“How is GIF pronounced?” If you’re like us, you’ve debated this question with your friends.
The creator of the GIF is now proclaiming once and for all how you are supposed to say the word.
After becoming “annoyed” himself at the pronunciation debate, Steve Wilhite told The New York Times in a new interview that GIF is pronounced with a soft ‘g,’ like the “Jif” peanut butter.
“The Oxford English Dictionary accepts both pronunciations,” he said. “They are wrong. It is a soft ‘G,’ pronounced ‘jif.’ End of story.”
Wilhite conducted the interview with the newspaper because he will be honored tonight at The Webby Awards with a Lifetime Achievement Award. He created the image format after noticing there was a need for things like color weather maps. Interestingly, Wilhite has never created a GIF himself but his favorite one is this dancing baby image:
The GIF image format was released in 1987. As we all know, the GIF has become a wildly important aspect of internet culture. It’s used all over Tumblr and on many websites these days. They are a very handy way of sharing classic moments from television shows and movies. We here at Hypable have come to use them more and more in “Best of” type articles.
Were you someone who pronounced GIF the right way or the wrong way? This writer has always been correct, it seems. Pay up, friends!
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