Comments on: Graphics Interchange Format: Is It Pronounced ‘JIF’ or ‘GIF’?

By: VaricoseVain

VaricoseVain — Tue, 17 Dec 2013 16:49:00 +0000

As I sip my gin and tonic after a hard workout at the gym, I’m compelled to respond to the gentleman whose gentle gibe suggests that a hard G sound is the only correct option in English.

I must respectfully point out that the gist of the issue is that the pronunciation makes sense in context.

At the time the GIF format was invented, it was a way to greatly reduce the time required to retrieve images over a dialup connection. While as an acronym it uses the G from Graphics, as a pronounceable word, the soft G sound carries the connotation of being faster, quicker, more rapid. As in “a jiffy.”

Furthermore, being not only the inventor of the format, but also the creator of the acronym itself most assuredly does give the inventor the right to declare how it should be pronounced.

The .GIF extension was not something that emerged organically, it was a specific invention by a specific person.

By: David K. Sutton

David K. Sutton — Wed, 22 May 2013 16:57:00 +0000

In reply to Steve.

Well as the inventor, he probably feels he has the agency to influence how it’s pronounced. And I’m not sure conformity to English language is necessarily a convincing argument given how many times the language itself breaks it’s own rules. But yeah, it’s a losing effort. The format is 26 years old and most people call it “GIF” not “JIF”. This is where precedent is the rule to follow more than anything.

By: Steve

Steve — Wed, 22 May 2013 13:56:00 +0000

Inventing the format doesn’t give you any special say in how an abbreviation for that format is pronounced in the language. What he invented was a format that he dubbed Graphics Interchange Format. The fact that that spells GIF, means that we now turn to English language scholars to discuss how to deal with pronouncing that acronym. He also doesn’t get to tell us to pronounce “graphics” with a soft g any more than he can tell us that GIF is pronounced with a long I. His opinion is irrelevant – what matters is rules of English pronunciation and common usage – both of which point to a hard G (and a short I) as in “gift.”

Doc Brown was just distracted with bigger matters – I’m sure he knew the correct pronunciation, and would’ve said it if the documentarians had been filming on a different day…