \u201ceMail.\u201d Now we have \u201cemail.\u201d The general consensus tends to drive rapid changes in a language like this. If you need proof of how the use of wi-fi vs. wifi has bourne out over time, look at this Google Trends chart going all the way back to 2004.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Does \u201cwifi\u201d radically taking the world by storm make it the correct spelling? I don\u2019t really know, but it is how it\u2019s commonly being spelled these days. At least when people are searching for it. And I guess that\u2019s okay because it is a fairly new word \u2013 made up by the people, for the people. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most online dictionaries, as well as the macOS dictionary, redirect \u201cwifi\u201d to \u201cWi-Fi.\u201d Still, the unhyphenated version will likely be widely adopted as an accepted spelling before too long. The AP Stylebook<\/a> already says it’s okay, so I think it\u2019s time for me to ditch the hyphen unless it\u2019s referring to the Wi-Fi Alliance. Because, well, it\u2019s their name.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Incidentally, have you ever noticed that WiFi is not hyphenated in the Wi-Fi Alliance’s own logo? I’m just sayin…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Call this a PSA of sorts. I was searching the Rocket Yard Blog for a specific article on WiFi. Or was it wi-fi? Hmmm \u2013 maybe it was WIFI in all caps with no hyphen? Or Wi Fi, with a space? All lowercase with no space? Should it even matter? *sigh* So, how do you […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":110,"featured_media":61703,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"spay_email":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"class_list":["post-61649","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-random-thoughts-and-topics"],"yoast_head":"\nHow Do You Spell WiFi \/ Wi-Fi \/ wifi \/ wi-fi \/ Wi Fi \/ WI-FI?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I was searching the Blog for a specific article on WiFi. Or was it wi-fi? 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