The only argument is that the guy who invented and named the GIF originally pronounced it that way, but he was a computer scientist, not a linguist. Thankfully the inevitable and uncontrollable evolution of language corrected that mistake fairly quickly.

Jod made the Jiraffes and the Giraffes and they were best friends. But then one Jiraffe found God and he spited Jod and all the Giraffes with all his might.

It’s an acronym. There’s no linguistic requirement for any of the letters to match any part of the pronunciation. NASA, scuba, I can list a hundred acronyms that have absolutely no connection to their expanded pronunciation.

And no, it wasn’t just the dude who invented it. It was the entire company, CompuServe, because they were trying to sell a product. “Choosy developers choose gif”. It’s literally got a tagline that tells you how it’s pronounced.

Because the words inside an acronym have no bearing on how the acronym is pronounced. And in this case, it’s not just as acronym. It’s a product name, where the creators get to choose to name it whatever the fuck they want. “Choosy developers choose gif”. So there’s plenty of reasons it should be using a soft g and zero reasons it should be using a hard g.

Given that there’s also a .jif format, the J pronunciation makes even less sense.

The P in JPEG stands for photographic so I guess we shall pronounce it "jayfeg" based on that logic.

/s

Descriptive linguistic opinion: both the hard and soft G pronunciations are used, with the hard G being more common, but I like the soft G and use it myself.

It's an acronym, people! Say it right:

"Gee" "Eye" "Eff"

...or impress us all with your knowledge: Graphics Interchange Format.

Make CompuServe proud.

id vibe with jayfeg if it meant everyone pronounces gif correctly

There’s no linguistic requirement for any of the letters to match any part of the pronunciation.

I made no statements to the contrary, not sure why you directed any of that first paragraph at me and not the person I responded to. Regardless, the only "correct" pronunciations of any words are the ones that find purchase in the cultural lexicon. The fact that the soft g pronunciation was chosen by a corporation trying to cash in on the success of a different corporation is even less convincing of an argument. Fuck those soulless money-grubbers, they can take their advertising slogan-based neoligisms and shove them in their arse, but pronounced like "ass" because language evolves. You have to evolve with it or you won't understand it.

pronunciation of the words that make up an acronym have nothing to do with how you pronounce an acronym. see: atm is ay tee emm not aw tel mah nor is it atom. it's just however it would make sense as a standalone word. some make a single sound and some require letter by letter and some combine.

soft 'g' jif makes perfect sense and is what the creator said is the the way it's pronounced. hard 'g' gif sounds like someone saying 'gift' got candlejacked, thank you for coming to my ted tal

Steve Wilhite (engineering lead on the team that created GIF) said the soft g is the right pronunciation.

Nope that is far from the only argument.

1. It is how the word was originally said and intended to be used. Evidence: the literal first advertisement for the format: "choosy developers choose GIF", a pun on the advertisement for JIF peanut butter.

2. the pronunciation of g before a vowel is not always hard. Giraffe. Gin.

3. the pronunciation of the individual words in an acronym don't define its pronunciation. NASA - Aeronautic, Association - do you pronounce it NÆSÂ? ASAP - do you say ÂSÂP or AySAP?

It's fine to say it however you want, but to act like one way is definitively correct, for the reasons you cite anyway, is bad

NASA, not NAySA, SCUBA, not SCUBbA, LASER, not LASsER. Many such cases.

ATM is not an acronym, though, just an initialism, so the letters are pronounced individually.

Zhaif

Ask the person who created the format, who pronounced it that way themselves

The only argument is that the guy who invented and named the GIF originally pronounced it that way, but he was a computer scientist, not a linguist. Thankfully the inevitable and uncontrollable evolution of language corrected that mistake fairly quickly.

original comment

Because at the origin of the format, "choosy graphic designers choose .GIF". Which is a direct reference to JIF, the brand of peanut butter, and their tagline.

The pronunciation of an acronym often has little to nothing to do with the words themselves they represent, and more to do with the acronym itself as though it were a word.

You're absolutely correct, regardless of who defined the sound, it's how it's generally pronounced in public that becomes the status quo and therefore "correct" way.

I've never heard anyone in real life use the soft G. Doesn't mean people don't, but regionally it's "JIF" for me.

The funny thing is, regardless of how it's said people who know anything about computers understand what you're talking about, so the argument is really a useless one. Maybe if .jif was used more then it would matter, but I can't say I've seen a .jif file in the wild myself.

Ask the company who developed it and used a selling slogan that parodied JIF peanut butter.

but there's already .jif!!!!