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President Obama pronounces "GIF" with a hard "g" (i.e. incorrectly), according to a video released by the White House late last night. While meeting with Tumblr founder David Karp on Wednesday, the President had the misplaced courage to correct the internet guy's pronunciation of the acronym. The two were, presumably, discussing this GIF of a fist bump.
The relevant portion starts at the 4 minute mark:
"Did you see the GIF?" Karp asks Obama, using the proper "jif" pronunciation. Obama replies, "A GIF [hard g]. I'm all on top of it." Karp asks, "So you've made up our mind, it's GIF [hard g]?" The president quips, "It is. That is my official position. I've pondered it a long time."
As we've explained before, GIF is pronounced "jif," with a soft G, like the peanut butter brand. But people are still arguing about it for some reason:
It is Gif. Like Gifford. Anyone who says that G should be soft should be eating Freedom Fries.
— John Podhoretz (@jpodhoretz) June 13, 2014
Barack Obama mispronounced a critical word in an embarrassing way. Good thing he's not up for reelection. http://t.co/dHdPXD1JS9 via @thefix
— Philip Bump (@pbump) June 13, 2014
Hi @ChrisChristie, how do you pronounce "GIF"?
— Chris Moody (@moody) June 13, 2014This article is from the archive of our partner The Wire.
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