Sometimes you just look at a thing that suddenly exists and ask yourself âHoly shit, why didnât someone think of this sooner?â So when I booted up Twitter this morning and saw a peanut butter jar with âGIFâ written on the side, my jaw dropped because⌠holy shit, why didnât someone think of this sooner?
If you've ever called a GIF a JIFâŚwe forgive you!!!!
âŚbut, so it never happens again, we've made some GIFs (and a collectible jar) with @JIF to clear things up
#JIFvsGIFâĄď¸https://t.co/oaWr8yTdVN pic.twitter.com/HTyl9McPpa
â GIPHY (@GIPHY) February 25, 2020
This jar is a collaboration between Giphy, the website where you go for GIFÂ content, and Jif, the peanut butter company, in honor of National Peanut Butter Day on March 1 (no, I hadnât marked it on my calendar either). Itâs Jifâs signature product, with a label wrapped around the side that tells you how to pronounce the two different words â or word and acronym, however you want to look at it. Giphyâs side, the âGif,â says itâs a hard g, or a âguhâ sound, while the Jif side is a soft g or âjuhâ pronunciation.
[Read:Â Donât miss Vimeo, Giphy, and Snapchat at TNW2020]
So there you go, debate solved, right? The lid of the jar even says âIf youâve ever called a GIF a âJif,â we forgive you.â Iâm sure the person who invented the Gif, Steven Wilhite â who pronounces it with a soft g â will graciously accept your mercy, Jif.
Needless to say, Iâm sure the definitive pronunciation is influenced at least somewhat by Jif not wanting their product to be confused with the staple of internet humor. While Iâm sure it wouldnât exactly hurt the peanut butter company â which has existed by that name for over fifty years â there is such a thing as brand confusion. Rebecca Schiedler, Jifâs head of marketing, basically said as much on the release: âWeâre teaming up with GIPHY to put a lid on this decade-long debate and prove there is only one Jif⌠itâs creamy, delicious peanut butter, not a looping picture you can send to make friends and family laugh,â she said, which seems rather insistent to me.
A burning question answered at last by GIF inventor Steve Wilhite accepting Webby Lifetime Achievement Award #webbys pic.twitter.com/WLrvQVJbVP
â Time Out New York (@TimeOutNewYork) May 22, 2013
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This is a little amusing since anecdotal evidence suggests that Wilhite chose this pronunciation specifically to echo the name of the peanut butter. The GIF pronunciation page says some of the people who originally used the format would say âChoosy websites choose GIF,â a take on Jifâs own slogan from my childhood: âChoosy moms choose Jif.â
Then again, thereâs an equally fervent party â with a similarly named website, no less â that argues it should be pronounced with a hard g because itâs short for Graphics Interchange Format. Thatâs also a valid argument, as far as Iâm concerned. So⌠yeah, this debate isnât settled, is it?
If you want to buy yourself a jar, you can find it on Amazon here. Theyâre still in stock at the time of this writing.
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