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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. Anonymous Coward
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      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Does anybody use jif's any more?

      I see your p'nungs, and raise you a ping.

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      1. Tom Wood
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        Re: Does anybody use jif's any more?

        PNGs (pinjs?) can't be animated. Jifs can.

        cf. tumblr.

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        1. Charlie Clark Silver badge
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          Re: Does anybody use jif's any more?

          PNGs can't be animated. Jifs can.

          er, yes, they can But support amongst browsers is sporadic.

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          1. Tom Wood
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            Headmaster

            Re: Does anybody use jif's any more?

            er, not really. As the page you linked to states:

            The Animated Portable Network Graphics (APNG) file format is a non-standard extension to the Portable Network Graphics (PNG) specification

            It's not really PNG, but a separate extension of the format.

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    2. Steve the Cynic
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      Re: Does anybody use jif's any more?

      "I thought people used p'nungs instead these days"

      I see a lot of PENGs on the Internet myself. Or maybe pee-enjees, depending on how whimsical I'm feeling.

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    3. Fibbles
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      Re: Does anybody use jif's any more?

      P'nungs are used for transparency these days because they allow for a per-pixel percentage based opacity. Jif allows you to pick one colour that is entirely transparent which means it doesn't support anti-aliasing effects.

      Jif is mostly used for animation these days because you can pretty much guarantee support across every device. There are other ways of course, such as using JavaScript, Flash or Canvas.

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  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Apologies to Izzard

    Ah, you Americans ... we say "Toe-mar-to", you say "toe-may-to" ... you say "erb", we say "herb" ... because it's got a fucking "H" in it ...

    Having recently seen the great man, I couldn't resist :)

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    1. Stevie
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      Re: Apologies to Izzard

      Alnwick. Leicester. Bicester.

      Having read the road signs I couldn't resist. 8oP

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      1. Frankee Llonnygog
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        Re: Apologies to Izzard

        Quite right. In England, although it is spelt GIF, we pronounce it Chumly-Marchbanks.

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      2. Anonymous Coward
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        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Apologies to Izzard

        Reminds me of the time in Sheffield when a Septic came to me with a map, wanting directions to "Loo-gah-bah-roo-gah". Oh, he meant "Luf'bra".

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        1. J.G.Harston Silver badge
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          Re: Apologies to Izzard

          Did he want to go via Beau Chef or via Beecheef?

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        2. Intractable Potsherd
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          Re: Apologies to Izzard

          Just as well he didn't want to go to the place near Huddersfield spelled "Slaithwaite", and pronounced "Slawit".

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      3. Magister
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        Happy

        Re: Apologies to Izzard

        How about Woolfardisworthy?

        (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woolfardisworthy,_Torridge)

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      4. JimmyPage Silver badge
        Reply Icon
        Coat

        @Stevie

        I saw that and had this brief flicker in minds ear ...

        "Kettle, Klutch, Kings Bollege Bambridge. Ah, silly bunt !"

        proving that Monty Python were the inspiration for KDE

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      5. Fibbles
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        Re: Apologies to Izzard

        Having lived in Leicester for a number of years I can assure you that most of the population both pronounces and (sadly,) spells it 'Lesta'.

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      6. Disturbikus
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        Re: Apologies to Izzard

        Ahhhhhh .... Bicester

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    2. jay margo
      Reply Icon
      FAIL

      Re: Apologies to Izzard

      Ah you Brits, you say "toe-mar-to" ...even though it doesn't have a fucking R in it. (and don't you mean "toe-mar-toe"?)

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    3. pr783
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      Re: Apologies to Izzard

      The American pronunciation is more like "toe-may-do".

      The "herb"/"erb" thing is funny, though doesn't really make a lot of sense because it's not like we pronounce the "h" in "honour"... and I think "erb" was the original pronunciation (taken from French), although if you go back enough centuries, all the "h"s in French were originally pronounced, so in that sense, "herb" with "h" is original.

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      1. Kubla Cant
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        Pirate

        Re: Apologies to Izzard

        And we also say ghoti.

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      2. Anonymous Coward
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        Thumb Up

        Re: Apologies to Izzard

        > The "herb"/"erb" thing is funny,

        Strange thing is that when I hear an American pronounce 'erb it's like they're making some kind of pronunciation statement. It seems usually very overdone.

        A particularly noxious example is Dr Crusher from ST:TNG who has to say the word on a number of occasions.

        I suspect that it is correct pronunciation (like 'otel) but it sounds kinda wrong.

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        1. Duffy Moon
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          Headmaster

          Re: Apologies to Izzard

          Not to mention pronouncing buoy as "boo-ee". I fell about the first time I heard that.

          Herb I can sort of understand, but the American pronunciation of human as "you-man" is puzzling.

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  3. Steve Brooks

    And here I thought I only had trouble pronouncing Asus, or is that Asoos, jrrrrr jive me back my jee.

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    1. Someone Else Silver badge
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      Coat

      And if yer from Wisconsin,

      ...it's "Cheese Is Christ".

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  4. Stevie

    Bah!

    Apparently he invented the Jraphic Interchange Format then. I don't suppose he mentioned that he lifted the encoding algorithm from Unisys without asking? Thought not.

    Daft twat.

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  5. Anonymous Coward
    Joke

    You guys are just gealous!

    Simply because you couldn't come up with this brilliant business strategy which will put the .gif format right back on the map:

    • Change pronouncement of product.

    • ???

    • Profit!

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  6. Lunatik
    Flame

    Hard G, Mr Wilhite (what sort of name is that anyway?)

    And I'll fight anyone who says otherwise.

    Same for folk who say "led" instead of Ell-Eee-Dee.

    And folk who say "Snezz" instead of Super Nintendo.

    If that's wrong I don't want to be right.

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    1. Sorry, "Sorry that handle is already taken" is already taken.
      Reply Icon
      Coat

      Re: Hard G, Mr Wilhite (what sort of name is that anyway?)

      Folk who say "Snezz" are surely pronouncing the acronym SNES (Super Nintendo Entertainment System.)

      Would it be OK to say "Sness"?

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    2. SuperTim
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      Re: Hard G, Mr Wilhite (what sort of name is that anyway?)

      What's your take on people who say "LCD Display" then?

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      1. Richard 120
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        Re: Hard G, Mr Wilhite (what sort of name is that anyway?)

        Re: LCD Display

        That's different they're just suffering from RAS Syndrome

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        1. Kubla Cant
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          Re: Hard G, Mr Wilhite (what sort of name is that anyway?)

          When there's an LCD display it makes it easier to enter your PIN number.

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      3. Someone Else Silver badge
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        Facepalm

        Re: Hard G, Mr Wilhite (what sort of name is that anyway?)

        They must work for the Dept. of Redundancy Dept.

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      4. MJI Silver badge
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        Re: LCD Display

        No it is LCD Panel or LCD Monitor or LCD TV

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  7. Anonymous Coward
    Joke

    Irrelevant, in a relevant sort of way

    What, you mean.....spell 'bolour' with a K?

    Yes.

    Kolour. Oh thank you, I never thought of that. What a silly bunt.

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    1. Omgwtfbbqtime
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      Re: Irrelevant, in a relevant sort of way

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S87mKwgYR6A

      Seems appropriate for some reason....

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    2. Richard 120
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      Coffee/keyboard

      Re: Irrelevant, in a relevant sort of way

      Thanks, now I'm giggling maniacally to myself.

      Khaki, Kettle, Kings Bollege Bambridge

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  8. Laie Techie

    JIFF?

    I pronounce GIF with a hard-g to distinguish it from that other graphics format, the JIFF.

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    1. Anonymous Coward
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      Anonymous Coward

      Re: JIFF?

      You mean JFIF?

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  9. Jim Carter

    I'm suddenly reminded

    Of Mr Doovde from Fonejacker...

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  10. Richard 31
    Paris Hilton

    Cleaning products

    gif-jif-cif

    Does this mean that over time its name will change to CIF to be in line with European cleaning products?

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  11. Tom_

    Right then

    From now on, I'm going to pronounce it "kjife".

    And by "from now on" I mean "until about four o'clock".

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  12. Parax
    Coat

    I think this is all some sort of Gif-Gaff

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  13. mark l 2 Silver badge
    Joke

    What do you expect, he is an American, they invented the English langauge.

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  14. User McUser
    Alert

    The correct pronunciation is "P N G"

    [This space left intentionally non-blank.]

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  15. Battsman
    Mushroom

    I don't give a ---- what Steve says...

    If the acronym stands for Graphics Interchange Format, you'd have to be a complete twat to pronounce it with a "J" and I don't give a ---- what twats say or think.

    ergo Steve is a twat and I don't give a ---- what he says.

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  16. Tommy Pock

    Inventors shouldn't get to name their own inventions.

    "Because it's SUBmerged in a MARINE environment, I've called it my going-under-the-water-safely-device." - Leonard of Quirm.

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  17. Anonymous Coward
    Facepalm

    Let's not get everyone started on 'Sequel' either...oh wait I just did.

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    1. Code Monkey
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      Windows

      "Sequel" every time - unless referring to "Microsoft Squeal Server".

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      1. Kubla Cant
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        I believe "sequel" reflects the fact that it was originally Structured English Query Language.

        But in my experience, Oracle users say "sequel" because it's easier to say "sequel-plus" and "P-L-sequel". Sybase and Microsoft users say "S-Q-L" because it's easier after "Transact".

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  18. Justin Pasher

    Pronouncing acronyms

    I'm more confused by the people that feel that an acronym has to be pronounced using the same hard/soft letters as the words it stands for. Using that logic, take these examples:

    ASCII - Do you pronounce it uh-ski, since "A" stands for American?

    ICANN - Do you call them ih-can, since "I" stands for International?

    ... just to name a few

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