Gif or Jif?

[Valkyrie-Lemons]

So apparently a GIF is meant to be pronounced as "Jif"

[Story]

I've never heard it pronounced "Jif" since I often see it written on the interwebs, not spoken, but how do you say it?

Personally, I say it with a hard G, since GIF stands for Graphics Interchange Format, and you don't pronounce Graphics with a "J" sound but rather a hard "G" sound.

Plus if you're Eastern European/Balkans, wouldn't that J then become a Y? Which would be even more confusing.

[King Kool]

I say Biff.

[Keab42]

I've always pronounced it Gif, because I'd only ever seen it written down and that's how it made sense to pronounce it for me. For pretty much the same reasons as Valkyrie-Lemons.

[auberginequeen]

I say "gif" with a hard G or else I can't help but think of peanut butter.

On that note:

[empath]

...that looks a LOT like a friend of mine.

But yeah, I say it with a hard G because it's an acronym with the first letter based on a word with a hard 'g' sound.

Sorry, Mr. Wilhite; we're all wrong, but when there's a hundred soldiers and 99 of them screw up and start marching with their right foot first, the Sergeant still chews out the one grunt marching 'out of step'...

[Elomin Sha]

Jif used to be grease cleaner in the UK and also named for something squirted on pancakes during Pancake Tuesday.

[Yaxley]

I not only pronounce it with a hard g, but also a long i, just to be difficult.

GIF FOR LIFE!

[Merrymaker_Mortalis]

I don't prenounce it as it's a term that never comes up in verbal communications.

[Sieg Reyu]

Gi makes a J sound. Giraffe, Giant, Gibberish. It only makes sense.

But English is stupid.

[Graham]

Hard G for life, don't even care.

[Ptangmatik]

Jif used to be grease cleaner in the UK and also named for something squirted on pancakes during Pancake Tuesday.

Damn straight.

You wanted to be careful about keeping those two separate too, otherwise pancake day would be horrific

[Valkyrie-Lemons]

Gi makes a J sound. Giraffe, Giant, Gibberish. It only makes sense.

But English is stupid.

What about Git, Gimp or Gill?

Jif used to be grease cleaner in the UK and also named for something squirted on pancakes during Pancake Tuesday.

Damn straight.

You wanted to be careful about keeping those two separate too, otherwise pancake day would be horrific

Ha, I remember always been confused by the two. I always wondered why they had the same name.

[Sieg Reyu]

Gi makes a J sound. Giraffe, Giant, Gibberish. It only makes sense.

But English is stupid.

What about Git, Gimp or Gill?

But English is stupid.

[LogicSword]

Jif used to be grease cleaner in the UK and also named for something squirted on pancakes during Pancake Tuesday.

Damn straight.

You wanted to be careful about keeping those two separate too, otherwise pancake day would be horrific

Ha, I remember always been confused by the two. I always wondered why they had the same name.

Jack Dee.

[Lord Hosk]

Dear inventor of thing I dont care what you say Jif makes no sense I dont care what stupid peanut butter reference you were going for you invented a means to transmit graphics not jafics.

I also like the reference to "A coiner effectively loses control of a word once it's out there..."

Kinda like when al gore invented the internet he didnt think it would be used exclusively for porn and stealing movies. When JVC invented the VHS they didnt think it would be used exclusively for porn and stealing movies, and when Sony developed home DVDRs they didnt think they would be used exclusively for... wait a minute When the new york times created times square they...

OK there is a trend developing here.

[Lavos]

we used to have an animated gif thread somewhere, and one of the prominent users (her name slips my mind ) called it jiff, and i've called it jiff ever since

[Ptangmatik]

Jack Dee.

THAT'S What I was thinking of! Trying to remember where I remember that from has been driving me nuts. Thanks Logic

[Drecon]

I always pronounce it in the dutch way, with a hard, scraping, guttural G (it's akin to the Scottish G, as in "Loch").
Incidentally, the dutch word "Gif" means "poison".

[King Kool]

Hard G for life, don't even care.

Wasn't that Hard G your gang name when you were in the Bloodz?

[Can't Wear Hats]

Hard G is the only way. You know what, Mr Wilhite?




(Yes I will keep using this GIF at every possible opportunity.)

[Lord Hosk]

I love the gif so much because the glasses miss his eyes, it works on multiple levels.

[tamaness]

Apparently it's a big issue? Either pronunciation is acceptable.

[Sieg Reyu]

we used to have an animated gif thread somewhere, and one of the prominent users (her name slips my mind ) called it jiff, and i've called it jiff ever since

OH MY GOD IT'S LAVOS!!!!!


YAY LAVOS IS BACK!!!

[psychopompos]

Gi makes a J sound. Giraffe, Giant, Gibberish. It only makes sense.

But English is stupid.

What about Git, Gimp or Gill?

But English is stupid.

FUN FACT! One of the easiest ways of telling whether an English word that starts with G comes from a Germanic or a Romance language is to look at its pronunciation!

Words that come from Anglo-Saxon, Danish, or Norse will tend to begin with /g/ (hard G), like get, give, gill, etc. On the other hand, words come from French, Latin, or even Greek (YES I KNOW IT'S NOT A ROMANCE LANGUAGE JUST ROLL WITH IT) will begin with a /dʒ/ (soft G, or J), such as gist, gem, gyroscope, etc.

However, I don't know exactly what the protocol is for acronyms. Largely because acronyms in English were INCREDIBLY uncommon before 1900, and didn't really become ubiquitous until World War II. So, pronounce it how you want.

ETYMOLOGY FOR THE WIN!

(but yeah, it's totally /gɪf/)

[Geoff_B]

Give it a few years, and it'll be rebranded as Cif (in the UK at least )