Oscraps

How would YOU pronounce it?

AZK

Queen of the Universe
CHEERY O
In a work zoom meeting today the team leader referenced using gifs when posting in the company Slack app. She (jokingly) made the comment that "if you pronounce it jif, you're dead to me". She insisted it's pronounced with a hard g, not a soft g. To be honest, I never thought about it before, but if I were to say the word out loud, I would use a soft g. A Google search showed that it's actually been a point of contention ever since the term was invented in the late 1980's!

giphy.gif


So, what do you think? How would you pronounce it?
 

wombat146

ONA - Administrator
CHEERY O
In my head I have always thought/said gif with a hard g, as in the first part of the word gift

Jif (with a J) reminds me of a cleaning product we had here Downunder years ago called Jiffy! No doubt referring to the idea that the product would clean everything very quickly! lol! While the word jiffy means 'a short time' we Aussies will often shorten it again by saying 'jif' like "See you in a jif." or "Will be there in a jif, just need to stop at the shop first."
 

tanteva

all i need is Oscraps, cOffee, chOcOlate & tOfu
Hard G. Which is kinda interesting really, cuz in Swedish G before I is always soft.

Is there any word in English that has a soft G before an I?
 
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Kythe

Well-Known Member
CHEERY O
GIF is the abbreviation for Graphics Interchange Format. It is not a proper word. As such it should be pronounced with the hard G
as in graphics. IMO
 

scribler

The O is my hOme.
CHEERY O
Ginger also has a soft g.

I originally used a hard G but after listening to this controversy for over two decades, I don’t think I’m even consistent in the pronunciation any more.
 

pachimac

I solemnly swear I am up to no good!
CHEERY O
This is a big fight in the design world, but it is a name for GRAPHIC INTERCHANGE FORMAT. If you go by the words and the original persons who created it, it is a hard G, same as Graphic.
 

AZK

Queen of the Universe
CHEERY O
In my head I have always thought/said gif with a hard g, as in the first part of the word gift

Jif (with a J) reminds me of a cleaning product we had here Downunder years ago called Jiffy! No doubt referring to the idea that the product would clean everything very quickly! lol! While the word jiffy means 'a short time' we Aussies will often shorten it again by saying 'jif' like "See you in a jif." or "Will be there in a jif, just need to stop at the shop first."

There's a brand of peanut butter here in the US called Jif, and some years back they ran an ad campaign playing off the controversy. That's what inspired the gif I used in my post! And, I use the term jif or jiffy the way you do, Ona.
 

AZK

Queen of the Universe
CHEERY O
GIF is the abbreviation for Graphics Interchange Format. It is not a proper word. As such it should be pronounced with the hard G
as in graphics. IMO

This is a big fight in the design world, but it is a name for GRAPHIC INTERCHANGE FORMAT. If you go by the words and the original persons who created it, it is a hard G, same as Graphic.

I read in several sources that the man who invented the gif, Steve Wilhite, said the abbreviation should be pronounced with a soft g, and that should be the final word! Obviously not, lol!
 

AZK

Queen of the Universe
CHEERY O
Hard G. Which is kinda interesting really, cuz in Swedish G before I is always soft.

Is there any word in English that has a soft G before an I?

I was wondering about other languages, because I believe German doesn't even have a soft g, does it?

Also, gigolo. :cool:

Ginger also has a soft g.

I originally used a hard G but after listening to this controversy for over two decades, I don’t think I’m even consistent in the pronunciation any more.

Until this topic came up yesterday, I didn't even know there was a controversy!
 

pachimac

I solemnly swear I am up to no good!
CHEERY O
All I can say is having been in the design business (both web and graphic) with my husband, if you call it JIF with a soft G, you'd get laughed out of the place! (Been there, done that...)

1669228802151-png.384038
 
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Madi

Diane
CHEERY O
In Dutch we have our own versions of the hard and soft G,
I live in the Hard G part of our country, in the south and close to Belgium it is a softer G,
but still sounds nothing like the english version of it.
I would not know how to compare it to an english sound/letter.

i found this:
If you're a native English speaker, you can disregard almost every instinct you have about pronouncing G's. In Dutch, a G is pronounced quite like the German [ch], as in Bach. Or, while it doesn't exist in Standard English, you might also be familiar with this sound in Scottish words like “loch” and “ach.”
 
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faerywings

The Loopy-O
CHEERY O
I was wondering about other languages, because I believe German doesn't even have a soft g, does it?

Also, gigolo. :cool:



Until this topic came up yesterday, I didn't even know there was a controversy!
bwuahahah!! I had gigolo in my list too-- and then deleted it and went with ginormous instead.!!!
 
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AZK

Queen of the Universe
CHEERY O
In Dutch we have our own versions of the hard and soft G,
I live in the Hard G part of our country, in the south and close to Belgium it is a softer G,
but still sounds nothing like the english version of it.
I would not know how to compare it to an english sound/letter.

i found this:
If you're a native English speaker, you can disregard almost every instinct you have about pronouncing G's. In Dutch, a G is pronounced quite like the German [ch], as in Bach. Or, while it doesn't exist in Standard English, you might also be familiar with this sound in Scottish words like “loch” and “ach.”

That is so interesting! I am not one of those people who has a natural ability to speak other languages, but I'm always fascinated by how the same letters can have totally different pronunciations.
 
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