How do you pronounce "gif"?

[Deddly]

Well? 

[Shpaget]

Like the g in garage.

[Kerbart]

"The wromg way"

I'd answer it right now, but I'm too busy driving my golf cart to the garage because the battery light is no longer green. I guess you'd pronounce it like any other word starting with a G?

[kerbiloid]

With a fricative "g".

Because GIF = graphics interchange format, not "dzhraphiks".

Just now, Kerbart said:

driving my golf cart

Now how do you pronounce "g" in "golf"?

1 minute ago, Kerbart said:

to the garage

He's just messing!

2 minutes ago, Kerbart said:

longer green

At least here it's clear: "longer" with "dzh" because the checking word is "longeron", "green" is "g" because "grey" with "g".

[Dman979]

31 minutes ago, Deddly said:

Well? 

The correct way. Get the gist?

[adsii1970]

Hard "G":

https://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/pronounce-gif-article-1.3007037#:~:text=Since the creation of the animated loop now,G like "jif" — yes%2C the peanut butter.

[Red Iron Crown]

Soft G is the only correct answer. I will die on this hill. 

[Nuke]

im the oddball who uses both pronunciations interchangeably because i aint got time for these shenanigans. 

 

it also confuses the living hell out of my enemies.

Edited June 26, 2021 by Nuke

[Hotel26]

4 hours ago, adsii1970 said:

Hard "G":

https://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/pronounce-gif-article-1.3007037#:~:text=Since the creation of the animated loop now,G like "jif" — yes%2C the peanut butter.

We have to go with what the introducer of the word intended.  (The "other rule" is local pronunciation, like the correct way to say, "Pier, South Dakota".)

The real problem is Steve Whylight has misspelled the name he chose (would recommend a spell checker in future, Stephy.)

So.   "JIF".  It is JIF.  Pronounced like JIF.

All GIF files should be renamed.  And there might be some work to do in some applications.  (Maybe more than Y2K, but this is an important problem to solve.)

[Or we could all just jet along and say GIF to save the trouble.  ]

Edited June 27, 2021 by Hotel26

[kerbiloid]

Besides being the abbreviated "graphics", gif is a gift to the humanity from its developers, and also looks similar. GIF / GIFT.

So, it should sound "g", as one sound.

***

Another test.
Google translate, "gif format"

Pressing the "pronounce" button: /Gif format/ G, like in GIF.

 

Still google translate.

English → Serbian

"gif format" → "гиф формат"

Bingo. They have a special  character for "dzh'",  Ђ ђ

If it was "dzhif", it would be " ђиф".
But no, it is "гиф", /gif/

 

So, Google is absolutely sure it's /g/.

***

P.S.

I should be more accurate. I pronounce gif with fricative and palatalized 'g'.

Edited June 28, 2021 by kerbiloid

[Dientus]

While I speak it with a hard 'g' (as in grey) for years, I have learned that there are colloquial variances and just don't particularly stress about it.

 

[Souptime]

That should sum it up

[Stormpilot]

I say it as the letters pronounce it, but sometimes to really really annoy my friends I say it word by word  

Edited June 28, 2021 by Stormpilot

[Caerfinon]

.gif has recently issued a press release indicating it would like to be referred to in future as "the extension formerly pronounced vocally". Henceforth all letters in its name will be silent in all languages. .gif  sincerely hopes that this will end the discussion of this important and vital matter once and for all. .

[kerbiloid]

Does this word at all submit to the English Grammar?

It ends with "-if"

I can see only rare and adopted words. Mostly, French and Arabic.

Spoiler

9-letter words that end in if

• leitmotif

8-letter words that end in if

• aperitif
• digestif
• sanserif

7-letter words that end in if

• sportif
• fixatif

6-letter words that end in if

• sharif
• massif
• sherif
• khalif

5-letter words that end in if

• calif
• motif
• serif
• gonif
• kalif

4-letter words that end in if

• waif
• coif
• naif
• seif
• neif
• reif
• kaif
• alif
• cuif

3-letter words that end in if

• kif
• dif
• rif

2-letter words that end in if

I'm not much familiar with these languages, but can't remember many "g" in Arabic.
As well, "al jazeera" shows that they prefer "j" for "dzh".

So, it's probably a French word.

A vocabulary doesn't know such French word, except the file extension.

But obviously "gif" is a trace of Norman conquest, as even the famous Bayeux tapestry uses it.

Spoiler

 

Also, unlike other formats, available for free, the "gif" was/is known as proprietary.
It's a relict part of Danegeld, renewed by William The Conqueror.
See, while the English-speaking countries should pay for its usage, nobody else actually cares.

So, if forget its abbreviated meaning, it probably should be pronounced like in French. /zhif/.

Also, since that, there can be Ye Olde Englishe form, like "ᵹif"

Edited June 28, 2021 by kerbiloid

[tater]

Like Gin.

Exactly the way the guy who invented it pronounces it, and all decent people have since it was the only image format available (I was there).

 

The hard g nonsense only started with dunno, millennials.

[Spaceman.Spiff]

Well my right way is whoever created this foooooooolish poll’s wrong way. 
 

 

 

[kerbiloid]

2 hours ago, tater said:

The hard g nonsense only started with dunno, millennials.

Millenials?!

Yes, millenials.
Born in the M A.D. year (aka 1000 A.D. for the _{(idk how to name the persons who can't read the Roman digits)} plebeians).

This word is present even in Ye Olde Englishe female names ending in "-gifu", what means "a gift (of)", They aren't /dzhifu/, they are /gifu/. And "gift" is /gift/ as well.

Obviously, maybe "gin-" is almays /dzhin/ ("gin", "ginger"), but "gif" is always /gif/.

Like "ght" is obvioulsy /jt/, "gh" is obviously "f", "gn" obviously can be "nj" (thanks, Italians), so "gif" is just a standard /gif/.

Though, we need to go deeper.
As it's right to write /f/ as /gh/ or /ph/, maybe it's even "gigh" or "giph".

***

So, a historically English/British way to pronounce it is /gif/, but the Canadians can troll them with the French /zhif/.

P.S.
Probably, Gaelic and Irish very specific ways to write and pronounce it can bring even more light to this question.

Wouldn't be much surprised if "gif" sounds /jpg/ for them.

Edited June 28, 2021 by kerbiloid

[Red Iron Crown]

To those who argue it must be a hard g because the g stands for "graphics" I ask: How do you pronounce "jpeg"? What does the p in jpeg stand for? And finally: Why are you a hypocrite? 

[Dientus]

 

I can't speak for others but for myself I pronounce it JAY-PEGG.

 

And it is an acronym. The P stands for 'photographic'... Joint Photographic Experts Group

Edited June 28, 2021 by Dientus
hypocrisy, like many things, depends on view point.

[Deddly]

36 minutes ago, Red Iron Crown said:

To those who argue it must be a hard g because the g stands for "graphics" I ask: How do you pronounce "jpeg"? What does the p in jpeg stand for? And finally: Why are you a hypocrite? 

See, "peg" is already a word, so naturally, it should be pronounced "jay peg".

Unless you feel it should be pronounced "Gay peg", which is entirely up to you, of course.

[kerbiloid]

50 minutes ago, Red Iron Crown said:

To those who argue it must be a hard g because the g stands for "graphics" I ask: How do you pronounce "jpeg"?

Depends on mood. If serious - /dzhpeg/ (a single syllable, like "spock", but /dzhpeg/) or /j/-/p/-/g/ (three syllables with no vowels),
if humorous  - /jpeg/ (still a single syllable), because it's always funny to make English words sound like Deutsch ones by reading the "j" as /j/.

50 minutes ago, Red Iron Crown said:

What does the p in jpeg stand for?

Joint Photographic Experts Group

Yes, it should sound /dzhfeg/, but as they didn't name it "jpheg", so they don't see difference between /p/ and /f/, like in the languages of Middle East and Central Asia,
like /w/ is a kind of /v/ for Slavs, /th/ is a kind of /z/ or /s/ for them,
and the absolutely differently sounding /ugol/ ("angle") and /ugol^j/ ("coal") are the same for English speakers who don't have palatalization in the language.

So, there are variative names like "Fatima/Patimat", spell mistakes like "professor/fropessor", etc,, in Central Asia schools.

But yes, the English should stop using this unnecessary archaic "ph" and replace it with "f", and rename the extension to "jfeg", "phosphate" to "fosfate", and stop confusing me every time with "sulphur or sulfur"?.

Edited June 28, 2021 by kerbiloid

[razark]

I pronounce it however I want, because English has no actual rules and is defined by usage.

[Bej Kerman]

On 6/26/2021 at 9:48 PM, Red Iron Crown said:

Soft G is the only correct answer. I will die on this hill. 

"It's pronounced Jolf, not Golf"

1 hour ago, Red Iron Crown said:

To those who argue it must be a hard g because the g stands for "graphics" I ask: How do you pronounce "jpeg"? What does the p in jpeg stand for? And finally: Why are you a hypocrite? 

Why do you pronounce it Jolf and not Golf?

[TheSaint]