this post was submitted on 17 Aug 2023
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Memes

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[–] [email protected] 22 points 2 years ago (3 children)

It's pronounced however the fuck you want to pronounce it.

I like to pronounce it "jif" because gin, gentle, Germany, gypsy. Others like to pronounce it "gif" because gift, good, game, girl.

Don't pull any bullshit reasons like "it's not pronounced jraphics", because if that argument holds any water, JPEG is jay-feg, scuba is scuh-ba, and laser is lah-seer.

The creator calls it "jif" and wants others to call it "jif". I don't give a shit; if some people want to call it "gif", that's up to them and I'm not stopping them. English is not a prescriptive language; pronunciations will always differ according to origins and regions and accents and generations. I will not misunderstand you if you pronounce it "gif", and you will not misunderstand me if I say "jif".

[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 years ago

jay-feg

Babe wake up, new pointless acronym controversy just dropped

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 years ago

This should be the top comment, thank you for putting into words exactly how I feel fellow jiffer

[–] ledtasso -1 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 children)

By calling it "jif" I think the creator was referencing "jiffy," as in "fast." It's like a video, but it loads in a jiffy. Or: it's a short looping video - it's over in a jiffy then restarts again.

I think people that call it "gif" don't intuitively get this, even at the subconscious level. If they did, I think they'd prefer "jif." It's much more fun IMO. Not to mention that it's less likely to be mistaken for an existing word (gift). So it's both more fun and more practical. What else do we have to do to convince you people :(

[–] ggppjj 7 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

It's a reference to Jif peanut butter's ad campaign.

"Choosy moms choose Jif" was used as "Choosy developers choose GIF".