Support NeoGAF

[adamsapple]

It's time to find out. Stand and be counted, GAF.

 

[Rentahamster]

Choosy developers choose gif

 

[Brakum]

Toe one you didnt have to write the wrong way is obviously the correct one. It couldnt be more logical.

 

[Rentahamster]

Let's gust ask this juy

 

[Pejo]

I believe the creator of the .gif format went on record saying it's "jif", but that won't stop me from saying it gif, the superior way.

 

[Rockondevil]

It's gif, not jif.
I don't care if the creator claims it's jif. The creators of velcro want you to call it hook and loop, but nobody is doing that either.

 

[kevboard]

the correct way

 

[Rentahamster]

 

[Adapting]

 

[SJRB]

gif stands for Graphics Interchange Format, so it's "gif" and not "gif", you dumb motherfucker. You stupid fucking ape.

 

[The_hunter]

Gif with a 'G'

 

[AJUMP23]

Hard G gents.

My daughter said gif like jif the peanut butter and I grounded her

 

[Dr Bass]

George Lucas also can't pronounce the names of his own creations correctly so ... there's that.

It's "gif" hard g. Expressly for the reason this first panel states.

 

[Hookshot]

He shouldn't have named it after graphics if he wanted to pronounce it jif.

 

[TheUnicornGuy]

This, but also I'll pronounce it as I see fit. Like Jay-zed or zed zed top.

 

[Dr Bass]

Hard G gents.

My daughter said gif like hit the peanut butter and I grounded her.

This is solid parenting.

 

[adamsapple]

 

[EverydayBeast]

 

[rm082e]

 

[Rentahamster]

George Lucas also can't pronounce the names of his own creations correctly so ... there's that.

It's "gif" hard g. Expressly for the reason this first panel states.

That's a reason a lot of people use, but I don't think it's a convincing one, personally. There is no acronym rule that states that is supposed to be the case. When it comes to acronyms, there are two ways English speakers deal with them. The first way is sounding out all the letters (e.g. CIA, HMA, USB, etc), . The second way is to sound out the acronym as its own word (e.g. SCUBA, LASER, NASA, NATO, etc).

"GIF" is obviously the second way, where we sound out the acronym as if it is its own word. When we do that, we don't necessarily equate the pronunciations of the words the acronym represents with the actual sounds that the first letter of each word makes. If that was a strict rule, "NASA" would be pronounced "nay-suh", since the "A" in NASA stands for "Aeronautics (ay-ro-not-iks)". We instead default to a common sense and natural sounding pronunciation, as if "NASA" was itself its own word.

That being said, there are countless cases of English words where a 'G' followed by a vowel results in either a hard or soft 'G' sound. IIRC, there are actually more words with a soft 'G' sound due to a lot of European influence on English, but it's been a while since I checked. Since we are pronouncing "GIF" as if it were its own word and not according to the pronunciation of the words the acronym is derived from, either pronunciation is fine.

Ultimately, the decision is personal preference and subjective, because language is subjective. The only objective reason - that the creator of the word says its the soft 'g', doesn't matter if no one cares.

 

[Insane Metal]

Fortunately, most of gaf is sane. Can't say the same about the user above, though.

 

[John Bilbo]

Suomessa meillä sanotaan, että giffi. Se on vähän niinku kipsi ja kirahvi ois saanu lapsen.

 

[Angry_Megalodon]

Even as a Spaniard, "jif" sounds strange. Voted for Gif

 

[Unknown?]

 

[jason10mm]

anyone calling it a "jif" MUST therefore say "Gpg" using the hard J for .jpg like in "Jeep".

Then y'all motherfuckers can go have your own conversations and leave the rest of us in peace.

 

[HRK69]

Alright, now we need a poll for 'meme' too

 

[bitbydeath]

anyone calling it a "jif" MUST therefore say "Gpg" using the hard J for .jpg like in "Jeep".

Then y'all motherfuckers can go have your own conversations and leave the rest of us in peace.

Was going to say the same thing.
Anyway, this is Jif.

 

[rm082e]

anyone calling it a "jif" MUST therefore say "Gpg"

I read that as "gay peg"...

 

[ReBurn]

 

[jason10mm]

Alright, now we need a poll for 'meme' too

are you saying that there are degenerates out there saying "me me" instead of "meem"??????

 

[kpopSuperstar]

I never even heard of jif.

 

[Synless]

It's in the name, (G)raphics Interchange Format…. It's fucking (g)if.

Sorry but only basement dwelling neckbeards say "jif".

 

[kevboard]

Alright, now we need a poll for 'meme' too

how the hell could you say meme wrong?

 

[tkscz]

dot GEE EYE EFF

 

[Mr Reasonable]

It's gif, not jif.
I don't care if the creator claims it's jif. The creators of velcro want you to call it hook and loop, but nobody is doing that either.

You're correct about gif, imo.

But wrong about velcro, imo. Hook and Loop is the generic product, Velcro is the brand name. Velcro, I assume, would like their name to be the one that people think of first when they are looking to buy some hook and loop products.

 

[Lambogenie]

how the hell could you say meme wrong?

Me me..

But not actually me, promise.

 

[ReBurn]

I never even heard of jif.

It's a brand of peanut butter.

 

[kevboard]

Me me..

But not actually me, promise.

it's a wordplay on the word gene, how could anyone get that wrong?

 

[IntentionalPun]

gif stands for Graphics Interchange Format, so it's "gif" and not "gif", you dumb motherfucker. You stupid fucking ape.

This actually isn't how acronyms work, they are just pronounced however you would pronounce what is spelled out.

 

[ZehDon]

Ah, so the Peanut Butter must be spelt with a G as well, which I creates presce--

I see. Well, this clarifies it then: Steve Wilhite doesn't know how to use English correctly - if he did, he wouldn't need to clarify his usage of it. "GIF" with a hard G because what the fuck else would it be?

 

[Rentahamster]

Well, this clarifies it then: Steve Wilhite doesn't know how to use English correctly - if he did, he wouldn't need to clarify his usage of it. "GIF" with a hard G because what the fuck else would it be?

There are tons of words in the English language that start with "soft letter g sound" + vowel.

 

[San Dan Glokta]

The poll is a disguised way to uncover the jif saying xenos that must be purged

 

[ZehDon]

There are tons of words in the English language that start with "soft letter g sound" + vowel.

Ok, and how many have a soft G followed by "IF"? I do believe the answer is: none. And that's why the word uses a hard G - pronouncing "GIF" with soft G would make it the first and only use of a soft G following by "if" in the entire English language. Which is why it's clearly wrong. The inventor can handwave all he likes; if I spell something "Soup" but proclaim it's actually pronounced "Thop", people would be right to respond: you're a fucking idiot who needs to learn to spell.

 

[Drake]

gif like how you say gift. I know this is technically wrong, but I'm too old to change my ways.

 

[wondermega]

Neojaffe

Sounds pretty fucking stupid, doesn't it?

THAT'S HOW YOU SOUND TO US.

 

[DavidGzz]

Hard G gents.

My daughter said gif like jif the peanut butter and I grounded her

These days kids don't go outside so this isn't punishment anymore, sadly.

 

[Rentahamster]

k, and how many have a soft G followed by "IF"? I do believe the answer is: none. And that's why the word uses a hard G

Yes, none. But there's only 1 that has a hard 'G' (gift), which isn't a big difference, depending on how you look at it.

pronouncing "GIF" with soft G would make it the first and only use of a soft G following by "if" in the entire English language. Which is why it's clearly wrong.

That's not really how English works. Linguistically speaking, people can spell a word however they want, as long as it follows the general accepted phonetic spelling principles of the language it is contained in. There's nothing out of place with a G + vowel + consonant spelling that results in a soft 'g'.

(gin)ger, (gym)nasium, (gia)nt, (gen)eralization, (ges)ture, (gif)affe, (ger)m, (geog)raphy, etc. These all follow the same rules and no one has a problem with it. Language is very fluid.

if I spell something "Soup" but proclaim it's actually pronounced "Thop", people would be right to respond: you're a fucking idiot who needs to learn to spell.

There is no conventional understanding of English where "S" is phonetically expressed as "th", so that is not a good example.

 

[Avid Reading Horse]

It's pronounced Gif with a soft G like in fucking Gif you retard.

 

[The Cockatrice]

Geef.

 

[I collect VHS tapes]

With a G since it starts with a…G