Steve Wilhite, father of the Graphics Interchange Format, has ended the heated debate on how to pronounce "GIF."
Wilhite, then working at CompuServe, debuted the file format in June 1987. He accepted a lifetime achievement award Tuesday at the Webby Awards for his creation.
Instead of giving a vocal acceptance speech, he flashed a GIF on the big screens:
"It's pronounced JIF, not GIF." ~ Steve Wilhite, the father of GIFs. Well that's settled. #Webbys— Brian A. Hernandez (@BAHjournalist) May 22, 2013
"It's pronounced JIF, not GIF," read his acceptance speech, which adhered to the ceremony's five-word speech limit.
The GIF celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2012, the same year GIF was crowned "Word of the Year" by the Oxford American Dictionary.
The Webby Awards will broadcast to the public on May 22 at 9 a.m. ET.
BONUS: A Stop-Motion History of the GIF
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