How do you pronounce GIF?
I'm pronunce it with a hard G in English ("GIF") but with a soft G in French ("JIF").
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GIF, because it's unnatural in my mother tongue to say G as a J. When I found out people actually said Jif I couldn't understand why haha.
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Skipped thread. This is easy: It's with a J sound (like the peanut butter). The creator of the file type says that's the way it's supposed to be pronounced: This is the right way
There is not a debate. The guy who created it, and thus sets the standard, says this is the way. So, if you say it any other way, you're actually just wrong.
Problem solved.
[sits back and waits for blacklists from people who hate facts and to be wrong 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣]
😀😎👍
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There are a number of language conventions different cultural groups adhere to. Following British English conventions, it should be a hard G.
If it was always up to the creator of the word then everyone would be using octopodes as the plural of octopus and there wouldn't people debating octopuses vs octopii
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Except that this is not an interpretation of a word from a Latin-based language explicated through ethnic blending and accents. It's a completely made-up technical term. Cultural filters don't really count here.
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Scientific Latin is full of made up technical terms that don't adhere to Latin-based language rules. Octopus is a compound of Greek words and the creator intended that the plural follow the Greek convention. But our Latin-based cultural filters have people using octopuses or octopii.
My point is cultural filters fully apply because even in English there are cultural rules on the display and pronunciation of acronyms. For British English and derivatives an acronym combined into a word like GIF, the first letter adopts the sound of the root word, Graphics. Acronyms separated by periods are pronounced as individual letters regardless of word sound.
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Additionally language is supposed to be for clear communication. Considering there is a JPEG Interchange Format standard .jif, using a soft g in verbal communication invites confusion.
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Back in the day we read file extensions as part of the file name, and as acronyms. eg SODA.JPG = soda dot jay pee gee or: a dot tee ex tee file. In part because in a 16-bit environment we only had eight characters to use for the filename itself.
Therefore: Originally, I pronounced the letters individually (gee eye eff). Over time, this devolved into "jiff" out of a desire for brevity.
The first time I heard someone use a hard G I was shocked and confused.
also: before I knew how to pronounce meme, I said meh-me. I'm not incapable of change. Unless you want me to use a hard g with gif.
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Although the creator uses a soft G, I think it makes more sense for it to inherit the hard G from Graphics, so that is how I say it.
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I just had an argument with some coworker about how to pronounce GIF.
So I noticed that there's a lot of people that like to say it like JIF and some GIF in my office.
I'm surprised about how that soft or hard g argument is still there nowdays.
So I'm curious about you guys, how do you pronounce it?
And if you can, Why you do it like that? There's any reason or explanation you can tell?
Personally I pronounce GIF (Hard G)
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