Before we begin
The Preface
Simply stated, the proper pronunciation of the acronym GIF is with a ‘soft g’ sound. As in, ”it is a gigantic waste of your time to try and debate me on this, because I’ve worked out all the angles.”
The most common arguments for the ‘hard g’ pronunciation are listed below. But first, some practice in remembering just how the English language works when it comes to the letter g.
Two types of ‘g words’
There’s the ‘hard g’ and the ‘soft g’
Soft G
- gene/dʒ/
- geology/dʒ/
- generic/dʒ/
- giant/dʒ/
- giraffe/dʒ/
- gym/dʒ/
- gyroscope/dʒ/
Hard G
- game/ɡ/
- gas/ɡ/
- gate/ɡ/
- goal/ɡ/
- gone/ɡ/
- gut/ɡ/
- gun/ɡ/
Notice a pattern? No? It’s hard, but it’s there…
Two types of vowels
The vowel determines which type of g sound is used.
Front Vowels (I, E, Y)
When placed before a Front Vowel, the ‘g’ is pronounced as a ‘soft g’ as in gin, gem, and gym.
Non-front Vowels (A, O, U)
When placed before a Non-front Vowel, the ‘g’ is pronounced as a ‘hard g’ as in game, goal, and gun.
How many exceptions are there to the soft g rule?
Not nearly as many as you probably hope.
English Words vs. G Words
24,000+
There are over 1,000,000 words in the English language. A little more than 24,000 of them start with the letter g.
2.4% of the total
Soft G Rule Exceptions
61
Of the 24,000 g words only about 61 of them are an exception to the ‘soft g’ rule.
0.25% of the total
Argument #1
“It’s Graphics Interchange Format…” Is not a good argument.
NASA
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
- By the letters
- ‘neh-sa’
- Everyone says
- ‘na-suh’
If you used the words that make up the acronym it would be pronounced ‘neh-sa’ as opposed to the common pronunciation, ‘na-suh’.
IMAX
Image Maximum
- By the letters
- ‘ih-max’
- Everyone says
- ‘eye-max’
If you used the words that make up the acronym it would be pronounced ‘ih-max’ rather than the commonly accepted pronunciation, ‘eye-max’.
JPEG
Joint Photographic Experts Group
- By the letters
- ‘jeg’
- Everyone says
- ‘jay-peg’
If you used the words that make up the acronym it would be pronounced ‘jeg’ or ‘jfeg’ (because the ‘p’ in Photographic is silent) as opposed to the common pronunciation, ‘jay-peg’.
NATO
North Atlantic Treaty Organization
- By the letters
- ‘nat-o’
- Everyone says
- ‘nay-toh’
If you used the words that make up the acronym it would be pronounced ‘nat-o’ as opposed to the common pronunciation of ‘nay-toh’.
SCUBA
Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus
- By the letters
- ‘skuh-ba’
- Everyone says
- ‘skoo-buh’
If you used the words that make up the acronym it would be pronounced ‘skuh-ba’ as opposed to common pronunciation, ‘skoo-buh’.
SWAT
Special Weapons And Tactics
- By the letters
- ‘swat (rhymes with cat)’
- Everyone says
- ‘swawt (rhymes with not)’
If you used the words that make up the acronym it would be pronounced ‘swat’ (rhymes with cat) as opposed to common pronunciation ‘swawt’ (rhymes with not).
DARE
Drug Abuse Resistance Education
- By the letters
- ‘duhre’
- Everyone says
- ‘dair (rhymes with care)’
If you used the words that make up the acronym it would be pronounced ‘duhre’ as opposed to common pronunciation ‘dair’ (rhymes with care).
SIM
Subscriber Identification Module
- By the letters
- ‘sime (rhymes with time)’
- Everyone says
- ‘sym (rhymes with Tim)’
If you used the words that make up the acronym it would be pronounced ‘sime’ (rhymes with time) rather than common pronunciation ‘sym’ (rhymes with Tim).
MAGA
Make America Great Again
- By the letters
- ‘muh-guh’
- Everyone says
- ‘ma-guh (rhymes with ‘tag a’)’
If you used the words that make up the acronym it would be pronounced ‘muh-guh’ rather than common pronunciation ‘ma-guh’ (rhymes with ‘tag a’).
Argument #2
“It’s just like the word gift,” is not a good argument.
Think about Thought Though
The words thought and though are spelled exactly the same. Just remove the ‘t’ from thought and you have though.
Nobody will disagree that the pronunciation of the vowel part of the word changes from a ‘aw’ sound (‘thawt’) to an ‘o’ sound (‘tho’).
But the g in GIF is a consonant, and consonants don’t change their sound.
For those not trained in phonetics, you may not notice there is a change of consonant sound when going from thought to though.
Let’s take a look at phonetic pronunciation
Using the Standard Phonetic Alphabet.
Thought
θóːtThe ‘th’ sound, represented by the θ symbol, is a “soft th” sound. It is the same sound used in words such as therapy, thorough, and three.
Though
ðə́wThe ‘th’ sound, represented by the ð symbol, is a “hard th” sound. It is the same sound used in words such as then, there, and they.
Argument #3
There’s potential for confusion. Being considerate of others is cool.
“I sent you a gift, did you get it?”
Verbal communication can be hard when you’re using words that sound exactly alike.
Say this phrase out loud (with a hard ‘g’ sound):
“Did you get my gif?”
It’s easy for someone to think you said “gift” and misinterpret what you’re asking. But if you were to say it with a soft g there would be no question what you’re talking about.
For the Lip-Readers and Hearing Impaired
For those with hearing impairments and rely on reading lips for communication, pronouncing gif with a hard g will undoubtedly be misinterpreted.
Our mouths move the same way with the word “gift” since the final ‘t’ sound in the word is made with our tongue behind our teeth. So the former argument made is an inescapable reality when it comes to lip-reading.
Argument #4
The guy who created it said so. The end.
My hypothetical daughter
Let’s pretend I had a daughter and named her Selah. When people first see her name they may pronounce it ‘sell-ah’. That would be incorrect. I would kindly correct them saying that it’s pronounced ‘say-lah’ and that would be the end of it.
They don’t argue with me on the pronunciation. And if they do, I just write them off as a self-absorbed, crazy, narcissistic weirdo.
The Final Word
“Choosy developers choose GIF.”
(pronounced with a soft g)