Dear Steve Wilhite,
First of all, I’d like to congratulate you on your recent Webby Lifetime Achievement Award. The GIF is a huge part of the Internet today and has definitely changed the way people interact online.
Secondly, I’d like to let you know that just because you decreed that it’s pronounced “jif,” won't stop me from pronouncing GIF as “gif.” Let me explain why.
Simply put, language evolves. It’s a constantly-changing terrain, and no one – including you – has the power to control it. This means that even though you intended it to be pronounced “jif” from the get-go, the fact that the word has developed dual pronunciations is something that is out of your hands.
The debate over the pronunciation of GIF is nothing new. It isn’t the first word to spawn an extra pronunciation, nor will it be the last.
"Aunt," to take a classic example, is pronounced both “ant” and “ont,” and as far as I’m aware, the descendant of whoever first used the word back in the 13th century hasn't issued a verdict that only one of these pronunciations is correct. Even if someone did suddenly make a blanket statement that “ant” is the only way to pronounce aunt, I highly doubt everyone who’s been saying it as “ont” would suddenly switch to “ant.” Wouldn’t you agree?
There is also a slew of other words in the English language that have dual pronunciations, and I think we can both acknowledge that “toe-may-toe” and “toe-mah-toe” both signify a tomato.
Then there’s also the fact that people pronounce my name in two completely different ways, and I accept both as correct.
When my parents named me Inhye, the intended pronunciation was not “In-hey.” In fact, it’s not even close to the original pronunciation. Yet “In-hey” is what my friends, professors and colleagues call me. Family members and certain family friends pronounce my name the way it was originally intended, but I recognize both as legitimate pronunciations of my name. I’ve never thought of “In-hey” as being an incorrect way to say my name – and let me assure you, there are plenty of ways to incorrectly pronounce Inhye, which include, but are not limited to, “In-hi,” “In-hee” and bizarrely enough “Anya.” “In-hey” just became a natural development in the way people pronounced Inhye. Even though it’s not the original pronunciation, it’s still right. By the same logic, even though “gif” isn’t the original way to say GIF, it’s not wrong.
Ultimately, I feel that if I can live with the fact that there are two completely different ways to say my name, you can accept the fact that people will pronounce GIF as both “jif” and “gif.”
Sincerely,
Inhye Lee