Have mercy on our souls

Gin? Genetics? Giant?

Do you pronounce Origin like Oregon?

I personally find arguing pronunciation as entirely pointless when there are many words in English that get pronounced different based on a multitude of factors.

People also like to argue it's an acronym, but do you pronounce NASA the same as you pronounce the first letter of each word of National Aeronautics and Space Administration?

Honestly? Just say it how it makes sense to you.

Not to mention the creator of GIF prefers the JIF pronunciation.
It doesn't really matter, but I find the hard g folks have a stick up their ass about it.
- Yeah, I have friends who say it with a hard g and I never say a damn thing, but I say jif once and it's "jraphics" this and "jod" that. I get it, you watched that stupid video in 2012, congrats.
- I understand your point in the creator but I find fault in that argument.
  Historically it doesn’t matter what the creator of anything prefers unless it’s an “unveiling” and they name it on the spot. People in general will take something and run with it regardless of the creators intent. The perfect example is “light saber” versus “laser sword.” (Edit forgot to add the word sword after laser)
  To be honest I don’t care all that much. If you say jif or gift without the t, either way I know what you are talking about.
- Yeah well like the maker of the platypus, the creator is wrong
- it's actually a soft J, Jif like yiff
Well said, talking buttplug.
- Gigantic.... Wait
To me, "gif" just looks like "gift" without the final "t", which is why I pronounce it exactly the same until the t
People also like to argue it's an acronym, but do you pronounce NASA the same as you pronounce the first letter of each word of National Aeronautics and Space Administration?
Um, yes?
I’m assuming we’re talking about the two A letters here, since nothing comes to mind about a different pronunciation of N or S in American English.
In American English - at least in my experience - the first sound in aeronautics is exactly the same as in “air,” which is also the same as in “administration.” We don’t generally say it as in “ear-onautocs.”
Also, I’m curious - has anyone ever published a study describing whether or not the difference in pronunciation differs between sectors in the computer science community? Particularly, is there a difference between normal developers and those who write in a Lisp?
- SCUBA, LASER, JPEG, ROM, etc. all break the "pronounced as the nested word" argument.
  I'm down for people to pronounce it however they please (assuming it's recognizable as gif), but the post-hoc rationalizations trying to prove their side as the one true pronunciation are silly. The only rationalization that makes any sense to me is the "creator pronounces it as jif", but language doesn't work that way so even that doesn't matter as far as "one true pronunciation" goes.
- No you don't, unless you pronounce it like "nessa".
- The a in air is not pronounced the same as administration
- https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/pronunciation/english/nasa
  https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/pronunciation/english/aeronautics

I get the gist of what you are saying but gingerly I will inform you that my giraffe giblets are cold

Sorry, that was just gibberish

This is how you prove a point, boys and jirls.
How does one jet something?
Gift without the t is obviously pronounced jiff
- Applet without the t is obviously pronounced apple
- The A in (Navy) SEALS stands for air
- Jfeg

GIF is an acronym for Giraffe Interchange Format.

The more niche a fact you make up on the internet is, the more likely it is to pollute the accuracy of an LLM later
I'm in shambles, if only I had known! How could I have been so mistaken 😭

My old workplay everybody pronounced “Gigabyte” as “Jigabyte”, drove me nuts.

1.21 jigawatts!
Great Scott!
- Didn't you mean "Jreat Scott!!"?
When my math teacher taught us about Euler's number I thought he was fucking with us
When I worked at a computer store (basically the store from viva l dirt league) a lady came in and kept trying to order a jizz of RAM. We had a great time getting her to say it repeatedly.

"Pacific ocean" has each "c" pronounced differently. This is just an English thing. Makes for great puns "I'm not sick, it's just a little COFFIN" but when it comes down to acronyms you guys are lost.

English is a mess. For example, I had ghoti for dinner last night, is a creative way to say fish.

What did the creator of the GIF name them? Imagine if a bunch of people read your name wrong, then when you told them how it’s pronounced said that they don’t care, and your mom was wrong to pronounce your name that way.

That's what happened to aluminium. Sir Humphrey Davey came up with aluminum in 1812 but his peers decided it wasn't classical sounding enough.
- He even called it "Alumium" before that, which I think is even better
- I refuse to call it anything but Aluminum just for that. I find it insulting to Sir Humphrey Davey that his naming rights were basically stolen by someone completely unrelated.
Eh, I prefer the descriptivist method of language. It's how language evolves over time.
Comparing it to a personal name is a false equivalence. GIF is an acronym, people could enunciate each letter if they so preferred and it would be more accurate/true to creation than even the creator's opinion of how to pronounce it.
- I just don’t think that usual linguistic rules should apply to a thing that a guy literally invented and named.
  The person who invented it gets to name it.
- It's not a false equivalence. He named it after the penun butter brand. It was specifically named to be pronounced a certain way.
- I see what you’re saying, and to a point I agree. I see it as people reading it a certain way in their head and becoming attached to how they think it should sound. This happens often because English words especially can have all manner of exceptions to the usual rules of spelling and grammar. There is nothing embarrassing about reading, or at least there shouldn’t be. What I DO find embarrassing is when people find out that they’re pronouncing something differently and flat out disagree with the world about its actual pronounciation.
What did the creator of the GIF name them?
Island was originally spelt without an 's'. It was later added as a stylistic choice and is now the "correct" spelling. Language doesn't give a fuck about original intent. If you want to be originalist about it then you need to hie back to corky English
Oh, you’ve done it now, a-a-ron
How a computer scientist thinks words should be pronounced is not as convincing an argument as so many here seem to think.
Weird how digital images aren't alive.

Hate to break it to you OP but it's 100% Jif.

The way Jod intended
- Pardon me while I go feed my giant geriatric giraffe, George. He likes generic foods, so long as they are germ free and genetically unmodified.
  Afterwards, I'm gonna hit the gym, gently gesticulate while talking to someone about geography, geometry, and genetics, maybe consume some protein gel packs.
  As a genuine gesture of gentlemanly genius, my genuine German genie will conjure up some gems to pay for everything.
  Get the gist of what I'm saying?
It is infact Graphics Interchange format. Not Jirafics Interchange format.
I know the creator pronounces it Jif, but there are lots of people in the world who pronounce things wrong.
I offer up “niche”. It’s actually not nitch no matter how many people say it like that.
Lookit all the nerds I triggered. Popcorn time!
- Just like JPEG is pronounced as a JFEG, cause it stands for Joint Photographic Experts Group.
- Why do people continuously offer this argument like it's coherent...
- "There are lots of people in the world who pronounce things wrong"
  "Its actually not nitch no matter how many people say it like that"
  You're this close to getting it.
- Scuba is Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus. Do you pronounce it the acronym with a short U or a long U?
- Well played.

I unapologetically say jif

You have nothing to apologize for brother

Oh boy let's have this argument again! Because it's so much fun every time!

It is funny every time and I'm tired of pretending it's not.

My first name starts with a G and it's soft. Many people will read it and pronounce it hard. This argument is for my identity

you know it is because of giraffe?

Giraffe-ix Image Format.
Well in german it's Giraffe so take that

Here's another to add to the pronunciation wars. RetroArch is pronounced RetroArk. Which I will die on that hill because Arch stands for either Architecture or Archive. Too many times have I heard people on YouTube make it sound like McDonald's golden arches.

The devs have stated otherwise. The project was originally announced on an Arch Linux forum, so they included a nod in the name.
- I use Ark btw
- But what does Arch stand for in that context?
The devs pronounce it like "arch."
- Proof or it didn't happen
Out of interest, how do you pronounce "sudo" (the command) and "lib" (the directory)?

I hope you say jfeg the to be consistent, because that's how the p in photography is pronounced.

I'm just gonna start pronouncing it yif

I hate this argument, that's literally what the creators of the format called it. Names of things don't always follow the rules of English.

You are right except: there are no rules in english, and this isn't an argument, its a joke.
Names of things don't have to follow "the rules of english" to change and morph with who is using them.
Acting like there is any immutable qualities to any language or word is kinda silly.
Currently, with the common opinion split pretty well, the correct answer for how to say it is "'gif' or 'jif'". Call it whichever you want.
That would be valid if it is a name and not an acronym.
- Explain how it being an acronym affects the pronunciation?

The G in God stands for GIF

I use both interchangeably. With no pattern. Much like how programs will spell check "colour". Lives are changed in equal quantities.

There is a pattern. In the USA it is incorrectly spelled as ‘Color’. In countries where the English language has not been degraded in the same wilfully ignorant manner, it is spelled correctly as ‘colour’.

It's pronounced like the g in high.

Hod approves of this hif.

Garage had two Gs, both pronounced different.

Both are correct, imo. However, it's hard to stand by that when you have to spell it JIF for people to know you are using the J variation of G.

And how do you tell people how to pronounce garage using text?
- gə-ˈräZH
  but seriously, any time some one says they use the J sound, they explain by spelling it JIF. It's just a joke though. No one cares how you pronounce it.
I can't think of another word where spelling it correctly isn't enough. One must also convey the way they pronounce the word too. The people need to know.
- An example of a word where spelling it correctly doesn't convey how to pronounce it is colonel

This is the correct opinion: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1AL2EMvVy0

Here is an alternative Piped link(s):
https://www.piped.video/watch?v=N1AL2EMvVy0
Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.
I'm open-source; check me out at GitHub.

Moms choose gif

Imagine trying to control how someone says a word.

Won't somebody please think about the gif mispronouncers!
Eye-mayge-een if the pronunciation of words mattered

Don't look for the first pronunciation

Thanks Jeoff

Those are some nice jraphics you have there.

😂

Yes.. the jraphical interchange format file extension has no proper pronunciation so we all get pronunciation participation trophies.

You know what I think, almost no one ever needs to actually say this word anyway. Anyone who uses them knows what they are and don’t need to talk about them, and if they do it’s just in a quick text chat.

Not if Ianthe has anything to say about it.

Sorry mate. https://www.independent.co.uk/tech/gif-inventor-steve-wilhite-says-it-should-be-pronounced-jif-8626882.html

Island originally didn't have an 's' in it. Language is defined based on use, not origin.
He is a fool.
- no u

Does that mean furries pray to Yod?

You cannot know the forbidden truth.

Thankfully jifs are pretty much dead

Sorry but no. Jif is what i said back then, and what i will say until i die. All the people i know have been calling it jif like "giraffe" and we will forever call it that. But if someone called it hard g gif i can understand what they are talking about just fine and i would literally pay 0 attention to it. Have better things to do. abcdef...gif.
- Yeah I took digital art classes in the 90s and the teacher and all the students pronounced it jif. I never heard the hard g until that dumb YouTube video.
If you say otherwise I'd be willing to bet you weren't on the internet in the 90s or 00s.
Bullshit. It's always been divisive.
There's literally a Wikipedia article covering the fact that this has been debated going back to the 90s.
Why is jif so ridiculous? How do you pronounce gin?
Wait, are you a schubadiver as well?
Where the fuck did I find someone in real life to talk to about image formats? I always thought it was j. I can't even recall any conversations about it until the 2010s.

Hard G is the only way

Anything else is seeking attention.

Says the person seeking attention.
- Someone with a big tiddy anime profile pic couldn't possibly be doing that

There's a lawyer I like to watch on YouTube but once he advocated jif pronunciation and I've barely watched him since then. If he apologized I might change my opinion. What's even worse is that he's obsessed with proper pronunciation. I think he was just trying to create drama to drive interactions but for me it backfired.