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Pronounce GIF · the Correct Way, Without Question

pronouncegif.com

21–30 of 36 posts

Re: Pronounce GIF · the Correct Way, Without Question

#21

I've actually never heard it pronounced "Jiff" in conversation. Ever. I'm not going to categorically claim that people don't do it, because anecdote isn't evidence, but I've only ever heard the word "jiff" in the context of an Internet debate I'm increasingly believing is made up. EDIT: Additionally, I've never heard anyone say po-tah-to or toe-mah-to outside of the song. Where does this urge come from?

> toe-mah-to

I mean... this merely means you've never been to an English speaking country outside North America.

Re: Pronounce GIF · the Correct Way, Without Question

#22

> https://pronouncegif.com/#acronyms I don't understand this argument. for every acronym they list, the first sound is the same for the acronym and the complete version, it's actually an argument for a hard G.

It looks like the author either confused about this argument, or are refuting an argument I've never heard.

They're refuting the argument that each and every letter should be pronounced according to the word it represents. Their take on pronouncing 'JPEG' makes this the most clear; they believe if this argument were true then 'JPEG' would be pronounced 'JEG' due to the silent/'F' sounding 'P' in 'Photographic.'

Honestly, I've never heard someone argue this, and it's a bit ridiculous for all the reasons the author put forward. I've heard this argument for just the first letter ('Graphical' > hard 'G') before which, as you pointed out, fits every example they've given.

Re: Pronounce GIF · the Correct Way, Without Question

#23

Moderators: I don't think this should be flagged. Also I will keep saying "hard G" until I drop dead!! That said, I'm actually curious about this one: > For the Lip-Readers and Hearing Impaired Is there any basis to this particular claim? Are there other words in English that are best avoided for the sake of lip readers?

Just be careful when discussing Stronghold strats.

https://stronghold.fandom.com/wiki/Pitch_Digger

Re: Pronounce GIF · the Correct Way, Without Question

#24

> https://pronouncegif.com/#acronyms I don't understand this argument. for every acronym they list, the first sound is the same for the acronym and the complete version, it's actually an argument for a hard G.

It looks like the author either confused about this argument, or are refuting an argument I've never heard. They're refuting the argument that each and every letter should be pronounced according to the word it represents. Their take on pronouncing 'JPEG' makes this the most clear; they believe if this argument were true then 'JPEG' would be pronounced 'JEG' due to the silent/'F' sounding 'P' in 'Photographic.' Hones…

> they believe if this argument were true then 'JPEG' would be pronounced 'JEG'

Instead of the correct pronunciation, ˈdʒeɪˌpɛʒ

Re: Pronounce GIF · the Correct Way, Without Question

#25
post #15

I agree with this page about GIF. However, I disagree about PNG. The creators say it's pronounced like ping, but I find that to be ridiculous because: The acronym contains no vowels, there is no letter I in Portable or Network, it confuses with the useful network utility named ping, and many many other acronyms are simply pronounced by spelling out their letters. Hence for me, PNG is P-N-G.

I'm with you in this case, but:

> The acronym contains no vowels

didn't stop HMMWV being pronounced "humvee"! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humvee

Re: Pronounce GIF · the Correct Way, Without Question

#27

I've actually never heard it pronounced "Jiff" in conversation. Ever. I'm not going to categorically claim that people don't do it, because anecdote isn't evidence, but I've only ever heard the word "jiff" in the context of an Internet debate I'm increasingly believing is made up. EDIT: Additionally, I've never heard anyone say po-tah-to or toe-mah-to outside of the song. Where does this urge come from?

If the song really does say toe-mah-to, I agree with you.

However in the English-speaking world (as in the world that speaks similarly to the people in England) I've not heard it pronounced any way other than "tom-ah-toe".

Re: Pronounce GIF · the Correct Way, Without Question

#29
post #6
post #2

As soon as someone wants to take a hard stance on it it makes me want to switch. I don't know why. I typically said Jiff (like the PB) but with this site's attitude I'm going to start saying GIFT (with no T) again.

Similarly, when someone wants to take the opposite stance of a well reasoned stance for reasons unrelated to the stance itself (feelings, etc.), I tend to want to take the stance of the original to counter the person taking the opposite stance. I'm going to start staying GIF (like JIF) again.

Let me take this opportunity to break a lance for randomly choosing either of the two, even throughout a conversation. I do it for maximum confusion, or out of a genuine lack of caring, take your pick.

Re: Pronounce GIF · the Correct Way, Without Question

#30
That ship has sailed, I've never heard anyone call it "jiff". The "Two types of vowels" argument doesn't hold water, because the exceptions to the rule are all so common that they feel like the norm. Also, in the tech industry, words starting with 'g' are usually pronounced with a hard 'g': git, gig, gigabyte, gigabit, and gif.

I think the only people who care about the pronunciation are the few who are clinging to the soft-g camp. On that note, the end of the page clearly contains a bit of self-reflection: "Holding on dearly to that pronunciation because it’s infinitely intertwined to your sense of identity?"

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