Mashable reports that Steve Wilhite, the inventor of GIF (Graphics Interchange Format), during the lifetime achievement ceremony insisted that it’s pronounced “JIF”, not “GIF”.
[rant mode on]What?! “GIF” is not “GIF, but “JIF”? Non-sense! It’s give, not jive. Girls, not jirls. Gift, not jift. And even if he believes that that’s the correct way to pronounce it, how irresponsible is that to attract attention to this issue now? It’s just like throwing a barrel of petrol into the pronunciation holy war flames of GNU, Gnome, Gimp, and other pillars of Open Source Software.[rant mode off]