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   GIF Creator Says 'Jif,' Once Again

   Glenn Fleishman

   It is remarkable how much ire can be raised when one stakes a
   controversial position on an issue of the day. No, I'm not talking
   about guns, taxes, government wiretapping, or a political party. I'm
   [1]talking about GIF.

   The Graphics Interchange Format (GIF) was invented at CompuServe in
   1987 by Steve Wilhite. Wilhite has been out of the public eye for many
   years (he retired in 2001), but apparently was tracked down by the
   Webby Awards who [2]gave him a lifetime achievement award.

   He spoke to Amy O'Leary at the New York Times [3]about the long-running
   controversy. In short, right-minded people follow his lead. He told
   O'Leary, 'The Oxford English Dictionary accepts both pronunciations.
   They are wrong. It is a soft 'G,' pronounced 'jif.' End of story.' The
   rest of you lot insist that the word graphic in the GIF name means it's
   a hard G sound.

   Way back in the before time, in 1997, when TidBITS briefly pupped
   NetBITS (run by your intrepid editor), we provided a definitive
   explanation that proved out today to be as accurate as we always
   thought it was: '[4]It's 'Jiff' and I Don't Want to Hear Another Word.'

   Now I'm off for a ride on my giraffe while drinking a gin and tonic.
   G'day.

References

   1. http://www.economist.com/blogs/babbage/2013/02/internet-lore
   2. http://winners.webbyawards.com/2013/special-achievement
   3. http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/05/21/an-honor-for-the-creator-of-the-gif/
   4. http://tidbits.com/article/4495

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