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back to article FLABBER-JASTED: It's 'jif', NOT '.gif', says man who should know

The internet - and especially the recently-sold content sausage machine Tumblr, epicentre of the animated gif rebirth - is reeling today at the news that when referring to image files formatted as .gifs one should pronounce it "jif". That's according to no less an authority than Steve Wilhite, the man who invented the Graphics …

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    1. TheRealRoland
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      Re: 25 years too late

      It's pronounced 'Fronkensteen'!

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    2. 4d3fect
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      Re: 25 years too late

      ...."That's Headley."

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      1. JDX Gold badge
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        Re: 25 years too late

        How do you know he hasn't spent 25 years saying this?

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    3. Pirate Dave Silver badge
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      Pirate

      Re: 25 years too late

      I've been using a soft "g" for it since the early 90's. I remember reading somewhere in the docs for CompuShow (a popular DOS image viewer back in the day...) that it was pronounced with a soft "g", so that's what I've stuck to. I always assumed those using a hard "g" were newbies.

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      1. Nate Amsden
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        Re: 25 years too late

        me too, I don't remember where I heard it first pronounced, but I have always been soft g, since early 90s too.

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        1. Not That Andrew
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          Re: 25 years too late

          And I've assumed the pronunciation is hard G since the early 90's since my daily routine has never included talking about file formats.

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          1. Pirate Dave Silver badge
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            Pirate

            Re: 25 years too late

            "my daily routine has never included talking about file formats."

            Then why are you on a computer-nerd site talking about file formats? ;)

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  2. Alan Bourke

    Yeah just like REM

    didn't stand for Rapid Eye Movement. It's GIF with a hard G, Marathon bars, Opal Fruits, world without end, amen.

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  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Are we supposed to call JPEGs Gay-Pejs now as well?

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    1. DavCrav
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      Since it stands for Joint Photographic Experts Group, I think Jay-Pheg is more correct, for some suitable definition of 'correct'...

      Oh, and CMOS should be pronounced commoss, according to this. Personally I call it cee-moss. Anybody?

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      1. hplasm
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        Happy

        Surely...

        Yoint Fotojrafix Eexperts Jroup, noe?

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        1. VinceH
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          Re: Surely...

          "Yoint Fotojrafix Eexperts Jroup, noe?"

          You are the Swedish Chef, and I claim my five pounds.

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      2. Anonymous Coward
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        Anonymous Coward

        No. It's cee-mose.

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      3. Intractable Potsherd
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        Why would it be "com-mos"? You only speak what is there - it is a letter "C" ("see") followed by letters that form a a sort of word: "MOS". Therefore, "see-moss" or, at a push, "see-mose" or "see-moz".

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    2. Stevie
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      Are we supposed to call JPEGs Gay-Pejs now as well?

      It is my understanding that you can't ask and they aren't obliged to answer if you do.

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  4. pctechxp
    Coat

    I hear

    they are planning to change it to cif

    I'll get my coat

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  5. LesB
    Facepalm

    Giraffics?

    Maybe that's what he thought he was playing with?

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  6. Tom 7

    Thats a cleaning fluid

    that's now been renamed after a venereal disease....

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  7. Bobthe2nd
    FAIL

    nah mate

    Jif is what you clear stuff with my gran still has some in the cupboard, gif is a picture format... end of

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    1. Duffy Moon
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      Linux

      Re: nah mate

      I thought Jif was lemon juice packaged in a plastic lemon for people too lazy to squeeze lemons.

      I also think it's odd that Linux is supposed to be pronounced "linnux" and not "lynux" since Linus is pronounced "lynus". Perhaps Linus Torvalds pronounces his name "linnus" - I have no idea.

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      1. I ain't Spartacus Gold badge
        Reply Icon
        Linux

        Re: nah mate

        Just call it Finux and then no-one needs to worry.

        Although even there, to pronounce it like that, surely it needs a double 'n' in the middle?

        PS - conjratulations to all the El Rej commentards for the quality of the gagsjajs in this thread.

        I suppose at least El Reg don't have to care, as Register = Rejister anyway.

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      2. Anonymous Coward
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        Anonymous Coward

        Re: nah mate

        > Perhaps Linus Torvalds pronounces his name "linnus" - I have no idea.

        He does: http://www.paul.sladen.org/pronunciation/

        I am pretty sure Red Hat used this as a sound card test file back in the day.

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        1. Steve the Cynic
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          Re: nah mate

          "I am pretty sure Red Hat used this as a sound card test file back in the day."

          It did. I remember playing it to, um, test the sound setup on my Red Hat boxes, a frighteningly long time ago.

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      3. peyton?
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        Re: nah mate

        In America, Jif refers to peanut butter. End of story.

        Linux is a combination of Linus and MINIX, so it depends on which "i" you want to pronounce ;)

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        1. Don Jefe
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          Happy

          Re: nah mate

          Just asked our graphics guy and he's as 'American' as they come. He said jif... Only Europeans say gif according to him. He could have already read the story though. Hard to trust those graphics guys.

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          1. Code Monkey
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            Joke

            Re: nah mate

            "Just asked our graphics guy and he's as 'American' as they come. He said jif... Only Europeans say gif according to him. He could have already read the story though. Hard to trust those graphics guys."

            But Americans pronounce "autumn" as "fall".

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          2. Anonymous Coward
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            Thumb Up

            Re: nah mate

            >Only Europeans say gif according to him.

            In my experience, when Americans say "European", they usually mean those other people that aren't American.

            So that would be the rest of the world then, AKA the vast majority of the population of the world.

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            1. Don Jefe
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              Re: nah mate

              No. I assure you the 'American' lexicon is quite filled with distinctive names for the origins of most any people.

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              1. M Gale
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                Coat

                Re: nah mate

                "No. I assure you the 'American' lexicon is quite filled with distinctive names for the origins of most any people."

                Italian American, Spanish American, Latin American, Irish American, Native American...

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                1. Anonymous Coward
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                  Anonymous Coward

                  Re: "most any"

                  The 'American' lexicon is also full of utter nonsense, mate.

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        2. SuperTim
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          Headmaster

          Re: nah mate

          I pronounce it like in the word "while" as heard here!

          http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BqnFnWSYzaQ

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        3. cheveron
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          Re: nah mate

          > In America, Jif refers to peanut butter. End of story.

          Not quite. GIF files are named after Jif. If you accept any pronunciation other than the one intended by the author that makes you a post-modernist. If you're ok with that, then that's ok.

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        4. Kubla Cant
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          Re: nah mate

          In America, Jif refers to peanut butter. End of story.

          You clean the kitchen with peanut butter? Must be messy.

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      4. J.G.Harston Silver badge
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        Re: nah mate

        Well, if you wanted to pronounce it lynux, you should have spelt it lynux, or had a vowel-lengthening 'e' somewhere, linux is a short 'i'.

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        1. M Gale
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          I want to roll my own distro

          Maybe an Ubuntu or a Mint with the backgrounds changed or something.

          I'll call it "Linux Linux", just to play with people's heads.

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        2. stratofish
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          Trollface

          Re: nah mate

          "Well, if you wanted to pronounce it lynux, you should have spelt it lynux, or had a vowel-lengthening 'e' somewhere, linux is a short 'i'."

          Like 'pilot'?

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      5. Anonymous Coward
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        Anonymous Coward

        Re: nah mate

        "too lazy to squeeze lemons"?

        Jif ( "h-iff" for the Spanish? ) tends to last a little longer than having the real thing left about, not get used and start turning that nasty brown colour fruit loves to go when it's bored and feels unloved!

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    2. Justice
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      Facepalm

      Re: nah mate

      Bizarrely, it's now called CIF not JIF.

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cif

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      1. Anonymous Coward
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        Anonymous Coward

        Re: nah mate

        And in Turkey CIF is pronounced JIF.

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        1. dajames
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          Headmaster

          Re: nah mate

          And in Turkey CIF is pronounced JIF.

          While in Italy CIF is pronounced CHIF.

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  8. Anonymous Coward
    Paris Hilton

    Gif with a hard G it is then.

    Now, how the shuddering hell is one supposed to pronounce 'Wilhite'? Will-height? Will-hitty? Whhil-hityay?

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    1. Anonymous Coward
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      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Gif with a hard G it is then.

      Indeed. Why should we take any notice of someone who can't spell his name righit?

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  9. Richard 120

    Not the first time

    http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/11/15/gif_is_pronounced_jif/

    Popular opinion generally drives language though, it's hard to change the status quo once it's in general use.

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  10. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I think the Internet is unanimously in agreement that Steve Wilhite is a Jit.

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    1. DavCrav
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      That's a bit harsh. He's just wronj.

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    2. graeme leggett Silver badge
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      Wouldn't worry - it's not as if anyone's going to gaol over it....

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      1. Elmer Phud
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        re: Wouldn't worry - it's not as if anyone's going to gaol over it...

        Bugger -- I just LOLed

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        1. Intractable Potsherd
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          Re: re: Wouldn't worry - it's not as if anyone's going to gaol over it...

          That should be "Bujjer".

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    3. Anonymous Coward
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      Anonymous Coward

      > I think the Internet is unanimously in agreement that Steve Wilhite is a Jit.

      I think you'll find that he's a gerk

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  11. Shrimpling

    Does anybody use jif's any more?

    I thought people used p'nungs instead these days because they can be higher resolutions than jifs and still have the transparent backgrounds?

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