The Internet (and by the Internet, I mean "Twitter") erupted into a cacophonous fit of righteous fury last night when the creator of the "GIF" file format strenuously denounced the OED for suggesting that GIF could be pronounced with either a soft or a hard g.
[Steve Wilhite] is proud of the GIF, but remains annoyed that there is still any debate over the pronunciation of the format.
"The Oxford English Dictionary accepts both pronunciations," Mr. Wilhite said. "They are wrong. It is a soft ‘G,’ pronounced ‘jif.’ End of story."
Of course, when someone says "end of story" it is never actually the end of the story. If it was the end of the story, you wouldn't have to announce it; the story would be over, the fight settled, the victor declared, etc. The fight is not over. Wilhite and his ilk are losing. And they should. Because GIF is pronounced with a hard g.
I'm generally a stickler for definitions and spellings. Count me in the Dwight Macdonald* camp in this regard:
It is felt that it is snobbish to insist on making discriminations—the very word has acquired a Jim Crow flavor—about usage. And it is assumed that true democracy means that the majority is right. This feeling seems to me sentimental and this assumption unfounded.
That comes from Macdonald's classic essay on the third edition of the Webster's unabridged dictionary, which underwent a massive revision in the early part of the last century and did great damage to the English language. Of course, we're not talking about a definition—no one is suggesting that a GIF is anything but a file format that displays an image that moves and repeats—but a pronunciation. And pronunciations of words have always varied.
Now, I can already hear you complaining: This isn't a question of dialect! But it is, kind of. Wilhite's invention has passed from techies who demand things be done a certain way, all the time, without deviation to the general public. And the general public cares not if he thinks "GIF" should be pronounced "jiff"—just as the general public cares not if the Klingon homeworld should be spelled "Qo'nos" or "Kronos."
Frankly, I almost think the OED was too generous in its suggestion that "GIF" can also be pronounced "jiff." No one pronounces it that way except for pedants. So Wilhite? Buddy? I got a gif for you:
*This is, I believe, the third time in the last month or so that I've cited Macdonald. If you can't tell, I'm working my way through this collection and events continue to occur that give me reason to cite the long-dead socialist. The universe is synchronizing in weird ways. I'm not sure I approve.