Who would win in a fight? Trudy or Annie?
April 22, 2013 2:11 PM   Subscribe

 
Paul F. Tompkins, truly a well-dressed prince among men. This is some good stuff.
posted by Kitteh at 2:18 PM on April 22, 2013 [1 favorite]


Spoiler : They pronounce GIF correctly.
posted by Yowser at 2:22 PM on April 22, 2013 [7 favorites]


Warning: Provocation of GIF pronunciation argument detected.
posted by zsazsa at 2:25 PM on April 22, 2013 [8 favorites]


Spoiler : They pronounce GIF correctly.

Only if it's the Giraffics Interchange Format...
posted by The Tensor at 2:25 PM on April 22, 2013 [29 favorites]


Never heard of Alison Brie before but the gif vid one me over.
posted by dobbs at 2:26 PM on April 22, 2013 [1 favorite]


I was kind of hoping she'd get interviewed by Cake Boss.
posted by cortex at 2:26 PM on April 22, 2013 [7 favorites]


zsa: It's a twenty-six year old challenge that will be settled today! Also, Here are the results. Burlap Sack is surprisingly un-unsexy.
posted by Yowser at 2:27 PM on April 22, 2013


Brie does a spot on Grumpy Cat.
posted by drezdn at 2:28 PM on April 22, 2013 [2 favorites]


Trudeau
posted by Damienmce at 2:29 PM on April 22, 2013


Also, don't forget unsexy Christmas song Brie here. Taken out of context, it's also un-unsexy.
posted by Yowser at 2:29 PM on April 22, 2013


Unfortunately they are both dead to me after mispronouncing GIF. I bet they also say SISop and Rooter.
posted by Ad hominem at 2:30 PM on April 22, 2013 [3 favorites]


I would just like to point out that the argument Alison Brie and Emily Blunt have in The Five-Year Engagement as, respectively, Elmo and Cookie Monster, is a thing of great beauty.
posted by shakespeherian at 2:32 PM on April 22, 2013 [9 favorites]


I bet they also say SISop and Rooter.

What other and transparently wrong way are you pronouncing sysop?
posted by The Tensor at 2:34 PM on April 22, 2013 [10 favorites]


Unfortunately they are both dead to me after mispronouncing GIF.

And here I always rated Ad hominem as one of the more sensible posters. Another illusion shattered.

jifisacleaningproduct.gif
posted by MartinWisse at 2:35 PM on April 22, 2013 [3 favorites]


Who would win in a fight? Trudy or Annie?

I'll be in my blanket fort.
posted by Horace Rumpole at 2:37 PM on April 22, 2013 [7 favorites]


I was kind of hoping she'd get interviewed by Cake Boss.

"Call me Go-Go!"
posted by rhizome at 2:39 PM on April 22, 2013


I can't believe there are soft-G gif pronouncers on MetaFilter. :(
posted by dobbs at 2:45 PM on April 22, 2013 [13 favorites]


Can't listen to the podcast here at work, but in response to the title of the post, without question, it would be Trudy. In last week's episode, we got to see her steely side, and it was to be feared. She's still the sweetest character on the show, though.
posted by Edgewise at 2:50 PM on April 22, 2013


Pronouncing gif with a hard-G, conversely, is either like believing strongly in God or abandoning all faith that a God exists, whichever one offends you more.

Juh juh juh is the sound of good things happening. Juh juh juh.
posted by Rory Marinich at 2:50 PM on April 22, 2013 [6 favorites]


jraphics interchange format
posted by shakespeherian at 2:51 PM on April 22, 2013 [8 favorites]


jifisacleaningproduct.gif

The crunchy kind cleans the best.
posted by Sys Rq at 2:54 PM on April 22, 2013 [2 favorites]


I bet they also say SISop and Rooter.

There is no other pronunciation of SysOp, and I believe "rooter" is acceptable for router in non-American (un-American?) English. My credentials: Hard-G-GIF for life. I can't believe I've been having this argument for almost twenty years.
posted by stopgap at 2:56 PM on April 22, 2013 [1 favorite]


Pronouncing gif with a hard-G, conversely, is either like believing strongly in God or abandoning all faith that a God exists, whichever one offends you more.

Sorry, I can't quite make out what you're saying—what is this "Jodd" you keep mentioning?
posted by The Tensor at 2:56 PM on April 22, 2013 [10 favorites]


JIF is peanut butter. Do you soft-g types also pronounce Skype as "Skippy"?
posted by Atom Eyes at 2:57 PM on April 22, 2013 [33 favorites]


Darn tootin!
posted by The Whelk at 2:59 PM on April 22, 2013


I don't know about metafilter anymore. I've already deleted all the community episodes off my tievo.
posted by Ad hominem at 3:00 PM on April 22, 2013 [4 favorites]


we got to see her steely side, and it was to be feared.

Don't you remember Annie's old neighborhood?! Annie has hidden layers, and I'm afraid that while Trudy has a Very Strong Character, she would not know how to throw a punch. Annie, though, would.

Only one way to find out: Tell Trudy that Annie is stealing Pete (not just having sex with him, but stealing him as a husband!!); tell Annie that Trudy is all that stands between her and her rightful spot as Greendale's Valedictorian, and get out of the way.
posted by MoxieProxy at 3:03 PM on April 22, 2013 [1 favorite]


The tiny sombrero one was actually kinda sexy.
posted by mochapickle at 3:05 PM on April 22, 2013 [2 favorites]


Man, I am really curious about this alternate pronunciation of sysop.
posted by history_denier at 3:15 PM on April 22, 2013 [1 favorite]


size-up
posted by shakespeherian at 3:15 PM on April 22, 2013


Oh yeah, and Gs in gif go hard or not at all.
posted by history_denier at 3:16 PM on April 22, 2013


sigh-soap
posted by Rory Marinich at 3:16 PM on April 22, 2013


sizzurp?
posted by history_denier at 3:17 PM on April 22, 2013 [3 favorites]


By the logic of "g is hard in graphic so it's hard in gif", "lol" would be pronounced "lowl", instead of the obviously correct "loll".
posted by Rory Marinich at 3:17 PM on April 22, 2013 [7 favorites]


sis-oap?
posted by furiousthought at 3:17 PM on April 22, 2013 [1 favorite]


I genuinely think you people are too old to be correct about these things.
posted by Rory Marinich at 3:17 PM on April 22, 2013 [11 favorites]


The transitive property does not apply to vowels, Rory. This is simple math.
posted by shakespeherian at 3:18 PM on April 22, 2013 [9 favorites]


I'm from 1938 and what is this?
posted by The Whelk at 3:25 PM on April 22, 2013 [2 favorites]


If you say GIF with a hard G, you need to say JPEG with a soft P. "J-feg."
posted by zsazsa at 3:26 PM on April 22, 2013 [10 favorites]


If I have seen further it is by shitting on the heads of giants.
posted by shakespeherian at 3:26 PM on April 22, 2013 [2 favorites]


I tried to start using a soft "G" years ago, when I found out the creator pronounced it that way, but my brain regected it.
posted by history_denier at 3:29 PM on April 22, 2013 [3 favorites]


There is no such thing as a soft P, jesus christ people did none of you go to smart school
posted by Rory Marinich at 3:31 PM on April 22, 2013 [8 favorites]


Hard G vs. Soft G
posted by gnutron at 3:32 PM on April 22, 2013 [1 favorite]


I take a soft p when I don't want to wake anyone else in the house up.
posted by The Whelk at 3:32 PM on April 22, 2013 [10 favorites]


By the logic of "g is hard in graphic so it's hard in gif", "lol" would be pronounced "lowl", instead of the obviously correct "loll".

How about the logic that the only other word starting with "gif-" in English if "gift"?
posted by The Tensor at 3:32 PM on April 22, 2013 [2 favorites]


And because Gifs are GIFTS.
posted by The Whelk at 3:34 PM on April 22, 2013


If you think that gifs are gifts than I have a traumatic EncyclopediaDramatica page to show you.
posted by Rory Marinich at 3:34 PM on April 22, 2013


If you think that gifs are gifts than I have a traumatic EncyclopediaDramatica page to show you.

no you do not
posted by Rustic Etruscan at 3:35 PM on April 22, 2013


I is "ih" in international, so I say Ih-Bee-Em.
posted by zippy at 3:36 PM on April 22, 2013


Metafilter: too old to be correct about these things.
posted by M Edward at 3:36 PM on April 22, 2013 [2 favorites]


I genuinely think you people are too old to be correct about these things.

Dammit, son, I've been animating GIFs since before you were born. [Checks profile.] (OK, that is uncomfortably close to being accurate.)
posted by stopgap at 3:36 PM on April 22, 2013 [9 favorites]


As for LOL and JPEG, if you want me to pronounce your acronym with a digraph that's in the original words, you'll have to import the whole digraph: LOuL and JPhEG.
posted by The Tensor at 3:36 PM on April 22, 2013 [1 favorite]


gif, jif, whatever, just don't say nucular or dubya thank you
posted by M Edward at 3:37 PM on April 22, 2013


giffy lube
posted by Rustic Etruscan at 3:37 PM on April 22, 2013


Look I never said it was a gift you wanted.
posted by The Whelk at 3:39 PM on April 22, 2013


YOU REQUIRE MORE VESPANE GIFS
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 3:40 PM on April 22, 2013 [3 favorites]


giffy lube

Useful if you want to animate a certain in flagrante delicto image of a dead chicken.
posted by stopgap at 3:41 PM on April 22, 2013


As Annie and Trudy stumble out of the room, bloodied and bruised and ignored, you folks just go on with your gif/jif business.
posted by MoxieProxy at 3:42 PM on April 22, 2013


This is metafilter.

Pronunciation is literally the most important thing ever in the history of mankind.
posted by The Whelk at 3:46 PM on April 22, 2013 [1 favorite]


Do you soft-g types also pronounce Skype as "Skippy"?

Schkeep-eh
posted by Greg_Ace at 3:47 PM on April 22, 2013 [3 favorites]


This is metafilter.

Now I have this mental image of cortex kicking a Persian into a well.
posted by arcticseal at 3:48 PM on April 22, 2013 [4 favorites]


I should hasten to add that no animals were hurt in the filming of this mental image.
posted by arcticseal at 3:48 PM on April 22, 2013


In that case you would be punting the Persian into the well.
posted by Rustic Etruscan at 3:51 PM on April 22, 2013


Look, this is easy.

It's spelled GIF, but it's pronounced Throat Warbler Mangrove.
posted by stopgap at 3:52 PM on April 22, 2013 [16 favorites]


Pronunciation is literally the most important thing ever in the history of mankind.
Especially while conversing through a medium thats written only!

I may be a foreigner, but route has to be root because the packets are sent on their way. We're not shaving little pieces from something with sharp network packets, are we?
Mmmmh maybe these arguments are a little bit like this.

But LOUL? That's French!
posted by mmkhd at 3:53 PM on April 22, 2013


I used to work with a guy that always said www as "trip dub" but he also used to say stuff like "I spent like two hundo on dinner and didn't even get a blowie". Once I was no longer forced to I never spoke to him again.
posted by Ad hominem at 3:55 PM on April 22, 2013 [5 favorites]


I used to work with a guy that always said www as "trip dub"

I remember this appearing in Wired Magazine's "Jargon Watch" of terms used by no one in real life, around 1995 or 1996 probably.
posted by stopgap at 3:56 PM on April 22, 2013 [1 favorite]


No pronunciation arguments below this line:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
posted by jjwiseman at 3:56 PM on April 22, 2013 [3 favorites]


I believe those should be em dashes.
posted by Kabanos at 3:58 PM on April 22, 2013 [63 favorites]


Is there where we switch over to arguing about the variety of typographical dashes? Fucking en dashes, man, what are they good for except numerical ranges, connections, and attributive compounds, amirite?
posted by stopgap at 4:01 PM on April 22, 2013


What happened to <hr>?
posted by mmkhd at 4:04 PM on April 22, 2013


What makes trololo important is it taught us all how to pronounce LOL. Now and forever it is "lohl" not "lahl" or "lawl".
posted by George_Spiggott at 4:04 PM on April 22, 2013


PURJE THE NON BELIEVERS
posted by Potomac Avenue at 4:05 PM on April 22, 2013


Useful if you want to animate a certain in flagrante delicto image of a dead chicken.

No, then you'd have a lubey gif.
posted by Rustic Etruscan at 4:09 PM on April 22, 2013


Derails about pronunciation and punctuation is Metafilter's way of avoiding talking about how much Community sucks this season.
posted by Pruitt-Igoe at 4:28 PM on April 22, 2013 [6 favorites]


What happened to <hr>?

Metric time.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 4:44 PM on April 22, 2013


Derails about pronunciation and punctuation is Metafilter's way of avoiding talking about how much Community sucks this season.

He's not wrong (insert frowny face).

I surrender: Here's my two-cents worth. I've *never* heard anyone pronounce it Jiff. Ever. Ever. Ever.
posted by MoxieProxy at 4:45 PM on April 22, 2013


I pronounce it jiff, and I was a member of Compuserve when it came out.
posted by rhizome at 4:46 PM on April 22, 2013 [2 favorites]


I only started watching Community this season, and all I can say is seasons 1-3 must be pretty goddamn amazing if this one sucks by comparison. The first one I saw (looks like it was called "Paranormal Parentage") was kind of a clanger but I kept going with it and the rest have been great. Perhaps I'll understand when/if I get around to finding and watching the old ones.
posted by George_Spiggott at 4:58 PM on April 22, 2013 [1 favorite]


Brits! Brits say Jiff.

And allow me to remind you of thier cruel yoke before the glorious year of 1776.
posted by The Whelk at 4:58 PM on April 22, 2013 [2 favorites]


Who the hell ever says internet words aloud? I am uncomfortable even speaking of the internet.
posted by srboisvert at 5:00 PM on April 22, 2013 [6 favorites]


I used to pronounce it jiff, but was mocked by some BBS friends about 20 years ago. I initially resisted, but gave in to the hard G. My justification is the hard G in Graphics.
posted by Pruitt-Igoe at 5:04 PM on April 22, 2013


Also, re: the actual link, both Paul F. Tompkins and Alison Brie are funny and adorable, and it's fun to watch them crack jokes.
posted by Rustic Etruscan at 5:07 PM on April 22, 2013


I still don't know how to pronounce some internet words. URL is "earl" to some folks. Plus I'm Canadian so I pronounce Java and Samba wrong to some groups and right to others. I have to code switch between Zed and Zee.

I know I'm right in how I pronounce daemon, though. People who pronounce daemon "day-men" are totally fucking wrong.
posted by Pruitt-Igoe at 5:08 PM on April 22, 2013


Pruitt-Igoe - damn skype.

Crap, now I'm doing it too.
posted by djeo at 5:18 PM on April 22, 2013


Come on, Overly Attached Girlfriend wasn't exactly a reach.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 5:19 PM on April 22, 2013 [1 favorite]


Well, I'm one of the oldsters, and I'm in Marinich's camp -- it's a jif, just like peanut butter.

Fortunately, this ancient argument is being replaced by the new one, how to pronounce PNG.
posted by Malor at 5:24 PM on April 22, 2013


Brits! Brits say Jiff.

Look a Briton dead in the eye and ask him to pronounce "urinal." And then you will box his ear, because UGH.

Never heard of Alison Brie before but the gif vid one me over.

You have so much joy ahead of you.
Eight seasons of classic Brie-TV (five Mad Men and three Community) are available on DVD right now.
posted by psoas at 5:30 PM on April 22, 2013 [2 favorites]


I seem to recall someone on the b3ta forum suggesting that PDFs be called "pedef files". Sadly. I've never had the courage to use this pronunciation in public.

Also, another vote for soft g.
posted by dephlogisticated at 5:47 PM on April 22, 2013 [2 favorites]


Under my totalitarian regime, peanut butter pronouncers will be rounded up and sent off for hard labor and reeducation.
posted by elizardbits at 5:57 PM on April 22, 2013 [28 favorites]


I've given up on even knowing what my own preference is for .gif—I've used both, gotten hollered at for both, made arguments for both, have dumb punny mnemonics for both—but I can unambiguously assert that soft-g is the more laidback choice in terms of the actual mechanics of enunciation. That alveolar stop in hard-g "gif" is just plain more hustle and bustle than the affricative in "jif", like you have to lower your shoulder and lean into that mother to get it going.

I think it is no coincidence that more relaxed pronunciation sounds a lot like "Jeff". It's the Dudelike way to go. Jif Lebowski.
posted by cortex at 5:59 PM on April 22, 2013 [3 favorites]


I'm British - if you're not pronouncing "Uranus" as "your anus" here then you're a prude. :)
posted by absolutelynot at 6:08 PM on April 22, 2013


That alveolar stop in hard-g "gif" is just plain more hustle and bustle than the affricative in "jif", like you have to lower your shoulder and lean into that mother to get it going.

You may be surprised to learn that in German, the soft-g sound requires the compounding of four consonants: dsch. (Ask a German to say "German," and you'll see how much effort it takes.)
posted by Sys Rq at 6:08 PM on April 22, 2013


Yes, but those men are nihilists, there's nothing to be afraid of.
posted by cortex at 6:13 PM on April 22, 2013


Geez keep up, sheeple. Anyone who reads the NY Post knows it's pronounced with a hard G in honor of Kathie Lee Gifford who invented the internets.
posted by Dr. Zira at 6:14 PM on April 22, 2013 [1 favorite]


zitsoep
posted by ennui.bz at 6:24 PM on April 22, 2013


It's jeez. Derivative of Jesus, rather than geese.
posted by shakespeherian at 6:30 PM on April 22, 2013 [1 favorite]


Yay, elizardbits is back!

And being right about GIFs!
posted by gadge emeritus at 6:37 PM on April 22, 2013 [7 favorites]


There are people where I work who unironically pronounce "URL" as "Earl" and "cache" as "ca-shay." I assume this was because they were born in the nineties or something.
Every time I hear this I silently think: There. Are. Four. Lights.
posted by Dr. Zira at 6:47 PM on April 22, 2013 [3 favorites]


I love me some Peanut Nore.
posted by rhizome at 7:06 PM on April 22, 2013


Brits! Brits say Jiff.

But not for GIFs. Do you think the people of this fair island are barbarians?
posted by ersatz at 7:11 PM on April 22, 2013 [1 favorite]


Having read his name in a book somewhere, I used to pronounce "Camus" so that it rhymed with "Shame us."

Luckily it was one of those things I never had to actually say.
posted by Rustic Etruscan at 7:13 PM on April 22, 2013


I'm a Brit and I say Gif with a hard G, like Gaffer.
posted by arcticseal at 7:22 PM on April 22, 2013


Atom Eyes: "Do you soft-g types also pronounce Skype as "Skippy?"

I do now.
posted by scrump at 7:30 PM on April 22, 2013 [6 favorites]


Surely the mods should be strictly enforcing Metafilter advocated pronunciation for all comments. What the hell else am I sending these monthly admin cheques for?!
posted by NailsTheCat at 7:39 PM on April 22, 2013


stopgap: "I bet they also say SISop and Rooter.

There is no other pronunciation of SysOp, and I believe "rooter" is acceptable for router in non-American (un-American?) English. My credentials: Hard-G-GIF for life. I can't believe I've been having this argument for almost twenty years.
"

Hard G and as a site owner from the BBS days, I was a SIGHsop.

Oh, and I hope it is not wrong to say this, but she was freaking adorable doing Grumpy Cat.
posted by Samizdata at 7:39 PM on April 22, 2013


Rory Marinich: "If you think that gifs are gifts than I have a traumatic EncyclopediaDramatica page to show you."

Bring.
It.
On.
posted by Samizdata at 7:42 PM on April 22, 2013


Fortunately, this ancient argument is being replaced by the new one, how to pronounce PNG.

That's easy, it just rhymes with 'wenge'.
posted by Kabanos at 7:58 PM on April 22, 2013


The deal with "cache" is significantly complicated by "cachet", which as far as I remember is derived from the exact some French root word. They're both a bit niche, or used to be at least.
posted by cortex at 8:50 PM on April 22, 2013


Every time someone pronounces "cache" as though the E had an acute accent, I imagine bloodstains on walls.
posted by Rustic Etruscan at 9:01 PM on April 22, 2013 [1 favorite]


They're both a bit niche

Or is it niché?
No. No it isn't.
posted by Greg_Ace at 9:05 PM on April 22, 2013 [2 favorites]


Oh, this reminds me of that guy who insisted that the proper French way to say prix fixe was "prix fixé."
posted by Rustic Etruscan at 9:07 PM on April 22, 2013


you guys talking about people saying sighsop are lying right
posted by rap and country at 9:16 PM on April 22, 2013 [2 favorites]


I'm queer, and I'd pay hard money to see Annie & Trudy GET IT ON!

Community is my favorite show. I wish it had better ratings. I also wish that this last season went differently. The loss of important people within the show really reflects.
As previously agreed with SO, it feels like the show went from taking no effort, to now taking some. The writing has slowed down, and it's more "sitcom". I'll still watch every episode, but those first 3? seasons where way better.
posted by QueerAngel28 at 9:22 PM on April 22, 2013


I love a good pronunciation argument, but we have this entire thread to squee about how awesome Trudy was last week! Guys?!!!

Oh, well. At least elizardbits is back to sort out the peanut butter people.
posted by Space Kitty at 9:51 PM on April 22, 2013 [2 favorites]


[ that-moment-when-you-are-unspeakably-excited-that-elizardbits-is-back-but-also-sadly-resigned-because-now-you-will-have-to-come-to-fisticuffs-over-gif-pronunciation.gif ]

boy it's really too bad you guys can't see this one it's a doozy
posted by en forme de poire at 9:51 PM on April 22, 2013


Hmm. I always pronounced it patent troll.
posted by krinklyfig at 10:47 PM on April 22, 2013 [1 favorite]


Actually, even though I was creating websites professionally in the '90s, I was also self-taught mostly through online sources and doing a lot of view-source, and hung out more with artists and musicians than fellow techies (these were also my clients, which is why I wasn't making any money). So a lot of the culture of the early tech era was lost on me, including the correct pronunciations of Linux and GIF. I always pronounced it with a soft 'G,' until I moved to the SF Bay in 2000 to work for dotcom startups, although it's still the way I hear it in my head.

BTW, Unisys sux, amirite? Does that officially make me middle aged?
posted by krinklyfig at 10:59 PM on April 22, 2013 [1 favorite]


I pronounce it jiff, and I was a member of Compuserve when it came out.

The second part of that sentence does nothing for the first part; Compuserve was the rich fool's AOL.
posted by MartinWisse at 4:07 AM on April 23, 2013


Pronunciation is literally the most important thing ever in the history of mankind.

And to be honest, gif vs jif is for amateurs: how you pronounce SQL is where we seperate the grownups from the kids.
posted by MartinWisse at 4:09 AM on April 23, 2013


I'm British - if you're not pronouncing "Uranus" as "your anus" here then you're a prude.

Tell it to Patrick Moore.
posted by MartinWisse at 4:13 AM on April 23, 2013


I pronounce it SQuirreL.
posted by arcticseal at 5:15 AM on April 23, 2013 [2 favorites]


I also take it none of you saw Allison being hit by a hadoooken or you'd be talking about it.
posted by ersatz at 5:24 AM on April 23, 2013 [2 favorites]


Sequel (but my-ess-que-el), jif, meefight, mehfee, sisop (sighsop? seriously? wtf), damn skippy.
posted by kmz at 6:13 AM on April 23, 2013


Scuzzy/sissy and raout/root were always entertaining nerd pronunciation fights. (You could always tell a n00b with book larnin' - they'd say "ess see ess eye")
posted by Slap*Happy at 6:25 AM on April 23, 2013


MySQL was named after the creator's daughter My, pronounced /my:/ (like the German "ü"), not /maɪ/ (as in the English word "my"), so the most proper pronunciation is obviously "mü-ess-que-el" and not "my-ess-que-el".
posted by martinrebas at 6:49 AM on April 23, 2013


Oi, is Ms. Brie just not showing enough cleavage to distract you lot from your petty pedantic squabbles?

As for Annie vs. Trudy, there would be no fight. Trudy would verbally cut Annie to pieces, leaving a smoking crater, smiling cheerfully all the while.

Also, for the uninitiated, watching Abed use a Don Draper impression to hit on Annie is about as meta as TV gets.
posted by dry white toast at 6:56 AM on April 23, 2013 [3 favorites]


The second part of that sentence does nothing for the first part; Compuserve was the rich fool's AOL.

CompuServe developed the GIF format.
posted by zsazsa at 7:30 AM on April 23, 2013


This is all going to come back to 'Linux' isn't it.
posted by shakespeherian at 7:55 AM on April 23, 2013


Generally I'd say go with how the creator pronounces it (Linux) but jif is just wrong wrong wrongy wrong. Or maybe it's just that I've been saying gif for nearly 20 years and I can't change now.

(PS. OMG elizardbits came home.)
posted by elsietheeel at 8:19 AM on April 23, 2013


Alison Brie is wonderful in this interview.

(And it's most definitely soft G.)
posted by Rhomboid at 8:35 AM on April 23, 2013 [2 favorites]


And it's most definitely soft G

Nope nope nope nope. All that tells you is that the people who created it wanted it to be pronounced jif. But fuck them; they're wrong because it isn't, because great justice.

If I create a new product and call it "Wossname," I don't get to insist that it's actually pronounced "thingamabob." Not without being, as the kids say, totes cray cray.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 8:55 AM on April 23, 2013 [2 favorites]


I don't know, guys, looks to me like it's pronounced both ways.
posted by mokin at 9:12 AM on April 23, 2013 [2 favorites]


Metafilter Lesson of the Day: Debate over GIF pronunciation > Allison Brie.


...

I suppose what we need is a video of Brie debating with herself, Gollum/Smeagol style, over the pronunciation of GIF.
posted by Atreides at 9:12 AM on April 23, 2013 [2 favorites]




Clark Gregg - Mild Drug Use
posted by The Whelk at 9:18 AM on April 23, 2013


/me thinks Alison Brie should star in a remake of Multiplicity. Only then could a film even begin to have sufficient Alison Brie.
posted by George_Spiggott at 9:28 AM on April 23, 2013


how you pronounce SQL is where we seperate the grownups from the kids.

I pronounce it "sequel" when talking to certain Microsoft-world guys because that's how they pronounce it. Including the ones over 50.
posted by Pruitt-Igoe at 9:57 AM on April 23, 2013


SQueaL
posted by George_Spiggott at 10:07 AM on April 23, 2013


An acronym is not the same as the words it stands for, so this whole "graphics has a hard G so GIF must too" line of reasoning is complete nonsense. As already pointed out, no one seems to object to the fact that the sound of P in JPEG (from "Photographic") is changed, unless you're telling me that you say "jay-feg". And that's far from the only example. How do you pronounce the acronym ACID? Remember, the C is from "consistency", so if you're not saying "ack - id" you're apparently wrong. And what about CERT (Computer Emergency Response Team), are you telling me that you say "kurt" instead of a word that sounds like certificate? How about CMOS (Complementary Metal-Oxide Semiconductor) where the universally accepted pronunciation is "see moss" not "kuh-moss". Or PARC (Palo Alto Research Center), where the C changes from soft to hard. The first C in CISC changes from a hard C of "complex" to a soft C of "sisk", and the second C in CAPTCHA turns from a hard C of "computers" to a soft "ch". NOC has its soft C from "center" turned into a hard C when spoken as an acronym, as does ASIC (application-specific integrated circuit), which is pronounced "a-sick". We pronounce JAG with a hard G even though it stands for "General" with a soft G, and likewise for GATT. CIPA is pronounced "see-pa" even though the C stands for "Congenital". The C in CUNY changes from c in "city" to c in "cue". I'm sure you could find dozens more, but I don't have the time.

And these are just consonants. If you allow vowels to change in their pronunciation, then you can easily come up with hundreds of additional examples without much effort.

So this idea that the way a letter is pronounced in its original word must remain the same when an acronym is formed is just pure bunk. It's violated all the damn time. And moreover, the person that created this specifically made it as a pun on the name of the peanut butter, and there is absolutely no ambiguity as to how it was intended to be pronounced.

I get it -- you've been pronouncing it with a hard G all these years and you don't want to change. The soft G just sounds wrong. That's valid. You can continue in your hard G ways as far as I'm concerned, but don't try to justify it as being right, because that line of reasoning is just completely without merit.
posted by Rhomboid at 12:00 PM on April 23, 2013 [4 favorites]


Jif is peanut butter
posted by Cranberry at 12:05 PM on April 23, 2013


I get it -- you've been pronouncing it with a hard G all these years and you don't want to change

You don't get it! That's not why I pronounce it with a hard g. I pronounce it with a hard g because the soft g is for sycophants and products of incest.

As far as what the developers intend, fuck them. Compuserve probably intended it to actually be pronounced as "jiff tee emm all rights reserved we will totally sue you to oblivion for using our format and luckily no one will ever invent a new one what the fuck is a png."
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 12:30 PM on April 23, 2013


I look at it as:
- Identify the word or wordlike parts of the aronym. GIF itself is wordlike. CMOS is not, but you can split it into C and MOS. JPEG becomes J and PEG.
- For each word or wordlike part, are there several ways it could be pronounced? C is see; MOS is moss; J is jay; PEG is peg. GATT is pronounced how it is because the letter pairing of GA at the beginning of a word is a hard G. AG at the end of a word (JAG) works this way as well. Words ending in C (PARC, CISC, NOC and ASIC) have a hard C sound. CA and CU at the beginning of a word (CAPTCHA and CUNY) is a hard C. CI (CISC) is a soft C. But GIF is clearly ambiguous (ginger and gift), so the One Right Way* is to default to the G sound in the first word of the acronym.

* Not really
posted by Pruitt-Igoe at 12:33 PM on April 23, 2013


More seriously:

arguing about gif pronunciation is almost as much fun as arguing about barbecue*, so that's never going away.

But seriously, how the developer intended it to be pronounced is just not relevant because (a) they can be wrong about things, or can choose names/abbreviations/acronyms that don't really make much sense**, and (b) this sort of thing too highly correlated with what marketing lawyers want you to say, and [yosemitesam] oooooooh I hates them [/yosemitesam]


*Either NC style is correct. Other pulled pork styles are acceptable but deprecated.
**I will admit that this includes TeX and LaTeX.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 12:38 PM on April 23, 2013


Pulled pork? I thought we were talking about barbecue.
posted by malthusan at 12:50 PM on April 23, 2013


Back on topic, though, those Alison Brie jifs are adorable.
posted by forgetful snow at 11:22 PM on April 23, 2013


Let's not start talking about JIFs or things will really get confusing.
posted by stopgap at 9:11 AM on April 24, 2013 [1 favorite]


Folks, from Rhomboid's link, the actual inventors of the format had this to say, emphasis mine:
The GIF (Graphics Interchange Format), pronounced "JIF", was designed by CompuServe and the official specification released in June of 1987.
The people who invented it get to say how it's pronounced. They say jif.

Like it or not, it's jif. Hard-g giffers are wrong, now and for all time.
posted by Malor at 9:40 AM on April 24, 2013


Malor fails to read the thread.
posted by shakespeherian at 9:52 AM on April 24, 2013 [1 favorite]


The people who invented it get to say how it's pronounced.

And that is why to this day everybody agrees that the chemical symbol Al stands for alumium.
posted by Sys Rq at 10:04 AM on April 24, 2013 [1 favorite]


The people who invented it get to say how it's pronounced.

So if they had insisted that "gif" was pronounced "throatwarblermangrove" or "thereisnogodbutgodandmohammedishisprophet" or "IbeingofsoundminddoherebyirrevocablygiftallmypropertytoCompuserveInc," you'd just do that?
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 10:21 AM on April 24, 2013 [1 favorite]


We can all agree that they're called Gee-Pegs? Right?
posted by drezdn at 10:23 AM on April 24, 2013


You guys must be a real hit at parties:
"Hi, my name is ta-MAR-a, nice to meet you!"

"Hi there TAM-er-a. So, what do you do?"

"I'm sorry, did you not just hear me pronounce my name? It's ta-MAR-a if you don't mind. I've currently in school studying--"

"I'm afraid I have to stop you there. I once knew someone with your name, and it was TAM-er-a. So, I think I know what I'm talking about here."

"Other people can call themselves whatever they want, but my name is ta-MAR-a, if you don't mind."

"Actually, I think you're more of a Tammy. So, what do you study, Tammy?"

*drink splashes face*
posted by Rhomboid at 11:32 AM on April 24, 2013


Rhomboid just so you know bitmap formats are not really your friends. Don't believe their lies.
posted by shakespeherian at 11:38 AM on April 24, 2013


There's clearly no precedent for pronouncing "gif" as "throatwarblermangrove", but similar words like "gin" and "gist" are pronounced with a soft "g". "Jif" should be well within your range of expectations of how to pronounce "GIF." (And as others have demonstrated the acronym argument is obvious, specious bullshit.)
posted by en forme de poire at 1:06 PM on April 24, 2013 [1 favorite]


An Allison Brie thread derailed by a pronunciation argument...

Metafilter is the Anti-Reddit.
posted by Gordafarin at 12:57 PM on April 26, 2013 [3 favorites]


« Older 100% Prime   |   Life is a little like lion-taming, wouldn’t you... Newer »


This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments