OMG, don't you just HATE the Gif'ing out commercial...

rachaelsscraps

rachaelsscraps

New member
It's driving me NUTS!!! I wish someone would've told Kmart that it's pronounced like "Jif" peanut butter, not GGGiifff, like "gift" without the f... before they launched the ad campaign..
I hate that commercial, I wish I didn't use tv as background noise while I work at night. Ugh, time to just listen to music instead, LOL... Anyone else HATE that commercial?
....And Kmart took off their Jingle Bells one.. :glare:
 
rachaelsscraps said:
It's driving me NUTS!!! I wish someone would've told Kmart that it's pronounced like "Jif" peanut butter, not GGGiifff, like "gift" without the f... before they launched the ad campaign..
I hate that commercial, I wish I didn't use tv as background noise while I work at night. Ugh, time to just listen to music instead, LOL... Anyone else HATE that commercial?
....And Kmart took off their Jingle Bells one.. :glare:
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However, logic says it IS pronouned as GIF. The G stands fro GRAPHICS. It's a known controversy and there's not a right answer, because there are good arguments for both. I'm a linguist and I've never had any doubts it's a G as in gift. But I do get where you come from, as I said, there are arguments for the other option, too. But no 100% right answer, it'd say both are correct.
 
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oh that would be hugely annoying... I haven't seen those Kmart commercials - we don't have many around here and I don't really see them advertise much... however, this is like when they use out of state ad agencies for local commercials and they butcher town name... granted they are old Indian words... but you would think that who ever commissioned the commercial would listen to it before sending it out... :)
 
Most annoying commercial ever!!! :p And, I will admit that I sometimes say gif instead of Jif so that's not even the most annoying part for me.
 
I say gif like gift too. I have a friend who says jif and it makes me crazy. I dont care that the creator says it's pronounced jif either, he's wrong.

Haven't seen the commercial, but had to weigh in LOL.
 
The inventor of the GIF pronounces it as Jif and "put the topic to rest", so he says. Lol though the debate continues.

I insist on Jif because that's what I've learned in computer classes since I was 12.

Tomato- tom-ah-to I guess. :)
 
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rachaelsscraps said:
The inventor of the GIF pronounces it as Jif and "put the topic to rest", so he says. Lol though the debate continues.

I insist on Jif because that's what I've learned in computer classes since I was 12.

Tomato- tom-ah-to I guess. :)
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He is, however, no linguist, and has no idea about language. Sorry. Both are correct.
 
I haven't seen the commercials, but I've never heard it pronounced as 'jif'...that would really bug me! LOL
 
I've never seen the commercial, but I didn't even know there was a debate. I've never heard or said anything but Gif (gift).
 
I never realized it was a debate either. I say it with a g. Also, don't shoot me, but I think it's a funny commercial. lol
 
Wow that is so weird! Everyone I know says it with a j.. even my brother and his professors. He went to MCLA for film and has been producing a show with NatGeo all summer.. they all say it with a j too.. weird.

But either way I hate that commercial! LOL
 
I had a professor in college who was militant about it being called JIF and I never understood it. So, although I say GIF (as in gift) I've always felt like I'm probably saying it wrong. Good to know I'm not the only one who thinks that should be the way it's pronounced. I hereby switch to GIF... No guilt. ;)
 
Why does it matter what the g stands for, as far as pronunciation of the acronym? I get the argument that, well, it's spelled like gift without a t, so it should be said like gift without a t. That makes sense. But caring what the g stands for doesn't make any sense. We say "jay peg" for JPEG even though the p stands for photo. We say "ping" for PNG even though the /ng/ sound is definitely not the same as an /n/ sound and a /g/ sound. We say a long /e/ in PETA even though "ethical" starts with a short /e/. If anyone said the a in SCUBA the way they say it in apparatus (not to mention a short u like in underwater), they'd probably be laughed at. I can't think of any acronyms where anyone cares what the letters stand for before saying it. They just pronounce it the way it looks as if it's a word.
 
Having never actually said the word out loud, it doesn't bother me. Although I do pronounce it like gif[t]in my head. :)
 
lorryfach said:
Why does it matter what the g stands for, as far as pronunciation of the acronym? I get the argument that, well, it's spelled like gift without a t, so it should be said like gift without a t. That makes sense. But caring what the g stands for doesn't make any sense. We say "jay peg" for JPEG even though the p stands for photo. We say "ping" for PNG even though the /ng/ sound is definitely not the same as an /n/ sound and a /g/ sound. We say a long /e/ in PETA even though "ethical" starts with a short /e/. If anyone said the a in SCUBA the way they say it in apparatus (not to mention a short u like in underwater), they'd probably be laughed at. I can't think of any acronyms where anyone cares what the letters stand for before saying it. They just pronounce it the way it looks as if it's a word.
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I totally agree :)

SK-UHH-BAH!! HAHAHA Can you imagine if people did say it like that, LOL They would get looked at weird!
 
This conversation makes me giggle. I had no idea people got worked up about this kind of stuff, lol.

I, however, say "g.i.f" I spell it out. It sounds awkward eithe way to me.
 
Oh my gosh - the Kmart commercials absolutely drive me nuts!! although the jingle bells one kind of surprised me and actually had to rewind it to make sure I saw what I saw....wow!
 
This thread is so funny. :)

I say... geeee. IIIIIIII. efffffffffffffff. (sounding out each letter separately), but would likely say gif over jif if I put any thought behind it.
 
No idea it was such a hot topic. Phonetically, a G that is followed by I or E most often uses its soft pronunciation. There are words where a U is added before the I or E to give it a hard G sound. So, I can definitely see how we might say JIF.

I, however, have always said it with the hard G.
 
I vary rarely use the term, but the times I've heard it pronounced have always been "jiff". I haven't seen the commercials because I watch very, very little TV and when I do, I usually don't pay close attention to the commercials.
 
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