Gif, also known as Jif | Media | The Guardian
Gif passnotes:
Name: Gif.
Age: 26.
Appearance: A cat falling into a toilet, for ever.
Why are we talking about Gifs? Is one trending on Twitter? Is it a girl bouncing on a trampoline without a bra again? Nope, it’s the inventor of the Gif, Steven Wilhite.
Steven Wilhite has been bouncing on a trampoline without a bra? Get your mind out of the gutter. He has been voicing his concern that we have all been mispronouncing the word “Gif” for the past two decades.
Have we? You mean people exist in this world who say the word “Gif” out loud? Yes. And they’ve been using a hard G when they’ve done it, like “gosh” or “gorilla” or “git”.
And presumably it’s supposed to have a soft G? That’s right, like “Germany” or “gin” or “Gee, does any of this even matter?”
Does it even matter? Apparently it does. Wilhite picked up a lifetime achievement Webby for his invention this week and took the opportunity to conclusively state that “It is a soft ‘G’, pronounced ‘jif’. End of story.”
Well, that’s us told. What does Gif stand for, anyway? Graphics Interchange Format.
But “graphics” starts with a hard G. Shouldn’t Gif start with a hard G too? Stop it, you’re only complicating things.
