Inventor of gif format claims it's pronounced "jif"...

Forums › Off topic › Inventor of gif format claims it's pronounced "jif"...

Asmodeus

1015 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 39

#119223 24-May-2013 19:04

h ttp://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-22620473

1 | 2 | 3

11102 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 6092

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#824927 24-May-2013 19:05

I've always said "jif"; that's how it was introduced to me back in the 90s. I always found it weird when people said "giff". It's good to know that I had it right :)

Asmodeus

1015 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 39

#824934 24-May-2013 19:17

I've never considered pronouncing it like "jif"

It's not "jraphics", it's "graphics"...

Behodar

11102 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 6092

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#824937 24-May-2013 19:23

Asmodeus: It's not "jraphics", it's "graphics"...

If that's your logic then I hope you say the J in JPEG like the J in "joint"... hard to put into text but almost "jor-peg".

josephhinvest

1550 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 322

ID Verified

Trusted

#824938 24-May-2013 19:26

Yep, as far as I'm concerned he chose it to be pronounced jif. This is fine with me.
Yes, "graphics" has a hard "G" sound. But so what. "Photograph" has an "F" sound, but presumably one does not say "jay-feg" for JPEG.

Cheers,
Joseph

Behodar

11102 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 6092

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#824940 24-May-2013 19:27

josephhinvest: "Photograph" has an "F" sound, but presumably one does not say "jay-feg" for JPEG.

That's an better argument than the mess I made above :P

DravidDavid

1907 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 305

#824947 24-May-2013 19:42

From what it looks like:'ja?peg is the official pronunciation. I guess the problem with "giff" was that the official pronunciation was over shadowed by the more palatable varient.

I've never said "jiff". It just sounds weird. "gift" does seem to make more sense to me due to the above. I guess if the creator of JPEG came out and said it was pronounced Ji-peg, there would be no more argument. But I doubt that will happen.

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.

Apple TV

Stream your favourite shows now on Apple TV (affiliate link).

sidefx

3775 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 1295

Trusted

#824950 24-May-2013 19:48

Asmodeus: I've never considered pronouncing it like "jif"

It's not "jraphics", it's "graphics"...

jenius

"I was born not knowing and have had only a little time to change that here and there." | Octopus Energy | Sharesies
- Richard Feynman

DarthKermit

5346 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 3317

Trusted

#824952 24-May-2013 19:50

I've always pronounced it as "giff" (to rhyme with "riff") and will continue to do so.

Whatifthespacekeyhadneverbeeninvented?

Behodar

11102 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 6092

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#824953 24-May-2013 19:54

Well, I seem to be in the minority here but I'm OK with that despite you guys being wrong.

sbiddle

30853 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 9996

Retired Mod

Trusted

Biddle Corp

Lifetime subscriber

#824957 24-May-2013 20:03

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.

Asmodeus

1015 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 39

#824985 24-May-2013 20:34

sidefx:
Asmodeus: I've never considered pronouncing it like "jif"

It's not "jraphics", it's "graphics"...

jenius

Yeah yeah lol, so it's piss poor logic :p

I guess being exposed to the brand name "Jif" all my life, I just assumed that "gif" would have a hard G. Oxford English Dictionary says it can be either

Lenovo

Shop now for Lenovo laptops and other devices (affiliate link).

ZollyMonsta

3009 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 379

ID Verified

Trusted

#825016 24-May-2013 21:25

Jiff and Jpigg. Heh

noc

107 posts

Master Geek
+1 received by user: 13

#825074 24-May-2013 23:19

Honestly, This is the first time I have heard someone even attempting to pronounce GIFF as "jiff"....

I have been working in IT for a while now, and if anyone ever asked me; "hey, can you email me that "jiff" file?"
My reply would be; "WTF is wrong with your voice, and WTF are you talking about?" [insert stupid look here]

meesham

973 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 267

#825076 24-May-2013 23:25

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.

Since the early 90s for me (starting on BBS's as well), I've always said 'jiff' - I've had some funny looks from colleagues over the years but I'm stubborn and set in my ways.

noc

107 posts

Master Geek
+1 received by user: 13

#825085 24-May-2013 23:47

meesham:
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.

Since the early 90s for me (starting on BBS's as well), I've always said 'jiff' - I've had some funny looks from colleagues over the years but I'm stubborn and set in my ways.

Fair enough man... Old habits are hard to break

1 | 2 | 3