70% of People Worldwide Pronounce 'GIF' With a Hard 'G'

 By 
Stephanie Buck
 on 
70% of People Worldwide Pronounce 'GIF' With a Hard 'G'
Credit: Image: Mashable composite.​ Getty Creative

You can't imagine how painful it was to write this headline. For those of us who are correct human beings, our brain juices boil to hear that hard "G." And don't throw Obama in our faces; he's not the inventor of the GIF, after all.

Regardless of what's right, 70% of the world pronounces it "ghif."

Mashable partnered with Column Five to poll 30,000 people from 191 countries about how to pronounce six divisive tech terms: GIF, meme, data, Wi-Fi, Linux and cache. Aside from "GIF," we discovered a few surprises.

Since we asked respondents to share their professions, we found that people who work in computer/software/IT pronounce "meme" as "me-me" more than any other industry — shocking.

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Credit: Mashable

And if you're wondering who the heck pronounces it "wee-fee," take a trip to Spain, France or ... Arkansas.

Find out where you fall in the great tech pronunciation debate. Chances are you're in the minority somewhere.

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BONUS: GIF vs. JIF

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