The fact that this conversation exists is proof that the word is intuitively pronounced with a hard G.
The only reason to pronounce it like a J if because the creator liked it - and the reason he liked it was literally because of the (copyright-infringing) similarity to the peanut butter.
He made a huge contribution to the Internet by creating the format, and he deserves it gratitude. Mispronouncing gif is not the best approach to that.
Except in gift which is the linguistically closest word to gif
Also, don’t misunderstand English: as the hybrid of two very different language sources (Germanic and Latin - among many others since), there are basically no rules that don’t have exceptions.
gif. With a hard g, because there is also .jiff and you could not distinguish otherwise.
The fact that this conversation exists is proof that the word is intuitively pronounced with a hard G.
The only reason to pronounce it like a J if because the creator liked it - and the reason he liked it was literally because of the (copyright-infringing) similarity to the peanut butter.
He made a huge contribution to the Internet by creating the format, and he deserves it gratitude. Mispronouncing gif is not the best approach to that.
Its actually a rule of the English language that g followed by i is a soft g.
Except in gift which is the linguistically closest word to gif
Also, don’t misunderstand English: as the hybrid of two very different language sources (Germanic and Latin - among many others since), there are basically no rules that don’t have exceptions.
gin
Gin is closer to gif than gift?