I went looking for it, and apparently you’re right. He said “Jif”. He’s either trolling or being obstinate. People don’t see it that way, especially seeing as it’s the hard “G” from “Graphical” in the acronym. So he’s applying a pronunciation rule of soft G when followed with “i” when used in a word to an acronym - and acronyms aren’t words (noted: they can become treated as such).
GIF is not a word. So soft “g” when followed by “i” does not apply.
The funny thing is that even though there are people on both sides dead set they are right, if they hear someone say the opposite pronunciation they still understand what the speaker is referring to. So there’s absolutely no context lost, it’s just preference, and I have a feeling given the age of the name GIF those preferences are very regional, as the internet had not become a national/international thing yet.
The creator of the GIF format says it’s pronounced like Jiff, like the peanut butter.
He’s wrong, even though he created the format.
I went looking for it, and apparently you’re right. He said “Jif”. He’s either trolling or being obstinate. People don’t see it that way, especially seeing as it’s the hard “G” from “Graphical” in the acronym. So he’s applying a pronunciation rule of soft G when followed with “i” when used in a word to an acronym - and acronyms aren’t words (noted: they can become treated as such).
GIF is not a word. So soft “g” when followed by “i” does not apply.
Acronyms are words. They’re words formed out of the initial letters of a phrase or name.
I went and looked it up.
Acronym is the most correct term. GIF can be an initialism or an acronym, however it becomes an acronym when we pronounce it as a word.
I’m not going to get into a debate over it obeying word rules when it starts as an initialism. That’s for scholars and asklemmy shenanigans.
The funny thing is that even though there are people on both sides dead set they are right, if they hear someone say the opposite pronunciation they still understand what the speaker is referring to. So there’s absolutely no context lost, it’s just preference, and I have a feeling given the age of the name GIF those preferences are very regional, as the internet had not become a national/international thing yet.
There is no such thing as a “hard g” or a “soft g”. There is a g sound, and there is a j sound.
Yes, I will die on this hill.
How do you pronounce bridge or baggage?
Brij
Baggaj
Yeah, a soft g is kinda just a j
With J sounds, of course.
Bajjaj
That’s dumb, It’s “Graphics Interchange Format.”