this post was submitted on 27 Nov 2023
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[–] themeatbridge@lemmy.world 15 points 11 months ago (37 children)

"Jif" is the original pronunciation. It is a pun, a play on the word "jif" short for "jiffy" meaning a short amount of time, as in "I'll send it to you in a gif". The newer pronunciation has become popular based on the fallacious reasoning that an acronym should be pronounced the same as its constituent words, which isn't a thing at all.

Language evolves, and both pronunciations are common enough to be considered acceptable. The only way to be wrong about how to pronounce the word is to claim one of the pronunciations is wrong.

[–] Doug@midwest.social 48 points 11 months ago (22 children)

Become popular? It's been popular roughly for the lifespan of the format. It's hardly language's fault the developer wanted to make an unfunny reference to a since forgotten peanut butter slogan.

On the other hand linguistics indicate a hard g sound with the construction of the word, constituent words aside. Plenty of four letter words starting with the gi combo have a hard g, including but not limited to gift which you may notice is very similarly constructed.

Whatever else the English language may throw at us, people appreciate consistency because we can make some sense of the world. A hard g is the consistent, predictable, sensible choice for the limited availability of those virtues English offers.

[–] imalemmy@iusearchlinux.fyi 8 points 11 months ago (1 children)

an unfunny reference to a since forgotten peanut butter slogan.

Yep. Jiffy is only used for peanut butter. Great point!

[–] Doug@midwest.social 3 points 11 months ago

You can find plenty of places where the claim is that it's a soft g because "choosey devs choose gif".

Where jiffy is used is irrelevant in that case.

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