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posted by martyb on Thursday February 27 2020, @10:11AM   Printer-friendly
from the it's-not-geef-either dept.

Peanut butter brand Jif has put forth their opinion on how to pronounce GIF.

From their website(warning, lots of animated GIFs):

When is it OK to call a Gif a "Jif"? Never.

Jif® is peanut butter. GIFs are
looping animations.
SNACK ON THAT.

That would be all well and good except for just one thing. The person who actually created the format, Steve Wilhite, explicitly stated GIF was to be pronounced with a soft "G"!

From a 1997 edition of the NetBITS newsletter, down near the bottom of the page appears:

It's "Jiff" and I Don't Want to Hear Another Word -- Logic may dictate the "g" in GIF (Graphic Interchange Format) is pronounced hard, like gift or gefilte fish, but that didn't stop dozens and dozens of readers from offering opinions, many of them hilarious.

However, several people wrote to say that they either worked with folks at CompuServe or read the original GIF specification, all of which specified a soft "g". None of us at NetBITS understand why we haven't seen the definitive word before, so here it is. Charlie Reading <charlier@kreber.com> writes:

I worked with the creator of GIF (Steve Wilhite) when I was still employed by CompuServe. Steve always pronounced it "jiff" and would correct those who pronounced it with a hard G. "Choosy developers choose GIF" (spinning off of a historically popular peanut butter commercial).

An article at Ars Technica actually queries professional linguists in pursuit of the ultimate answer.

See this Sesame Street-like GIF which mentions popular words that start with a soft G such as Giant and Giraffe.

Lastly, here is a short video (1m18s) with what is quite possibly the strongest affirmation of all. David Karp presents Steve Wilhite with the 2013 Lifetime Achievement Award at the 17th Annual Webbys where Steve dramatically uses a GIF as his acceptance 'speech' and sets the matter straight once and for all.

Not that it settles anything. The debate will rage on like vi vs. Emacs.


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  • (Score: 3, Funny) by Azuma Hazuki on Thursday February 27 2020, @02:14PM (7 children)

    by Azuma Hazuki (5086) on Thursday February 27 2020, @02:14PM (#963473) Journal

    Both sides are heretics. Nano is the One True Editor. Vi is a form of torture and Emacs...well, Emacs is an interesting OS, but its editor blows. Maybe there'll be an Emacs mode for "decent editor" someday.

    --
    I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
    Starting Score:    1  point
    Moderation   +1  
       Funny=1, Total=1
    Extra 'Funny' Modifier   0  
    Karma-Bonus Modifier   +1  

    Total Score:   3  
  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 27 2020, @02:30PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 27 2020, @02:30PM (#963489)

    Oh no you didn't!

  • (Score: 2) by Mer on Thursday February 27 2020, @09:04PM

    by Mer (8009) on Thursday February 27 2020, @09:04PM (#963745)

    I just use butterflies

    --
    Shut up!, he explained.
  • (Score: 3, Funny) by Phoenix666 on Thursday February 27 2020, @09:23PM (3 children)

    by Phoenix666 (552) on Thursday February 27 2020, @09:23PM (#963754) Journal

    I realize you may not be aware of this, but when having an editor measuring contest it's generally inadvisable to advertise yours as "nano."

    --
    Washington DC delenda est.
    • (Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Friday February 28 2020, @05:05AM (2 children)

      by Azuma Hazuki (5086) on Friday February 28 2020, @05:05AM (#963959) Journal

      I've been told it's not the size of the package (313120 bytes according to ls -lh) but how you use it that counts. Is this a guy thing?

      --
      I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
      • (Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Friday February 28 2020, @05:35AM (1 child)

        by Phoenix666 (552) on Friday February 28 2020, @05:35AM (#963975) Journal

        No, it's a white lie girls say to soothe the egos of guys who use nano.

        --
        Washington DC delenda est.
        • (Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Saturday February 29 2020, @03:22AM

          by Azuma Hazuki (5086) on Saturday February 29 2020, @03:22AM (#964487) Journal

          I've seriously never heard that out of another woman before. It's always been guys I hear saying it. And there's me just rolling my eyes in the background thinking "you have ten fingers, two lips, and one tongue, moron."

          --
          I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
  • (Score: 2) by turgid on Thursday February 27 2020, @09:26PM

    by turgid (4318) Subscriber Badge on Thursday February 27 2020, @09:26PM (#963756) Journal

    Nano is a pale imitation of pico. And can you script it from the command line? Is there an equivalent of sed for nano?