Choosy developers choose GIF.
That's right, children, the people who created the Graphics Interchange Format pronounce it with a soft "g" like Jif the peanut butter. So get it right.
The creators of the format pronounce GIF with a soft "g", as in "George". According to the creator of the GIF format, Steve Wilhite, the pronunciation deliberately echoes that of an American peanut butter brand, Jif, and the employees of CompuServe would often say "Choosy developers choose GIF", spoofing this brand's television commercials. This pronunciation was also identified by CompuServe in their documentation of a graphics display program called CompuShow. Many people pronounce the name with a hard "g" (as in "Graphics"), and both pronunciations are given as correct by the Oxford English Dictionary and the American Heritage Dictionary.You will also note from this little snippet that these two dictionaries are FUCKING WRONG because they provide TWO pronunciations for the SAME WORD.
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7 comments:
(long live the OED)
*runs*
The thing is that dictionaries don't care who initially created the word, they care only about how it is used. Words pick up new definitions and pronounciations almost daily nowadays, so dictionary writers have a pretty difficult time in general.
It's an interesting concept, that if enough people are wrong, it makes it right.
I refuse to discontinue my use of the hard g! GIIIFFFF
So should I pronounce jpg "jay pej"?
I'm the minority, but I've always pronounced it "jif". I cringe slightly when I hear it with a hard g.
Try this one...
http://bertc.com/english.htm
I just read that whole poem out loud perfectly! Didn't you hear me?
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