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I will die on this hill: The correct pronunciation of the word “gif” is Jif, like the peanut butter. Also, a tomato is spiritually a vegetable. And this one: All bar bathrooms should have door hooks. Luckily, this is Portland, so someone organized a formal bike ride around such quibbles.
“I Will Die on This Hill” was a Pedalpalooza, or Bike Summer, group bike ride on June 28. (Gifs, tomatoes and door hooks all came up.) About 20 participants met in Irving Park before biking 6 miles to the top of Rocky Butte. At the summit, each biker had 90 seconds to make a stand. The only rule was that it had to be about something inconsequential; leave your actual political opinions at home.
The ride is the brainchild of radio host and veteran ride leader Lillian Karabaic, whose organizer credentials include the Portland World Naked Bike Ride and the legendary Bowie vs. Prince ride. When she came up with this new idea, she thought, “This is so silly. I love it,” she says.
Deciding which actual hill to bike up proved more of a quandary. She considered Oregon Health & Science University’s Pill Hill (Marquam Hill) or the River View Cemetery hill on South Taylors Ferry Road. “We decided it was a little too on the nose.”
The group voted the door hooks speech as the winner, though Karabaic is quick to point out— in true petty fashion—that more people voted for her “gif is pronounced Jif” speech than the rebuttal speech in favor of its rival pronunciation, “gif” with a hard g, like “graphic.”
“That has been true since the 1980s when CompuServe developed the format. It is Jif. And also, does it really matter? It does not.”
See the rest of Willamette Week’s Best of Portland 2026 here!
