Comments on: .(g/j)if

.(g/j)if

DynamiteToast — Thu, 30 May 2013 11:53:11 -0800

At the 17th annual Webby Awards, Steve Wilhite accepted a lifetime achievement award for the creation of the .gif format. During his acceptance speech, he reiterated his stance: It's pronounced "JIF", not "GIF".

The pronunciation of gif (previously) has followers in both camps, with contrarians to Wilhite coming from as high up as the White House. Luckily for both sides, there are many independents to woo as today Public Policy Polling released their latest poll on the issue, finding "41% of voters in the state go with 'gif' to just 17% with 'jif.' 42% of voters have no opinion though so there's still some room for the jif movement to grow."

By: invitapriore

invitapriore — Thu, 30 May 2013 11:55:44 -0800

Intentional fallacy. The matter is out of his hands now. Plus he's wrong.

By: DynamiteToast

DynamiteToast — Thu, 30 May 2013 11:55:49 -0800

In my opinion though, it's definitely gif.

By: atbash

atbash — Thu, 30 May 2013 11:56:02 -0800

So what? Language changes continuously.

By: bondcliff

bondcliff — Thu, 30 May 2013 11:56:28 -0800

Well, duh.

By: 0 answers

0 answers — Thu, 30 May 2013 11:57:05 -0800

At the 17th annual Webby Awards, Steve Wilhite accepted a lifetime achievement award for the creation of the .gif format. During his acceptance speech, he reiterated his stance: It's pronounced "JIF", not "GIF". Then a figure at the back of the hall stood up and said "no, actually Steve you'll find its pronounced "GIF". It always has been."

By: mhoye

mhoye — Thu, 30 May 2013 11:57:44 -0800

"zheefuh"

By: mazola

mazola — Thu, 30 May 2013 11:58:02 -0800

'Gif'/'Jif', who cares? Let's get to the REAL issue: For the love of pete, can we have the IMG tag in this thread please!? [g/jif]

By: boo_radley

boo_radley — Thu, 30 May 2013 11:58:18 -0800

Jood gob, Mr. Wilhite.

By: Apropos of Something

Apropos of Something — Thu, 30 May 2013 11:58:32 -0800

During debates like this, I feel like it would be really helpful for a designated personality to stand up and say to all those assembled, "You know one day everyone in this room will die, right?"

By: nadawi

nadawi — Thu, 30 May 2013 11:58:44 -0800

i'll just leave this here.

By: MCMikeNamara

MCMikeNamara — Thu, 30 May 2013 11:59:10 -0800

Cute, PPP, but I'm not going except a sample of only "Virginian voters" on this issue. Unless that 41% say they live in vərˈGɪnjə.

By: Philosopher Dirtbike

Philosopher Dirtbike — Thu, 30 May 2013 11:59:12 -0800

It's pronounced 'ping' now.

By: nadawi

nadawi — Thu, 30 May 2013 11:59:44 -0800

jif peanut butter is pretty happy about it.

By: mazola

mazola — Thu, 30 May 2013 11:59:51 -0800

Although, for the record, if the IMG tag were to be enabled, the MeFi thread would essentially look like this anyway.

By: frimble

frimble — Thu, 30 May 2013 12:00:31 -0800

I prefer to split the difference, using 'gif' for general gifs and 'jif' for tumblporn. A pronunciation-based NSFW tag.

By: Cash4Lead

Cash4Lead — Thu, 30 May 2013 12:01:05 -0800

no no no no no not getting sucked into this again no no no no no

By: phunniemee

phunniemee — Thu, 30 May 2013 12:01:24 -0800

I remember friend of mine (the one who people would point to as the resident techy person) being rabid about it being pronounced gif, lolling at people who dared to call it a jif. And then I guess she read something or maybe heard someone in a position of techy power call it jif, and then she was all rabid about calling it jif, lolling at people who dared to call it a gif. And then I guess she read something that called it a gif again, and wash rinse repeat. (She was also a PCS ARE WHERE IT'S AT, MACS ARE LAAAME person until she got a mac, at which point it was LOL A PC YOU'RE SUCH A RUBE.) Anyway, moral of the story is people are dumb and obviously it's pronounced gif. Obviously.

By: Cash4Lead

Cash4Lead — Thu, 30 May 2013 12:01:58 -0800

But for the record it's a hard g

By: nadawi

nadawi — Thu, 30 May 2013 12:02:20 -0800

omg - i basically maintain a mlkshk account for the sole purpose of hoping and wishing that on cortex's birthday or something that the img tag is reinstated for one glorious day.

By: Rich Smorgasbord

Rich Smorgasbord — Thu, 30 May 2013 12:02:24 -0800

What's the reasoning? I'd rather not start a video.

By: The Whelk

The Whelk — Thu, 30 May 2013 12:03:07 -0800

To quote Ray Smuckles: Somebody says it's Jif, I'll just sit here sayin' Gif, and they'll be wrong.

By: elizardbits

elizardbits — Thu, 30 May 2013 12:03:29 -0800

for serious you guys

By: mazola

mazola — Thu, 30 May 2013 12:03:38 -0800

I just call them 'the moving pictures'.

By: 0

Thu, 30 May 2013 12:04:09 -0800

You're not gonna get Me to Fite about it.

By: Rich Smorgasbord

Rich Smorgasbord — Thu, 30 May 2013 12:04:39 -0800

Or is there no reasoning, just an opinion about where the cool consensus is?

By: Rustic Etruscan

Rustic Etruscan — Thu, 30 May 2013 12:05:15 -0800

This debate is the jift that keeps on jivving.

By: backseatpilot

backseatpilot — Thu, 30 May 2013 12:05:22 -0800

Like Prometheus' punishment for providing fire to the humans, Wilhite's punishment for providing gifs to the world is to always be wrong about its pronunciation.

By: daq

daq — Thu, 30 May 2013 12:05:25 -0800

Hard G, sorry, it's an acronym, follow the standard rules for how to pronounce nonsense words. NATO, OSHA, etc, etc. It's not Oh-sah, is Oh-sha. If there was an H or Y behind the G, I could accept a soft g, but with the simple G followed by a single vowel, it's G, and in GUH. Besides, it's an acronym for Graphical Interchange Format. Graphical has a hard G. If it had a soft g, I'd be more lenient, but it doesn't.

By: shakespeherian

shakespeherian — Thu, 30 May 2013 12:06:37 -0800

The Venn Diagram of (1) people who pronounce 'gif' with a soft G and (2) people who pronounce GOB with a hard G is a perfect circle.

By: briank

briank — Thu, 30 May 2013 12:06:44 -0800

It's actually pronounced "throat-warbler mangrove"

By: sparklemotion

sparklemotion — Thu, 30 May 2013 12:06:55 -0800

daq, how do you pronounce "modem" (aka, modulator-demodulator)?

By: invitapriore

invitapriore — Thu, 30 May 2013 12:07:20 -0800

I mean, being vaguely serious about this for a minute, it's obviously a matter of usage and different speech communities will have different norms and I accept that, but the fucker had the opportunity to decide it was pronounced in a way consistent with the way 'g' is pronounced in the vast majority of cases in English where 'g' starts a word and isn't preceded by 'h' and HE DROPPED THE BALL. That shit is on him.

By: DU

DU — Thu, 30 May 2013 12:07:26 -0800

It's weird to me that everyone else likes the hard 'g'. I've been saying jif since waaaay before I knew it was right (via the inventor). It's just easier to say.

By: 0 answers

0 answers — Thu, 30 May 2013 12:07:33 -0800

Dude's been chuckling to himself all these years: "Come on Steve keep as lid on it... heh heh".

By: Lutoslawski

Lutoslawski — Thu, 30 May 2013 12:07:45 -0800

Let's just give [dʒɪf] to the Brits and [gɪf] to America and then we can use them interchangeably and everyone is right.

By: daq

daq — Thu, 30 May 2013 12:08:08 -0800

Or we could just treat it as an Initialsm, and pronounce every letter, like in ATM or FBI. Add a third option for anyone who doesn't want to be as lame as jif or gif, but has to forge their own way. Don't be a sell out. G.I.F. all the way, baby.

By: Rich Smorgasbord

Rich Smorgasbord — Thu, 30 May 2013 12:09:40 -0800

The rate at which people are commenting, as well as the comments, would suggest that there isn't any reasoning... Have any of you had the experience of looking something up to settle an argument, only to be looked on as a killjoy? People just want to argue.

By: showbiz_liz

showbiz_liz — Thu, 30 May 2013 12:10:08 -0800

Giraffe. Giant. Gibbering madness. Ginger. Gin. Gif.

By: Pogo_Fuzzybutt

Pogo_Fuzzybutt — Thu, 30 May 2013 12:10:19 -0800

but with the simple G followed by a single vowel, it's G, as in GUH Like germaine or Germany ?

By: sandettie light vessel automatic

sandettie light vessel automatic — Thu, 30 May 2013 12:11:41 -0800

Gill Git Gargantuan Gooch Gocart Gaggle Gif Gawwwwwwd almighty

By: kmz

kmz — Thu, 30 May 2013 12:12:03 -0800

By: Mental Wimp

Mental Wimp — Thu, 30 May 2013 12:12:09 -0800

It's G. I. F. Keep saying it over and over, faster and faster, and eventually you'll end up saying "jif."

By: daq

daq — Thu, 30 May 2013 12:12:24 -0800

sparklemotion: different classification. modem is an abreviation and concatenation. You will notice that while is was in all caps for the first few years, it quickly became de-capicalized and concatenated into one word, aka, modem, verses, MODEM or MO-DEM. And since standard pronunciation of Mode, is Moe, simply adding the -em to the end is how it is referred to in the modern parlance. Don't get me started on Nuclear. You'd need 2 D's to make it Mod-Dem, anyway.

By: erniepan

erniepan — Thu, 30 May 2013 12:13:24 -0800

No, it's pronounced "ping". Or maybe "pong".

By: sparklemotion

sparklemotion — Thu, 30 May 2013 12:13:38 -0800

How do you answer kmz's similar example then, daq?

By: elizardbits

elizardbits — Thu, 30 May 2013 12:14:14 -0800

The only thing worse than people who pronounce it incorrectly are people without extremely strong feelings on the pronunciation.

By: mr_roboto

mr_roboto — Thu, 30 May 2013 12:14:38 -0800

Giraffe. Giant. Gibbering madness. Ginger. Gin. Gif. Gift. Gill. Gimlet. Giddy. Gimp. Ginko. Gif.

By: rory

rory — Thu, 30 May 2013 12:14:42 -0800

it's an acronym for Graphical Interchange Format Jraphical Interchange? Jraphic Park!

By: 0 answers

0 answers — Thu, 30 May 2013 12:14:58 -0800

.png is 'pung' out-loud, we can all agree on that, yes?

By: resurrexit

resurrexit — Thu, 30 May 2013 12:15:54 -0800

image-tag IMAGE-TAG IMAGE-TAG!!!

By: phunniemee

phunniemee — Thu, 30 May 2013 12:15:59 -0800

As a precaution, I'm just going to start pronouncing all acronyms as JIF. Now excuse me while I go withdraw some cash from the jif machine so I can pay for my jif state jif diving license and swim with all the ghoti.

By: imnotasquirrel

imnotasquirrel — Thu, 30 May 2013 12:16:19 -0800

I've always pronounced it with a soft g because the hard g sounded too awkward to me. As someone else put it, it's like a weirdly unfinished version of "gift." But that's just my personal preference. *shrug* with the simple G followed by a single vowel, it's G "Gin" would like to have a word with you. Orthography doesn't always line up neatly with phonetics. We have gin and gist, but we also have gift and guilt.

By: 0 answers

0 answers — Thu, 30 May 2013 12:16:55 -0800

As in: "send me that dot pung Trevor or you're fired"

By: elizardbits

elizardbits — Thu, 30 May 2013 12:17:08 -0800

.png is 'pung' out-loud But does it rhyme with lung or the beginning of the word "pungent". (it's pnng like lung obvsly)

By: joegester

joegester — Thu, 30 May 2013 12:17:34 -0800

Gyfe.

By: gubo

gubo — Thu, 30 May 2013 12:17:45 -0800

The prefix "giga-" for 10⁹ was originally pronounced "jig-a" or even "jī-ga" (see Back to the Future and older dictionaries). I assume the jif-ists upon learning this will pronounce "gigabyte" and "gigs" with an initial j-sound.

By: kmz

kmz — Thu, 30 May 2013 12:17:48 -0800

But anyway, the true answer is: either way is correct! Unless you also want to settle on one way to pronounce "either".

By: imnotasquirrel

imnotasquirrel — Thu, 30 May 2013 12:18:30 -0800

The pronunciation that I could never get on board with is the one for meme. I *know* it's supposed to be "meem" but I can't help but read it as "mehm."

By: daq

daq — Thu, 30 May 2013 12:18:52 -0800

I still like my second notion, which is to just pronounce each individual letter and be done with it.

By: elizardbits

elizardbits — Thu, 30 May 2013 12:18:55 -0800

we should all joogle the answer, since no one ever really uses binj anyway.

By: Pogo_Fuzzybutt

Pogo_Fuzzybutt — Thu, 30 May 2013 12:19:10 -0800

The prefix "giga-" for 109 was originally pronounced "jig-a" or even "jī-ga" (see Back to the Future and older dictionaries). I assume the jif-ists upon learning this will pronounce "gigabyte" and "gigs" with an initial j-sound. It's a Jigawatt but a Gigabyte.

By: MCMikeNamara

MCMikeNamara — Thu, 30 May 2013 12:19:24 -0800

After sitting in on many of these arguments -- well, actually, the same argument over and over again -- I just realized that the only reason I pronounce it with a soft g is because of "gin." Lutoslawski: "Let's just give [dʒɪf] to the Brits and [gɪf] to America and then we can use them interchangeably and everyone is right." And then I can still say [dʒɪf] and seem like an affected American like Madonna or me when I was 13. Win-win!

By: daq

daq — Thu, 30 May 2013 12:19:54 -0800

I'm with you, imnotasquirrel. I don't care that the originator of the words says "meem". It's a "mehm", otherwise I end up wanting to say "ME-ME"

By: 0 answers

0 answers — Thu, 30 May 2013 12:20:21 -0800

"The pee en gee?" "Nope. The pung" "Oh." "Its under the jif"

By: Pendragon

Pendragon — Thu, 30 May 2013 12:20:47 -0800

You should hear dutch people pronounce GIF...

By: daq

daq — Thu, 30 May 2013 12:21:20 -0800

I'm calling it GRINFO, now, to make it harder.

By: cirhosis

cirhosis — Thu, 30 May 2013 12:21:45 -0800

Personally I've always gone with a soft g... but really trying to make any kind of argument about how it "should" be pronounced is setting yourself up for pain. This is English we're talking about here. say it jif or Gif or G.I.F. if you want. Now mispronouncing Linux.... that's a paddlin'

By: sideshow

sideshow — Thu, 30 May 2013 12:22:09 -0800

For the love of pete, can we have the IMG tag in this thread please!? Not if you're going to link your shit to a dns2go.com domain.

By: invitapriore

invitapriore — Thu, 30 May 2013 12:22:14 -0800

Hard data: Of the 5521 words in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary that start with the letter "g,"

4785 of them are pronounced with a hard "g", and
736 are pronounced with a soft "g".

So, that's 86% of them, or a 6.5 : 1 ratio.

By: East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94

East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 — Thu, 30 May 2013 12:22:57 -0800

GAY-peg

By: straight

straight — Thu, 30 May 2013 12:24:07 -0800

Hard G, sorry, it's an acronym, follow the standard rules for how to pronounce I think it's pretty hilarious that you think English has standard rules for pronouncing words.

By: usonian

usonian — Thu, 30 May 2013 12:24:14 -0800

Is it pronounced Jrafic Interchange Format? Then it's not pronounced 'jif'.

By: threeants

threeants — Thu, 30 May 2013 12:24:42 -0800

Maybe I don't spend enough time talking about image files, but I just pronounce it as G... I... F.

By: MCMikeNamara

MCMikeNamara — Thu, 30 May 2013 12:25:02 -0800

invitapriore: Can you get the stats for words beginning with "gi-"?

By: vacapinta

vacapinta — Thu, 30 May 2013 12:27:13 -0800

By: davebush

davebush — Thu, 30 May 2013 12:27:18 -0800

Animated debate.

By: MCMikeNamara

MCMikeNamara — Thu, 30 May 2013 12:27:20 -0800

Is it pronounced Jrafic Interchange Format? Then it's not pronounced 'jif'. Yes, like the allies of NATO, pronounced Nah-toe. I'm not saying that hard or soft g is right or wrong, but there are no "rules" that make it so.

By: invitapriore

invitapriore — Thu, 30 May 2013 12:27:32 -0800

Okay, there the picture is a little different. Of the 529 words in the CMU dictionary that start with "gi," 310 start with a hard "g" and 219 start with a soft "g." So 59%, or 1.4 : 1.

By: epersonae

epersonae — Thu, 30 May 2013 12:28:08 -0800

"Why Are There Two Pronunciations for 'G'?"

By: en forme de poire

en forme de poire — Thu, 30 May 2013 12:28:27 -0800

"Jif" and "ping" and I will fight anyone who disagrees

By: mr_roboto

mr_roboto — Thu, 30 May 2013 12:28:34 -0800

Is it pronounced Jrafic Interchange Format? Then it's not pronounced 'jif'. No. It should clearly be pronounced 'grif'.

By: Sokka shot first

Sokka shot first — Thu, 30 May 2013 12:29:13 -0800

This is karmic retribution for all those times I corrected people who mispronounce "nuclear" and "february," isn't it.

By: stoneweaver

stoneweaver — Thu, 30 May 2013 12:29:16 -0800

And so the GIF war began. It was a bleak time, brother against brother, mefite against mefite. It is only with perseverance and the complete abolition of moving pictures that an uneasy truce was struck.

By: MCMikeNamara

MCMikeNamara — Thu, 30 May 2013 12:29:42 -0800

Thanks invitapriore! Such solid numbers make me want to change to hard G now. (Obviously, I wasn't that attached to my pronunication, since I'm pretty sure I haven't said the word aloud in about 20 years.)

By: maudlin

maudlin — Thu, 30 May 2013 12:29:53 -0800

I choose NOT to pronounce it as JIF.

By: The Whelk

The Whelk — Thu, 30 May 2013 12:30:28 -0800

Why don't we settle this with a nice, orderly civil war?

By: Greg_Ace

Greg_Ace — Thu, 30 May 2013 12:30:37 -0800

4785 of them are pronounced with a hard "g", and 736 are pronounced with a soft "g". Ha - then soft-g is more exclusive, which means it's better! Wake up, Geeple!

By: straight

straight — Thu, 30 May 2013 12:30:49 -0800

It's a hard G as in gist, giant, gigolo, gip, gin, ginger, ginseng, giraffe, and Gina.

By: The Whelk

The Whelk — Thu, 30 May 2013 12:30:58 -0800

Choosey Mefites choose Gif.

By: MCMikeNamara

MCMikeNamara — Thu, 30 May 2013 12:31:05 -0800

Fort Wilhite will be pretty offensive in about 150 years.

By: BrotherCaine

BrotherCaine — Thu, 30 May 2013 12:31:38 -0800

I really don't give a fij.

By: Greg_Ace

Greg_Ace — Thu, 30 May 2013 12:31:59 -0800

Personally I think it's all a big goke.

By: maudlin

maudlin — Thu, 30 May 2013 12:32:01 -0800

Choosey Mee-fights choose Gif. I agree.

By: i_have_a_computer

i_have_a_computer — Thu, 30 May 2013 12:32:49 -0800

I've been pronouncing it "jif" since 1989. And it's no coincidence that I just watched the Geri Jewell episode of Facts of Life on Netflix.

By: Rich Smorgasbord

Rich Smorgasbord — Thu, 30 May 2013 12:34:16 -0800

Oh, if we call the whole thing off, then we must part. And oh, if we ever part, that might break my heart.

By: fleacircus

fleacircus — Thu, 30 May 2013 12:34:24 -0800

I *know* it's supposed to be "meem" but I can't help but read it as "mehm." I name you people les même-choosers.

By: Rustic Etruscan

Rustic Etruscan — Thu, 30 May 2013 12:35:58 -0800

Les Mêmeorables

By: backseatpilot

backseatpilot — Thu, 30 May 2013 12:36:30 -0800

I propose that smooth peanut butter be pronounced Jif and chunky peanut butter must be called Gif.

By: The Whelk

The Whelk — Thu, 30 May 2013 12:37:14 -0800

I purpose that people who actually like chunky peanut butter be sent to Monster Island.

By: scruss

scruss — Thu, 30 May 2013 12:37:49 -0800

It's a hard G as in gerrymander.

By: ish__

ish__ — Thu, 30 May 2013 12:38:02 -0800

Reasonable people can agree to disagree. And it isn't as if those of us on one side of the debate are completely unable to understand what the others are saying. We may roll our eyes, or grab our pitchforks, but we know what word you're trying (and failing, hard) to say. Those niceties out of the way; I want what some of the jif evangelists here are smoking. How the hell do you even make jif out of that? Graphics has a hard g! Honestly, *how* are you seeing "jif" ? **HOW!?!?!?!?!!!!!* Please please please give me some rational reason that doesn't involve the word "gin."

By: 0 answers

0 answers — Thu, 30 May 2013 12:38:17 -0800

'Ping' would make the format as fabulous as it deserves to be. Its 'me-me' by the way but we won't know until 2032.

By: bleep

bleep — Thu, 30 May 2013 12:39:26 -0800

"Jif" is short for "G.I.F". It's a meta-acronym. Or metacronym.

By: PipRuss

PipRuss — Thu, 30 May 2013 12:39:55 -0800

usage trumps formality. So take a poll and you'll have your answer on the perceived correct pronunciation of GIF. I'll continue to pronounce it the way I always have, ever since I first read it. With a hard G. It's just the nature of things when dealing with the English language. Good day sirs!

By: backseatpilot

backseatpilot — Thu, 30 May 2013 12:40:30 -0800

Why must you discriminate against the poor Germanic people of central Europe who have no j-sound in their language? "Jif" just becomes "yiff" which... Well, I guess that explains a lot of Tumblr right there.

By: Thorzdad

Thorzdad — Thu, 30 May 2013 12:42:48 -0800

I call it The Decrepit Image Format That Keeps Tumblr Alive.

By: cnelson

cnelson — Thu, 30 May 2013 12:42:54 -0800

Hard G, sorry, it's an acronym, follow the standard rules for how to pronounce nonsense words. NATO, OSHA, etc, etc. It's not Oh-sah, is Oh-sha. If there was an H or Y behind the G, I could accept a soft g, but with the simple G followed by a single vowel, it's G, and in GUH. Besides, it's an acronym for Graphical Interchange Format. Graphical has a hard G. If it had a soft g, I'd be more lenient, but it doesn't. How do you pronounce GATT? (General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade.)

A foolish consistency is the hobjoblin of little minds.

By: Diablevert

Diablevert — Thu, 30 May 2013 12:44:39 -0800

I need cortex to weigh in on this, because whatever way cortex pronounces it the opposite will be correct, and then we'll know. Except for Canadians and cortex.

By: imnotasquirrel

imnotasquirrel — Thu, 30 May 2013 12:45:07 -0800

Graphics is a hard g. Right, because the g is attached to r, and that particular cluster says that only a hard g is acceptable. We do not have the "jr" phonetic cluster in English. The acronym "gif" has no such cluster that demands one or the other. And just because the letter is pronounced a particular way in the word that makes up the acronym does not mean that the letter has to be pronounced the same way in the acronym itself. We pronounce "scuba" as "scooba" instead of "scuhba."

By: MCMikeNamara

MCMikeNamara — Thu, 30 May 2013 12:45:37 -0800

backseatpilot: "I propose that smooth peanut butter be pronounced Jif and chunky peanut butter must be called Gif." The fact that Proctor and Gamble hasn't started this campaign is why the sun is setting on the American empire. scruss: "It's a hard G as in gerrymander." I've never wished more that I was a gay porn star than now, realizing I have no use for the name "Gary Mander"

By: The Whelk

The Whelk — Thu, 30 May 2013 12:47:32 -0800

He changes the congressional borders of my heart.

By: fleacircus

fleacircus — Thu, 30 May 2013 12:50:43 -0800

I hear he did some movies with Twisted Dick Strict.

By: shakespeherian

shakespeherian — Thu, 30 May 2013 12:52:46 -0800

For whatever reason I always make .png an initialism.

By: elizardbits

elizardbits — Thu, 30 May 2013 12:54:35 -0800

Okay so derail-ily related but the other night when I was about to pass out drooly unconscious from my arthritis medication, I thought of what I believed was the best porn star name of all time, and decided to txt it to myself to enjoy in the morning. When I awoke the next day the message read "nekid guy lol".

By: Mister Fabulous

Mister Fabulous — Thu, 30 May 2013 12:54:46 -0800

I'm reminded of this classic.

The first doctor says "I am telling you it is whooom, w-h-o-o-o-m." The second doctor contradicts "And I am telling you, you are wrong it is definitely wooomh, w-o-o-o-m-h." A young nurse passing overhears, and being new on the job and keen to impress decides to intervene. "Excuse me doctors, but I can help. The word you are looking for is womb, w-o-m-b. She walks on down the corridor feeling pleased with herself. The first doctor turns to the second and says "Ignore her, she doesn't know what she is talking about. I bet she has never even seen a hippopotamus, let alone heard one fart under water."

It's a hard G.

By: backseatpilot

backseatpilot — Thu, 30 May 2013 12:57:47 -0800

We do not have the "jr" phonetic cluster in English Tell that to the poor jraffe.

By: blue t-shirt

blue t-shirt — Thu, 30 May 2013 12:59:41 -0800

I've said it once, I'll say it a thousand times: MetaFilter does not do well with pronunciation posts.

By: oneswellfoop

oneswellfoop — Thu, 30 May 2013 12:59:58 -0800

The "JIF" pronunciation is a thinly veiled threat to those of us who are allergic to peanuts. I'm not as bad as some, but they break out in hives upon hearing it. (Don't even get me started on people who say "damn skippy") So we the allergic are no longer allowed to have animated graphics on our Tumblrs? Side note: since it's now owned by Yahoo, would the corrected pronunciation is Toom-blur?

By: maudlin

maudlin — Thu, 30 May 2013 13:00:37 -0800

It's a hard G. That poor hippo.

By: oneswellfoop

oneswellfoop — Thu, 30 May 2013 13:00:54 -0800

And this is a much better Bugs & Daffy gif

By: shakespeherian

shakespeherian — Thu, 30 May 2013 13:01:31 -0800

The "JIF" pronunciation is a thinly veiled threat to those of us who are allergic to peanuts. What a goober.

By: maudlin

maudlin — Thu, 30 May 2013 13:01:50 -0800

You'll notice that Bugs supports GIF and Daffy supports JIF. GIF it is. I rest my case.

By: Potomac Avenue

Potomac Avenue — Thu, 30 May 2013 13:02:05 -0800

MEEEEEEEEEEEEFIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEE *tumbles off a cliff into redditch*

By: and for no one

and for no one — Thu, 30 May 2013 13:03:01 -0800

My wife and I don't see eye to eye. I say "tomato", and she says "Shut the Fuck UP". -- Dennis Miller

By: imnotasquirrel

imnotasquirrel — Thu, 30 May 2013 13:06:00 -0800

You'll notice that Bugs supports GIF I always did hate that rabbit. Tell me what Chip and Dale support and you'll have my answer.

By: MartinWisse

MartinWisse — Thu, 30 May 2013 13:07:09 -0800

What a miserable jit.

By: Lanark

Lanark — Thu, 30 May 2013 13:07:13 -0800

If everyone was calling it JIF then he wouldn't have any need to correct them, thus proving that the majority call them GIFs, thus proving himself wrong.

By: srboisvert

srboisvert — Thu, 30 May 2013 13:08:22 -0800

My name is pronounced Stephen. Be sure and pronounce the 'ph'. If you use a 'v' sound I will not answer and you will be crushed by the rejection.

By: Melismata

Melismata — Thu, 30 May 2013 13:11:30 -0800

The matter is out of his hands now. Indeed. Tchaikovsky hated his "Nutcracker", and Sullivan thought that his work with Gilbert was fluff that kept him from doing real music. C'est la vie.

By: Thorzdad

Thorzdad — Thu, 30 May 2013 13:12:06 -0800

gigawatts or jigawatts? FIGHT!

By: davejay

davejay — Thu, 30 May 2013 13:15:33 -0800

In interviews, I call them bitmaps. Sidesteps the issue nicely.

By: Rory Marinich

Rory Marinich — Thu, 30 May 2013 13:17:58 -0800

gif as in jif (SEE I WAS RIGHT HATERS) png as in ping jpg as in jippiguh

By: brokkr

brokkr — Thu, 30 May 2013 13:18:13 -0800

SQL: "squeal", "sequel" or "ess queue ell"?

By: Rory Marinich

Rory Marinich — Thu, 30 May 2013 13:19:21 -0800

My roommate pronounces SQL as sequel. We plan on stuffing him in an over and salting his flesh when we move out. (He's not rich so I'm allowed to say that, right?)

By: shakespeherian

shakespeherian — Thu, 30 May 2013 13:19:36 -0800

As long as I can keep pronouncing Photoshop docs as 'pissed.'

By: Xoder

Xoder — Thu, 30 May 2013 13:19:37 -0800

Regarding .PNG, RFC 2083 is crystal clear about how to pronounce it: "ping" Not that any one does or should! Just about everyone I know spells it out. But what do I know, I called MIDI "mee-dee"! (And MeFi is totally "Mee Fee")

By: invitapriore

invitapriore — Thu, 30 May 2013 13:20:20 -0800

SQL is pronounced "shibboleth."

By: shakespeherian

shakespeherian — Thu, 30 May 2013 13:20:30 -0800

Also when did everyone get together and decide to pronounce AT-AT as 'at at'?

By: straight

straight — Thu, 30 May 2013 13:20:39 -0800

I don't understand you people who need to add an "i" to pronounce "png." It's just "png."

By: It's Raining Florence Henderson

It's Raining Florence Henderson — Thu, 30 May 2013 13:21:35 -0800

I call them Gilfs. Pronounced hard-g. ilfs. Stands for GIFs I'd Like to Fight about. The GIFs in Gilfs starts with a soft-g, just to get the fight started. The T&A are silent, except when I dance. Then they kind of make a swishing and slapping sound, and then I fall down, panting and wheezing. Old man fight. Let's go.

By: invitapriore

invitapriore — Thu, 30 May 2013 13:21:57 -0800

Wait a second, "squeal"? That's a thing? I think would be scared of anyone who said it that way.

By: elmer benson

elmer benson — Thu, 30 May 2013 13:22:27 -0800

The Dude weighs in.

By: oneswellfoop

oneswellfoop — Thu, 30 May 2013 13:24:19 -0800

Then there is the pronunciation of GUI. Yeah, sure, pronounce it JOO-EY.

By: maudlin

maudlin — Thu, 30 May 2013 13:25:42 -0800

PNG! The magic format!

By: klangklangston

klangklangston — Thu, 30 May 2013 13:26:00 -0800

I was idly trolling my coworkers by telling them that only old, irrelevant neckbeards pronounce it "jif," and one got all het up about how it was originally pronounced that way and she just saw a video that proved it. Then I got her all het up by telling her that people who like smooth peanut butter are effete sybarites who shouldn't be trusted on serious computer issues. If they're going to make me come to the office, I'm going to fuck with my coworkers.

By: oneswellfoop

oneswellfoop — Thu, 30 May 2013 13:26:14 -0800

when I first saw "SQL", I asked a friend in IP if it was pronounced "squeal" and he said "only if you've used it for too long".

By: Rustic Etruscan

Rustic Etruscan — Thu, 30 May 2013 13:27:43 -0800

And MeFi is totally "Mee Fee" Mee Fee Fie Foom, Better learn to read the room!

By: elizardbits

elizardbits — Thu, 30 May 2013 13:28:33 -0800

I pronounce it like Dug pronounces "squirrel".

By: straight

straight — Thu, 30 May 2013 13:30:15 -0800

Then there is the pronunciation of GUI. Trick question. You should never be using the abbreviation "GUI," and especially not pronouncing it out loud in conversation. It's just "UI" or "Graphical UI" if you need to distinguish it from some other kind of UI.

By: 0 answers

0 answers — Thu, 30 May 2013 13:30:33 -0800

"Mee-fee squeal ping jif me-me." And just like magic, the door opened.

By: Sys Rq

Sys Rq — Thu, 30 May 2013 13:31:29 -0800

KATHIE LEE JIFFORD

By: Strange Interlude

Strange Interlude — Thu, 30 May 2013 13:34:32 -0800

GIFFY LUBE.

By: aught

aught — Thu, 30 May 2013 13:44:28 -0800

My wife and I don't see eye to eye. I say "tomato", and she says "Shut the Fuck UP". -- Dennis Miller But that's what EVERYBODY says when Dennis Miller talks.

By: jabo

jabo — Thu, 30 May 2013 13:46:38 -0800

Choosey mothers choose gif?

By: InsertNiftyNameHere

InsertNiftyNameHere — Thu, 30 May 2013 13:52:15 -0800

I genuinely love gin and gelatin with my giraffe after I've been to the gym.

By: discopolo

discopolo — Thu, 30 May 2013 13:52:51 -0800

By: explosion

explosion — Thu, 30 May 2013 13:55:44 -0800

The English language has the letter G, and the letter J. It's awfully selfish of people to insist on pronouncing G words with J sounds. Imagine your name were Gerry, pronounced with a hard G. Because of all those other Gerrys who couldn't be bothered to spell it Jerry, you're doomed to people mispronouncing your name forever. If it were to be pronounced "jif," it'd be spelled that way, and choosy moms would choose it. Alas, it's spelled "gif" and pronounced as such. Put another way, Steve Wilhite is hardly an authority on how it's pronounced. He may have invented it, but he's a programmer, not a linguist nor etymologist. He's out of his element, here.

By: IAmBroom

IAmBroom — Thu, 30 May 2013 13:57:20 -0800

daq: Hard G, sorry, it's an acronym, follow the standard rules for how to pronounce nonsense words. NATO, OSHA, etc, etc. It's not Oh-sah, is Oh-sha. If there was an H or Y behind the G, I could accept a soft g, but with the simple G followed by a single vowel, it's G, and in GUH. Besides, it's an acronym for Graphical Interchange Format. Graphical has a hard G. If it had a soft g, I'd be more lenient, but it doesn't.

g's are softened to /dch/ (/j/) when followed by i, e, or y. They represent glottals, not softened g, when followed by h. Which leaves your rules... idiosyncratic and completely irrelevant to discussions of English pronunciation. Also: misogynist is pronounced with a /j/ sound, not a /g/, but it comes from the roots mis- and -gyne (which usually has a hard g: gynecologist). Even your "gy" rule isn't actually a rule. As for "what GIF stands for", that red herring has been debunked above. So, once and for all, ladies and gentlemen, here's the rule for every language argument: Your opinion on the issue is almost as completely meaningless as your logical arguments. Only the masses are right. They create the communication rules, stochastically.

By: freecellwizard

freecellwizard — Thu, 30 May 2013 14:01:44 -0800

Here in North Carolina I say "gif". And "sequel", but that's more because "ess queue well" sounds oddly formal to me, like someone saying "Could you please direct me to the nearest Automated Teller Machine"? By the way I heard they say "jif" up in War Chester, Massachusetts.

By: Xoebe

Xoebe — Thu, 30 May 2013 14:06:06 -0800

Am I the only person (I didn't read every comment), but am I the only person, who, not having a definitive answer for this question, have been spelling out "Jee-Eye-Eff"s for the last twenty years? Like G.I. Joe? It's not hard to say. I may not be "right", but on the other hand, I am definitely not wrong.

By: straight

straight — Thu, 30 May 2013 14:08:20 -0800

In practice, I recommend "jee-if," "esquell," and "pingee" because then if the person you're talking to has irrationally strong opinions about how to pronounce acronyms, you can just claim you were spelling out the letters quickly rather than trying to say them as an acronym.

By: Rustic Etruscan

Rustic Etruscan — Thu, 30 May 2013 14:08:51 -0800

War Chester, Massachusetts. HRNNNNNNG

By: infini

infini — Thu, 30 May 2013 14:09:33 -0800

*moseys on up to the bar to slowly pull out six gun and shoot the mirror*

By: The Bellman

The Bellman — Thu, 30 May 2013 14:11:48 -0800

GAY-peg Do not tempt elizardbits.

By: Sys Rq

Sys Rq — Thu, 30 May 2013 14:12:41 -0800

This thread is making me jiggle out loud.

By: moonmilk

moonmilk — Thu, 30 May 2013 14:13:18 -0800

Steve Wilhite says GIF is pronounced JIF. Ray Bradbury says Fahrenheit 451 isn't about censorship.

By: usonian

usonian — Thu, 30 May 2013 14:17:35 -0800

Imagine your name were Gerry, pronounced with a hard G

Gerald... Gerry... Ger... Guh.

By: infini

infini — Thu, 30 May 2013 14:21:57 -0800

Steve Wilhite says GIF is pronounced JIF. Ray Bradbury says Fahrenheit 451 isn't about censorship. *uses norwegian design birch handled cheese slicer on newly discovered moon*

By: rory

rory — Thu, 30 May 2013 14:24:36 -0800

g's are softened to /dch/ (/j/) when followed by i, e, or y. Get away!

By: Sys Rq

Sys Rq — Thu, 30 May 2013 14:25:35 -0800

Give me a break!

By: rory

rory — Thu, 30 May 2013 14:27:29 -0800

GIF HORSE IN THE MOUTH

By: ob1quixote

ob1quixote — Thu, 30 May 2013 14:28:35 -0800

Xoebe: “Am I the only person (I didn't read every comment), but am I the only person, who, not having a definitive answer for this question, have been spelling out "Jee-Eye-Eff"s for the last twenty years? Like G.I. Joe? It's not hard to say. I may not be "right", but on the other hand, I am definitely not wrong.”

I can't find the reference—I swore it was in The Jargon File, but I couldn't find it—TLAs should always be sounded out as initialisms, unless they're TLAs in which case they are pronounced as a word.

By: swr

swr — Thu, 30 May 2013 14:34:52 -0800

It's the guy's own damn fault for not inventing a Giraffe Interchange Format. He still has time, if he can wean himself off the peanut butter.

By: Annika Cicada

Annika Cicada — Thu, 30 May 2013 14:44:10 -0800

Hard G GIF sounds stupid. JIF, people, it just sounds better

By: infini

infini — Thu, 30 May 2013 14:47:38 -0800

How do us non native speakers supposed to pronounce it? Especially if local cuisine has better options to peanut butter?

By: rory

rory — Thu, 30 May 2013 14:48:36 -0800

Go to gaol. Go directly to gaol.

By: Mad_Carew

Mad_Carew — Thu, 30 May 2013 14:55:27 -0800

Giraffics Interchange Format is an amazing invention. Think how many zoos are now able to exchange giraffes thanks to this guy. Except for the French. I hear they tried Zirafa Interchange Format and got confused because they couldn't send Giraffes with zero insertion force.

By: NoraReed

NoraReed — Thu, 30 May 2013 14:55:55 -0800

I spent a night in a London jail, which my captors insisted on spelling "GAOL." This is but one of the ways they tortured me. John Hodgeman, The Areas of My Expertise

By: Omon Ra

Omon Ra — Thu, 30 May 2013 14:57:32 -0800

In spanish jpeg is pronounced: jota-peg... You're welcome...

By: rory

rory — Thu, 30 May 2013 14:58:12 -0800

As long as I can keep pronouncing Photoshop docs as 'pissed.' Once we all have to pay for Creative Cloud, we'll join you.

By: elizardbits

elizardbits — Thu, 30 May 2013 14:59:50 -0800

In spanish jpeg is pronounced: jota-peg... As I learned to my dismay upon pronouncing it hay-peg and receiving cackles in response.

By: Rustic Etruscan

Rustic Etruscan — Thu, 30 May 2013 15:02:35 -0800

In spanish jpeg is pronounced: jota-peg... You're welcome... My host mother in Spain would watch Criminal Minds at dinner. The dub pronounces JJ's name "Jota Jota."

By: Brocktoon

Brocktoon — Thu, 30 May 2013 15:13:49 -0800

And "Yahoo!" is actually pronounced "Yay-hoo". "Gigabyte" is pronounced "Guy-guh-bite". "Ikea" is "I-kay-uh".

By: Mitheral

Mitheral — Thu, 30 May 2013 15:16:31 -0800

I've read this thread and now I can't remember how I pronounce it. It's like when you start thinking about how to hold a fork and suddenly you can't hold your fork. I'll have to sneak up on it in the next couple of days and then make a note.

By: hattifattener

hattifattener — Thu, 30 May 2013 15:17:14 -0800

I want what some of the jif evangelists here are smoking. How the hell do you even make jif out of that? Straight answer: The format is defined by a specification, and for anything defined by a spec, the spec or its authors have the canonical say on resolving ambiguities, even if they are stupid and wrong. (For example, GIF also stores multibyte values LSB-first; even though big-endian is inarguably the supreme byte order, a GIF implementation that used it would still be wrong.) The pronunciation doesn't really matter, but if you do insist on the existence of a "correct" or "incorrect" pronunciation, the only correct answer is with the soft G. That said, "gif" is one of the places I deviate from my prescriptivist leanings. Everyone¹ I know says it with the hard G and I think the soft-G people are being silly. The prefix "giga-" for 10⁹ was originally pronounced "jig-a" or even "jī-ga" My collection of mystery liquor is measured in jiggerwhats, and my porn collection is measured in jigglebytes. ¹Well, almost everyone.

By: jclarkin

jclarkin — Thu, 30 May 2013 15:26:55 -0800

Little known fact - the proper pronunciation for meme is actually "image macro". And "Jif"? FYIW!

By: Greg_Ace

Greg_Ace — Thu, 30 May 2013 15:53:58 -0800

Except for the French. I hear they tried Zirafa Interchange Format and got confused because they couldn't send Giraffes with zero insertion force. They should try using a bigger boxcar, with a hole in the roof.

By: Kadin2048

Kadin2048 — Thu, 30 May 2013 16:02:53 -0800

I've never understood how you can possibly get a soft-g into "GIF". It's an acronym for "Graphics Interchange Format" ... the 'G' in 'Graphics' is a hard-g, "guh" sound, not a soft-g "juh" sound; the latter is a totally different phoneme which isn't found in the word being abbreviated at all. I mean, you might as well through a few glottal stops and a click consonant or two in there while you're at it, just tossing arbitrary crap into the pronunciation for the hell of it. The demand for a soft-g "jif" pronunciation is completely arbitrary and weird. It strikes me as the inventor wanting everyone to do something stupid just because he thinks he has the right to demand it be so. Ugh. What's worse, since the hard-g pronunciation is what logically follows from the root words in the acronym, the only way that you'd ever know about the soft-g pronunciation is by either hearing someone saying it, or saying it the logical way and being corrected. It's an exception case created for no reason whatsoever, except, and this really gets at the root of the issue to me, as an obnoxiously cult-y in-group/out-group "lol you're doing it rong" identifier. So yeah, screw that "jif" noise. Until they get people to pronounce "graphics" as "jraphics", it's going to be "GIF" with a hard 'g' sound.

By: umberto

umberto — Thu, 30 May 2013 16:18:41 -0800

I have to say that until I read this and despite being a web geezer for decades, I had never ever heard anyone pronounce it with a hard G before; never heard anything but gif with the J. Now, out of the blue (literally), I'm in the minority? What the f?

By: St. Alia of the Bunnies

St. Alia of the Bunnies — Thu, 30 May 2013 16:18:59 -0800

Maybe he was just yanking everyone's chain?

By: Dark Messiah

Dark Messiah — Thu, 30 May 2013 16:24:35 -0800

When someone corrects my speech over a trivial matter, my stock response is "oh, so you knew what I meant, and we can move along to something of substance." Communication is understanding what the other party is stating; I let the pedants argue over the 'rules'. My network is now minus 2¢.

By: Dark Messiah

Dark Messiah — Thu, 30 May 2013 16:30:24 -0800

*net worth ....Figures, given what I just said.

By: Chitownfats

Chitownfats — Thu, 30 May 2013 16:46:16 -0800

IBM used to promote "sequel" for SQL. Whenever they would do so, I'd say in a really loud, sarcastic tone, "Oh, okay .. Ibum!" People would pour their whiskey sours on me in a display of loathing and contempt, but, you know what? My rebel heart prevailed and eventually thrived in the face of top-down, unilateral aggression! Let that be a lesson to me!

By: flaterik

flaterik — Thu, 30 May 2013 16:49:05 -0800

I maintain that if you're going to be a peanut butter weirdo based on appeal to authority, you must pronounce SCSI as "sexy". One of my coworkers has agreed to this.

By: NoraReed

NoraReed — Thu, 30 May 2013 16:53:13 -0800

Also, I do Skippy over Jif, but I don't understand the hatred for crunchy peanut butter in here. It does the whole coating parts of your mouth and then never coming off thing somewhat less than smooth.

By: zsazsa

zsazsa — Thu, 30 May 2013 16:57:47 -0800

Kadin2048: I agree that the selection of "jif" by the format's creator is pretty arbitrary, but that's not how acronyms work. That argument falls apart rather quickly when you examine almost any other acronym. /been sayin' "jif" since I read the CompuShow docs in 1991

By: imnotasquirrel

imnotasquirrel — Thu, 30 May 2013 17:06:06 -0800

The demand for a soft-g "jif" pronunciation is completely arbitrary and weird. So it fits in perfectly with the rest of the English language, then!

By: maryr

maryr — Thu, 30 May 2013 17:15:53 -0800

My collection of mystery liquor is measured in jiggerwhats, and my porn collection is measured in jigglebytes. Seems like some of that liquor is probably in Jagerwuts.

By: maryr

maryr — Thu, 30 May 2013 17:16:26 -0800

Which brings a whole new vowel or consonant into all this.

By: GoingToShopping

GoingToShopping — Thu, 30 May 2013 17:24:44 -0800

I've said it once, I'll say it a thousand times: MetaFilter does not do well with pronunciation posts. Wait, seriously? Dude, I'm laughing my ass off over here, between "nekid guy lol" and the GOB reference, I couldn't be happier for something to wake up to! Also, it can't possibly be true that I'm 200 posts late to the party and the first to link to Penny Arcade, can it?

By: genghis

genghis — Thu, 30 May 2013 17:31:31 -0800

[comment removed because redundant]

By: L.P. Hatecraft

L.P. Hatecraft — Thu, 30 May 2013 17:50:44 -0800

Thank you Mr Wilhite, gif is your gift to the world.

By: BrotherCaine

BrotherCaine — Thu, 30 May 2013 18:10:31 -0800

I swear the pronunciation pedants are about to spray gism all over this thread.

By: humanfont

humanfont — Thu, 30 May 2013 18:11:21 -0800

All I wanted to do is explain to my friends that "I made a gif of my drow mage." How do I pronounce this sentence correctly?

By: bukvich

bukvich — Thu, 30 May 2013 18:26:44 -0800

I pronounce it both ways. If I use it first in conversation it always has a hard g. If the other person uses a soft g and I haven't used the word yet, I will use a soft g. Unless I want to passive aggressive mess with them in which case I will use the hard g and go really hard, GIF! This very rarely happens. When the other person goes first I estimate it's ~ .67 hard & ~ .33 soft. The reason I use the hard g is because graphics has a hard g I have always thought but the person up above going on about GATT definitely has a point I hadn't thought about before.

By: stenseng

stenseng — Thu, 30 May 2013 18:48:20 -0800

"giff" "jay-peg" "ping" There, glad I could clarify that for everyone ever for all time. Move along.

By: Greg_Ace

Greg_Ace — Thu, 30 May 2013 18:51:20 -0800

There, glad I could clarify that for everyone ever for all time. Now, that is the funniest post in this thread so far!

By: NortonDC

NortonDC — Thu, 30 May 2013 18:59:34 -0800

I view my jifs on GNU/Linux.

By: barnacles

barnacles — Thu, 30 May 2013 19:37:25 -0800

Jiff, jay-peg, ping, scuzzy, sequel.

By: hypersloth

hypersloth — Thu, 30 May 2013 20:32:58 -0800

I can't believe all the people flipping out that it's so hard to understand the soft g. You can't even say the name of the letter without the j sound. So again, when spelling it out it's gee-eye-eff. One day it turns into jif. That's how hard that is. What bugs me is when people say vajayjay. There's no j in vagina, despite the sound, so they add a second one. I know I'm being contradictory but joddammit, I just can't get past that one.

By: Mad_Carew

Mad_Carew — Thu, 30 May 2013 20:44:47 -0800

"All I wanted to do is explain to my friends that 'I made a gif of my drow mage.' How do I pronounce this sentence correctly? "I made a png of my drow mage."

By: humanfont

humanfont — Thu, 30 May 2013 21:13:56 -0800

Ok but does drow rhyme with row or cow?

By: stavrosthewonderchicken

stavrosthewonderchicken — Thu, 30 May 2013 21:23:46 -0800

I kind of wish he'd insist it's pronounced 'jeef' because then I could make a joke about going on a holy jifhad to purge the world of the infidels. Kind of.

By: straight

straight — Thu, 30 May 2013 21:30:05 -0800

Say the letters G, I, F out loud five times as fast as you can.

By: XMLicious

XMLicious — Thu, 30 May 2013 21:53:01 -0800

Imagine how history might have turned out if IBM's PC had incorporated the advanced futuristic technology of file names that ended with more than three letters. Or if Unicode had been around back then they could've been ".�" files and not pronounceable at all.

By: Greg_Ace

Greg_Ace — Thu, 30 May 2013 21:57:18 -0800

Ok but does drow rhyme with row or cow? Oh dear, another /raʊ/ in the making...

By: Charlemagne In Sweatpants

Charlemagne In Sweatpants — Thu, 30 May 2013 22:06:09 -0800

During debates like this, I feel like it would be really helpful for a designated personality to stand up and say to all those assembled, "You know one day everyone in this room will die, right?" when i was a kid i had an idea for a superhero who just walked around doing this to people and its JIF or 'useless waste of time'

By: krinklyfig

krinklyfig — Thu, 30 May 2013 22:08:22 -0800

flaterik: "I maintain that if you're going to be a peanut butter weirdo based on appeal to authority, you must pronounce SCSI as "sexy"." I wasn't going to take a side, but I didn't know sexy peanut butter weirdo was an option. Suddenly life has new meaning.

By: Kadin2048

Kadin2048 — Thu, 30 May 2013 22:32:49 -0800

that's not how acronyms work. That argument falls apart rather quickly when you examine almost any other acronym. Does it? I can't think of many other acronyms where the leading phoneme in the first word making up the acronym isn't the same as the first phoneme in the pronounced acronym. Radar / radio, scuba / self, laser / light ... the pronunciation of other common technical acronyms is also very consistent: SCSI is "scuzzy", ANSI is "an-see", etc. About the only exceptions I can find are ones where the acronym closely resembles an existing word that's pronounced differently: "CIDR" is "cider" rather than a hard-c "kider" (matching 'classless') because "cider" is already a word.* But situations like that tend to be pretty contrived. And it doesn't make much sense as a defense of the author-preferred "jif" pronunciation, which isn't a word, brand-name peanut butter brands excepted. (And I've never heard anyone defend the "jif" pronunciation by saying it was a peanut-butter reference. Though I'd be willing to entertain that argument I guess.) * Another seeming exception: when the acronym incorporates another acronym, e.g. "SRAM".

By: Philosopher Dirtbike

Philosopher Dirtbike — Thu, 30 May 2013 23:22:56 -0800

But situations like that tend to be pretty contrived. And it doesn't make much sense as a defense of the author-preferred "jif" pronunciation, which isn't a word Eh? "Jiff" is a word, and goes back to the 18th century.

By: ChrisR

ChrisR — Thu, 30 May 2013 23:46:55 -0800

I've always pronounced SQL as squeal, for myself. It matches my feelings when I'm forced to work with it. If I could make it sound like FUUUUCK, I'd do that instead.

By: Cranberry

Cranberry — Fri, 31 May 2013 01:03:39 -0800

Gif hard g as in graphics. Jif is peanut butter.

By: rory

rory — Fri, 31 May 2013 01:44:15 -0800

Ok but does drow rhyme with row or cow? What do you mean, "or"? If Robert Moog and Martin Scorsese can't convince the world to pronounce their own surnames properly, Wilhite has no hope.

By: rmmcclay

rmmcclay — Fri, 31 May 2013 01:46:52 -0800

I wonder how those 41% say Gee-whiz? I hope it isn't with a hard-G.

By: ogooglebar

ogooglebar — Fri, 31 May 2013 02:18:36 -0800

IBM used to promote "sequel" for SQL. Whenever they would do so, I'd say in a really loud, sarcastic tone, "Oh, okay .. Ibum!" I want to make a movie about a supercomputer named .fhe who goes crazy and kills everyone on board a spaceship.

By: ogooglebar

ogooglebar — Fri, 31 May 2013 02:29:59 -0800

If Robert Moog and Martin Scorsese can't convince the world to pronounce their own surnames properly, Wilhite has no hope. Ha! Robert Moog can't even convince half his family to pronounce their own surname properly.

By: phunniemee

phunniemee — Fri, 31 May 2013 04:51:46 -0800

I wonder how those 41% say Gee-whiz? I hope it isn't with a hard-G. So...ghee whiz? Ah, the perils of eating too much Indian food.

By: humanfont

humanfont — Fri, 31 May 2013 04:54:01 -0800

Now lets have a row over whether name a row of Linux servers after heirloom tomato varieties or herbs.

By: XMLicious

XMLicious — Fri, 31 May 2013 05:07:11 -0800

How about varieties of roe?

By: Sys Rq

Sys Rq — Fri, 31 May 2013 05:41:49 -0800

If Robert Moog and Martin Scorsese can't convince the world to pronounce their own surnames properly, Wilhite has no hope. To say nothing of Steve Buscemi, who admits to mispronouncing his own name.

By: emmling

emmling — Fri, 31 May 2013 06:06:48 -0800

gif. as in gila monster.

By: fiercecupcake

fiercecupcake — Fri, 31 May 2013 06:18:14 -0800

IDJAF.

By: SpringRobin

SpringRobin — Fri, 31 May 2013 07:36:48 -0800

Nope - don't care I'm too old a dog to change now. I'm gonna keep pronoucing it (j)if... not because I want to but because I won't be able to... and no one will understand me if I do...

By: Mitheral

Mitheral — Fri, 31 May 2013 07:59:51 -0800

the pronunciation of other common technical acronyms is also very consistent: SCSI is "scuzzy" The guy who invented SCSI thinks it should be pronounced "sexy". So anyone who thinks we should pronounce .gif as JIF because Steve says so should also change how they are pronouncing SCSI. This is the problem with an appeal to authority of this nature. The pronounciation has been turned over to the public domain and out of the control of the originating body. Plus pronouncing it "wrong" can be seen as a bit of a middle finger to the .lzw patent holders.

By: jennaratrix

jennaratrix — Fri, 31 May 2013 11:05:12 -0800

My name is pronounced Stephen. Be sure and pronounce the 'ph'. If you use a 'v' sound I will not answer and you will be crushed by the rejection. How about Step Hen? That's what I call the person by that name in my office. But maybe that's just because he annoys me.

By: infini

infini — Fri, 31 May 2013 11:06:30 -0800

Oh I"m too SCSI for my shirt, too SCSI you see... this doesn't work visually unless you're reading out loud on your side of the screen because you have to move the lips in English?

By: fiercecupcake

fiercecupcake — Fri, 31 May 2013 11:17:34 -0800

My name is pronounced Stephen. Be sure and pronounce the 'ph'. If you use a 'v' sound I will not answer and you will be crushed by the rejection. How about Step Hen? That's what I call the person by that name in my office. But maybe that's just because he annoys me. posted by jennaratrix 9 minutes ago [+] In read-aloud proofreading, as I've done for the Texas state government, we pronounce it "Step Hen" to distinguish it from "Steven." So, yeah, totally legit. :]

By: the man of twists and turns

the man of twists and turns — Fri, 31 May 2013 12:33:31 -0800

Turkish artist Erdal Inci has a new collection of GIFs on display at Action Gallery Milan - and also his tumblr. I wonder how he says GIF?

By: kreinsch

kreinsch — Fri, 31 May 2013 13:31:17 -0800

He's wrong. Just like Terry Brooks is wrong about pronouncing "Shannara".

By: usonian

usonian — Sun, 02 Jun 2013 19:06:30 -0800

gif. as in gila monster.

El Gife.