Stephen Wilhite, Inventor of the GIF, Has Died

[ztejas 43244]

3 hours ago, atomheartbevo said:

That's my theory (in addition to GIFT/Graphcis Interchange Format) for why so many people, especially older people, pronounce it with a hard G.  We didn't have anybody correcting us in the 90s.

Do younger people pronounce it with a j? I pronounce it with a g. I don't understand why we would intentionally conflate it's pronunciation with a popular brand of peanut butter that was around way before gifs were. Also, "in a jiff" or "jiffy" is a saying as well. It makes way more sense to pronounce it with a g, and no offense to the late Stephen Wilhite but he isn't the ultimate authority on how it should be pronounced or will be pronounced moving forward. 

I think people that say it jif or correct others come across as assholes because from a linguistic standpoint it makes more sense for it to occupy the void of gif as there aren't any homophones. 

[Murfdogg21 4412]

14 hours ago, WhatTheBuck said:

Damn. RIP. I met him when I worked at CompuServe in the early 90’s.

My high school psychology teacher had a saying: “The masses are asses.” The correct pronunciation of gif is with a soft ‘g’ like in giraffe. It’s like Jif the peanut butter. Just because a lot of people learned to say it wrong and refuse to correct themselves doesn’t mean they’re not wrong. The correct pronunciation of the word is not determined democratically. Say it right. If anyone questions you, you have the virtue of being correct on your side. If they insist on saying it wrong, tell them they’re dumb. 

You sound like a faj. 

Edited March 25, 2022 by Murfdogg21
Following the incorrect wishes of a 1980s GIF inventor is an odd phonetic hill to die on.

[formermav43 4599]

9 hours ago, Surly Bevo said:

You guys don't get it....words can't ever change pronunciation based on the shifting norms of a society 🙄

 

https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/60267/10-words-whose-pronunciation-has-changed-over-time

Beat me to it. Of course the pronunciation of words is determined democratically. That’s literally how language works.

(And on a similar note, that’s why dictionaries now include the objectively wrong, figurative definition of literal.)

[choripan 790]