GIF or JIF

By Noah Norred

It’s pronounced JIF. NO ITS PRONOUNCED GIFNOITSPRONOUNCEDJIFTNOITSPRON- chill out people. There is a raging war of keyboard warriors fighting online whether or not they can change people from pronouncing GIF to JIF. If you are anything close to as cool and internet savvy as I, you will know what the whole debate is about. First question: why do I care? You don’t. Close the laptop.

Okay you do care. Y’all will be delighted to know that there is a history behind this stupid debate. Sadly it does not involve pulling hair and gnashing of teeth, but something even more exhilarating! It’s called talking lameeee. But surprisingly if you don't fall asleep reading through it and pay attention, I’ll explain to you why it’s much more than just a debate over pronouncing an acronym, and why it shows more character of your opponent than you think.

Alright, so how did this cluster of madness start? This began with the actual creator of the Graphics Interchange Format (Steve Wilhite), coming out and telling people that it’s pronounced “JIF” and not “GIF” at The Webby Awards (ensue shock and riots in the streets). People started to immediately pour out the constant reasons why “GIF” (with the hard “G”) would be proper pronunciation. They used the whole Jif peanut butter argument; the fact that the Webster Dictionary accepts both pronunciations and that by giving you a gift I am not going to say “here is your jift.” That’s weird dude.

But I, being the nice guy I am, have some ammo for Wilhite argument. First, there are examples in the world where the “G” at the beginning of a word is pronounced like a “J”, such as “Giant” and “Giraffe.” The grammatical exception usually comes from the origins of where on the globe the word originated. But second, the creator himself also said that “JIF“ with a soft “G” sound is the correct pronunciation of the word. This brings in the whole idea of judging someone’s character by whether or not they use “JIF” or “GIF”.

The people that received the first waves of Graphics Interchange Format images on their computer monitors saw the file as a “.gif” file. The vast majority of people who will read this post will be Americans who, using basic (and correct) ‘Merican grammar, will see this and pronounce it as “GIF” as we usually do not see a G on an unfamiliar word and pronounce it like a J. Fast forward a couple decades and today we have been saying “GIF” this whole freakin time, just for Steve Wilhite in 2013 to say that it’s pronounced with a J.  *TRIGGERED*

Now it’s a whole new battle: Creator vs. consumers. Daddy vs. rebellious kids. Government vs. the people. One could make the assumption that whatever pronunciation they select is what they depend on. Do they trust superiors/government? Or do they take the voice of the people more seriously?

Dude. You can even ask a girl you are taking out to coffee this question and learn a lot from that one question. “Do you pronounce GIF with a G or a J?” She/He says “JIF”, then you know that person pays attention, but is mostly a “yes” man or woman to authorities and anyone holding an award. That person is  influenced by people with more than $1 million in their pocket. That person is okay if you are just “feeling the water,” but not a keeper. Mostly because you don’t have a million dollars.

If, however, the person pronounces it with a G, that person is a people person. They have their head on straight and have been informed throughout history and their lifespan. They fact check and pay more attention to the voice of the masses and are open minded. This person is sane.

They say “What’s a GIF?” Just leave dude. Just get out. That’s just sad.

Tru.