Jif really wants you to stop pronouncing GIF like its peanut butter

The company is teaming with Giphy to launch limited-edition peanut butter jars with GIF printed across the front.

No one, it seems, wants to put to rest the debate over how to pronounce "GIF" more than peanut butter maker Jif. At least, that's the message the company is putting across by teaming up with search engine Giphy in an attempt to settle, once and for all, how to say the name of the looping videos shared widely across the internet.

To drive the point home, Jif on Tuesday said it's releasing a limited run of peanut butter jars labeled "GIF," which sell for around $10 on Amazon. The aim is to drill home that GIF is pronounced with a hard G sound, rather than a soft one like the peanut butter.

"With a tongue-in-cheek label, these collectibles can help Jif fans spread the news (get it?) that Jif -- with a 'soft G' -- should be all about the peanut butter," the companies said in a release. "If you've ever called a .GIF a Jif, we forgive you."

[www.cnet.com]


HOWEVER: This Week in Programming: Choosy Developers Choose GIF

“The creator of the GIF image format, Steve Wilhite of CompuServe, when deciding on the pronunciation, said he deliberately chose to echo the American peanut butter brand, Jif, and CompuServe employees would often say ‘Choosy developers choose GIF(jif)’, playing off of Jif’s television commercials. If you hear anyone pronounce GIF with a soft G, it’s because they know something of this history.”

[thenewstack.io]


This is all old news, except for the issuing of special edition peanut butter.

Fun marketing, but they're wrong.

They don't get to name what they didn't develop.

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We don’t do focus groups. They just ensure that you don’t offend anyone, and produce bland inoffensive products. —Sir Jonathan Ive

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And hope is a lousy defense.

You make me pull, I'll put you down.

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[www.youtube.com]

Pronounce it any way you want, but as debates go, it's JIF.

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I am that Masked Man.

Your boos mean nothing to me, I've seen what you cheer for.

Insisting on your rights without acknowledging your responsibilities isn’t freedom, it’s adolescence.

I've been to the edge of the map, and there be monsters.

We are a government of laws, not men.

Everybody counts or nobody counts.

When a good man is hurt,
all who would be called good
must suffer with him.

You and I have memories longer than the road that stretches out ahead.

There is no safety for honest men except
by believing all possible evil of evil men.

We don’t do focus groups. They just ensure that you don’t offend anyone, and produce bland inoffensive products. —Sir Jonathan Ive

An armed society is a polite society.
And hope is a lousy defense.

You make me pull, I'll put you down.

I *love* SIGs. It's Glocks I hate.

I think if i were Jif, I'd be thrilled to have my name mentioned (even if spelled wrong) every time someone posted a .gif somewhere. Even the conversation about it is invaluable marketing.

[howtoreallypronouncegif.com]

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Yeah, advocating for an incorrect pronunciation on something that isn't theirs...

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Especially since their peanut butter is crap.

What wurm said. It seems to me that constantly pronouncing GIF like JIF would be valuable, free subliminal advertising for JIF...but what do I know?

Quote
wurm
I think if i were Jif, I'd be thrilled to have my name mentioned (even if spelled wrong) every time someone posted a .gif somewhere. Even the conversation about it is invaluable marketing.

yeah, they don't care how it's pronounced as long as you buy it - this is pure marketing.

Yes - 'Call it what you want, but buy our collectable!'.

Yeah, no.

I'm not much of a peanut butter fan anyway.

I don't know if there's been any previous Jif PR of GIF, but my guess is there was some debate in Marketing HQ about which way to go to generate the most sales, and Gif vs Jif won out.

---

I am that Masked Man.

Your boos mean nothing to me, I've seen what you cheer for.

Insisting on your rights without acknowledging your responsibilities isn’t freedom, it’s adolescence.

I've been to the edge of the map, and there be monsters.

We are a government of laws, not men.

Everybody counts or nobody counts.

When a good man is hurt,
all who would be called good
must suffer with him.

You and I have memories longer than the road that stretches out ahead.

There is no safety for honest men except
by believing all possible evil of evil men.

We don’t do focus groups. They just ensure that you don’t offend anyone, and produce bland inoffensive products. —Sir Jonathan Ive

An armed society is a polite society.
And hope is a lousy defense.

You make me pull, I'll put you down.

I *love* SIGs. It's Glocks I hate.

"Graphics Interchange Format (GIF - JIF or GHIF)"

I pronounced it with the hard G when the format first came into common usage in the early 90s, and will continue to do so.

Marketing department having a bit of fun. I'll allow it.

I think the hard GIF should have crunchy peanuts, and soft JIF should be smooth.

I always preferred cashew butter, but a couple of years ago, the prices went into the stratosphere.

I pronounce it Jif. Too late to stop now.

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decay
[howtoreallypronouncegif.com]

This.

The first letter is an abbreviation of the word graphics. You can pronounce it JIF if you pronounce the base word jraphics.

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In tha 360. MRF User Map



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/25/2020 02:43PM by Filliam H. Muffman.

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btfc
Especially since their peanut butter is crap.

LOLOL Bingo! See also:

Especially since their peanut butter is hydrogenated crap.

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SteveO

Quote
btfc
Especially since their peanut butter is crap.

LOLOL Bingo! See also:

Especially since their peanut butter is hydrogenated crap.

I imagine "Choosy mothers hydrogenate their crap" did not go over well in the board presentation, so they went with the GIF thing.

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btfc
Especially since their peanut butter is crap.

This. Hard g gif for me from the first time I made one. Really dislike sugared hydrogenated Jif.

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=wr=

Quote
vision63
I pronounce it Jif. Too late to stop now.

I 'aint going to change either. It's not a big enough issue to be concerned with.

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Mr. Lahey: A lot of people, don’t know how to drink. They drink against the grain of the liquor. And when you drink against the grain of the liquor? You lose.

Randy: What the @#$%& are you talking about?

So far as I know, the guy who invented it says it's 'JIF'

JIF. Because that's how Steve pronounced it, and he named it. And I remember when it appeared on my Compuserve account.
Done.

"The creator of the GIF image format, Steve Wilhite of CompuServe, when deciding on the pronunciation, said he deliberately chose to echo the American peanut butter brand, Jif, and CompuServe employees would often say “Choosy developers choose GIF(jif)”, playing off of Jif’s television commercials. If you hear anyone pronounce GIF with a soft G, it’s because they know something of this history. If the Jif peanut butter company never existed, he would have never pronounced GIF with a soft G.

Speaking of Steve Wilhite, when he explains the pronunciation of GIF, he himself has to explicitly write, “It’s pronounced ‘JIF’.” He has to explain it this way because it goes against how it would naturally be pronounced."

I'll buy natural, non-sugared peanut butter in a jiffy.

You could gift it to me, too.

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And you know gift=poison?

Gee-Eye-Eff...
==

I don’t care what Steve Wilhite wants nor will I be held pronunciation prisoner by his abysmal taste in peanut butter.

Hard g.

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=wr=

I've tried the "gourmet" peanut butters, and I've even made my own. It doesn't taste any different to me than the cheapest store brand generic peanut butter. YMMV of course, but this is what I believe.

I avoid peanut butter with hydrogenated oils and sweeteners.

Especially palm oil.

[www.independent.co.uk]

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JIF. Because that's how Steve pronounced it, and he named it. And I remember when it appeared on my Compuserve account.
Done.


Agreed.

At least it's not his last name, as in Chevrolet.

I've known a few people over the years who pronounced it 'chevrolette - because there's a t at the end'.

No examples of other words they used and didn't apply that 'rule' to would change there minds.

Maybe they got in the habit of saying one way and refused to change.

In the end, I think they were probably Ford guys.

---

I am that Masked Man.

Your boos mean nothing to me, I've seen what you cheer for.

Insisting on your rights without acknowledging your responsibilities isn’t freedom, it’s adolescence.

I've been to the edge of the map, and there be monsters.

We are a government of laws, not men.

Everybody counts or nobody counts.

When a good man is hurt,
all who would be called good
must suffer with him.

You and I have memories longer than the road that stretches out ahead.

There is no safety for honest men except
by believing all possible evil of evil men.

We don’t do focus groups. They just ensure that you don’t offend anyone, and produce bland inoffensive products. —Sir Jonathan Ive

An armed society is a polite society.
And hope is a lousy defense.

You make me pull, I'll put you down.

I *love* SIGs. It's Glocks I hate.