"The Oxford English Dictionary accepts both pronunciations," Wilhite said, referring to pronunciations of GIF with a hard or soft 'g'. "They are wrong. It is a soft 'G', pronounced 'jif'. End of story."
Wilhite's extreme stance — revealed during an interview about his acceptance of a lifetime achievement Webby Award — is an odd way to pay the Oxford folks back for making 'GIF' the Word Of The Year in 2012.
Wilhite's declaration came down from on high just hours ago, and Twitter is already awash with devastated hard 'g' enthusiasts.
Look at Steve Wilhite. LOOK AT HIM. I wonder if he pronounces glasses as 'jlasses', the contrary jit. #gifgate twitter.com/FantonEsquire/…
— FantonEsquire (@FantonEsquire) May 21, 2013
@macon44 Steve Wilhite, father of the GIF, says it's pronounced "jiff". The people demand answers #GIFGate
— Greg Ferenstein (@ferenstein) May 22, 2013
All this Hard-G #GIFgate scandal is a ploy to distract the public from the real truth: that JPEG is pronounced 'Jpedge' #TheTruthIsOutThere
— soft science (@_SoftScience) May 22, 2013
Next up: Jogging really is pronounced with a soft "J." #gifgate #yogging
— Jonah Goldberg (@JonahNRO) May 21, 2013
I bet childhood friends of GIF creator Steve Wilhite got real confused when he played G.I. Joe with them. #gifgate
— Jeff Sites (@XControlled) May 22, 2013
If they had wanted Gif with a "j" sound they should have come up with an acronym that started with J #hardG #gifgate
— Chris McClure (@chrisjmcclure) May 21, 2013
And mine. We will fight them on the beaches... RT @jessica_alice_ You can pry the hard-G GIF from my cold, dead hands. #gifgate
— Aaron Matthews (@interestingdan) May 21, 2013
My gunior high school years would’ve been jreat if more jirls would’ve been interested in joing out with me. #gifgate
— Jeff Sites (@XControlled) May 21, 2013
We asked a number of celebrities what they thought of the news; reactions have been mixed.
