GIFs are correctly pronounced “Jiff” (with a “J” sound, not a hard “G”)
You don’t base the pronunciation of acronyms on the way each letter is pronounced in the original word — if you did, scuba diving would be pronounced “skuhbah” diving instead of “skoo-ba”, for example.
But as the linked Wired document says, the people who invented the file type pronounced it “jiff”…
/Former English and writing major; 16-year computer tech, consultant and teacher, and thus unavoidably opinionated about such things :)
Red. ALWAYS red!
^
Hard G. GIF is an acronym: Graphic Interchange Format. Since the G in graphic is hard, so is the G in GIF.
Until someone invents the Giraffe Interchange Format for sending zoo animals via the web, that is. THEN it’s pronounced JIF. And is awesome.
(Source: Gizmodo)
