I've always pronounced it "jif". Not because I heard anyone saying it like that, but because that's how I read it.
Why I read it that way, I'm not sure - but I'd assume that I either though "giff" sounded stupid, or I was thinking of g words like generation or ginger.
sbiddle: I've always pronounced if jif from the around 1989 or so when I first started using BBS's and the format appeared. Back then everybody pronounced it like this, and I found it quite surprising come the late 90's that people started pronouncing it "gif". Every few years this debate starts again.
This debate is now a few days old anyway, with the real world reality being that English has soft and hard g's in words, with many examples such as gym, gin, gyro etc.
I'd be interested to see an analysis of pronunciation against first exposure to GIF. I'm in the soft g camp, always have been. I'm a mid-ish 90s late adopter I guess... ;)
DravidDavid: Not sure why a fancy dictionary gets to decide how it is or is not pronounced. They didn't create it after all. They must be jealous.
The OED aren't dictating how it should be pronounced, they're simply going along with the idea that language is a living thing that changes and mutates. They're letting the people that use the word every day decide how it should be pronounced, and since they've heard it pronounced both ways they've said that either way is ok.
I've always pronounced it with a hard "g", simply because I saw it in writing way before I ever heard anyone else speak it. Everyone I know pronounces it the same way I do, but if I heard it the other way I'd still know what people were talking about.
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