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- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -3/+28Here's a copy of the site. It took four minutes to load for me so I don't think it's going to last a whole lot longer under the weight of Digg.
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Pronunciation of Software Names
Written by Jem Matzan
Thursday, 09 December 2004
I'm a big fan of languages; I see tremendous value in different human expression. Even with a language like English, a language I dream in, I'm told by my close friends I still pronounce things quite badly at times, often to hilarious effect. Blatant errors aside, language and its commonality can be crucial for community development; this is especially true for communities dealing with specific topics. Back in the day, in most of the Western world, scholars and scientists used Latin to communicate as an intellectual community.
Today, "experts" use "jargon" not only to put out verbal neon signs that they know the language of the subject at hand, but also to differentiate between those who know and those who do not know. It's almost like a test, a rite of passage within a community... if you don't know the language, how can you know the subject? This article will examine how language is used in the Free and Open Source Software community and how you as a newcomer can more easily fit in by using the right pronunciations for the right terms.
Written by Jawad Niazi
The belief that knowledge of a subject is indicated by language is certainly debatable, but simply go to any tech website and try and find those who use only common vernacular; I believe you'll be hard-pressed to find such a place on today's Internet. Regardless of your take on it, language plays a huge role in any kind of community, but especially online where the written word is the only communication tool you have.
The Open Source Community
As of late, I have become a big fan of Free and Open Source Software (FOSS). Unfortunately, I don't live near anyone who shares the same sentiment, so lonely me doesn't actually know how any of the terms in this realm are pronounced! Thankfully the Internet exists so I can seek out and find those who also enjoy the fruits of Open Source. However, while websites and forums are nice, naturally they do not provide the same level of interaction as face-to-face encounters. It's times like these I wish the local cable company offered TechTV on their basic plan so I could experience the language of the topic phonetically.
So this got me thinking on the topic of pronunciation... as a community of distance-separated individuals would we be using the same sounds to communicate if we were side by side? After all, the community of Free and Open Source users involves not only the developers that magically produce usable code but also the simple FOSS aficionados such as myself. Would our sounds be similar even when speaking English to one another? Could I go to a Linux Users Group (LUG) meeting or even a conference and not sound like a total idiot when discussing some of my favorite projects? Some might say that last part might be unavoidable, but to that I offer a (usually mispronounced) cuss word or two in their direction.
I know some of you have seen zealots on the web go at each other's throats about the pronunciation of certain terms. How does this look to the outside world if we can't even agree on something so simple? If you are a new user, this all can be even more confusing if the name or reference to a single concept changes depending on who you interact with. Whatever level you fall into in terms of a user, that's just not kosher, baby.
So to help you acclimate to the GNU/Linux world more quickly, I would like to offer a beginner's pronunciation guide for common Free and Open Source enthusiast terms. And as you all know, we here at thejemreport.com are all about etiquette.
Tech Terms
As I mentioned, I don't live near anyone that is interested in GNU/Linux, so when I come across Linux-related terms I just make a best guess at pronouncing them. Because of my (ahem) advanced intellect and subsequent system of mnemonics, I remember acronyms by creating words from them.
For example, I pronounce my favorite Desktop Environment Xfce as ecks-fice. I'm not even going to pretend that's accurate or warranted, but it helps me remember. I'm so lazy, I call IBM eye-bum, and I'm not even going to mention how I pronounce iMac.
1. So how about something as simple as Linux? I have always assumed it is pronounced lin-ucks. But I've been hearing people say lye-nucks. Does Linus pronounce his own name lye-nuss? I'm told by our forum Linus Torvalds himself settled the debate by stating that he says lin-ucks as in "linen" but also sees why people would pronounce it the other way. In the spirit of the movement, Mr. Torvalds does not dissuade people from using what works best for them.
2. Is Unix pronounced exactly as written? When I was explaining to my mother that I will be studying Unix, she got a puzzled look on her face and began laughing at me. She being an academic but not a computer enthusiast, it finally dawned on me: mom was wondering why I wanted to study castrated people. Apparently this has been a long running joke with people in the know who've been associated with Unix for some time (old joke: some people use Unix and some people are eunuchs). Common pronunciation is yew-nicks.
3. XFree rival, X.Org, is it zorg or ecks-dot-org? I know Xandros is Z-sounding. I've been told ecks-org can work too. I usually say ecks-dot-org in my head and I assume people will know what I'm talking about.
4. I know Debian is deb-e-un and not dub-ee-an or deb-eye-an...but how do you say SuSE? Soo-suh according to the company.
5. Kazaa? Is it ka-za or kuz-zaah? Buzz on the web indicates it's the latter, kuz-zaah. The PR representative of Sharman Networks (owners of Kazaa) Rich Chernela agrees.
6. GNU? Guh-noo or jee-en-yew? This one is still up for debate. The founder of the Free Software Foundation, Richard M. Stallman (RMS), says it as a word but many people simply spell it out. For that matter, I also pronounce gtk-Gnutella as jee-tee-kay-noo-tel-lah.
7. Xouvert, you ask? Zoo-vurt if you don't know what you're talking about, zoo-vair if you do. The creators of the project chose the name as a concatenation of X and the French word for "open."
8. OO.org (as in OpenOffice.org, the office suite)? Hmm, this one is tricky, but I say ooh-dot-org just because it sounds sexy. Some folks may simply say Open Office.
9. The Qt toolkit. I have just been informed that Qt is pronounced as the word cute (que-oot mono syllabic for non native speakers) and not kyu-tee by the developers at Trolltech.
10. Here's an easy one: Gentoo. The popular GNU/Linux distribution is named after an actual animal, the Gentoo Penguin. Therefore, it is pronounced jen-too.
11. Sylpheed, the email client. Per the project FAQ the name Sylpheed means "light weight." The first syllable comes from a medieval word for a wind spirit known as a Sylph. The proper pronunciation is probably sil-feed if using the Merriam-Webster sound guide for Sylph.
12. Ximian? It's pronounced zim-ee-un.
13. Here's one for the hardware people: Nvidia. I've heard nuh-vid-ee-ah, nuh-vid-ya, and en-vid-ya. The one I have heard journalists use is en-vid-ee-ah, which is also how I pronounce it.
14. The Xfce window manager Thankfully, the project lead for Xfce, Olivier Fourdan, corrected me and wrote: "I just pronounce it like 'X-F-C-E' or 'X-F-See.' Also please note that the common spelling is 'Xfce.' 'XFce' was used for some time, but XFCE has been dropped since 1997 at least."
Final Thoughts
Hopefully some of the information gleaned from this article will help those in a similar situation as myself. My own little brother told me after his first year at college, "Hardly any two words hold the same meaning for people speaking the exact same language!" Wise words indeed, but by simply saying the same sounds when using a common language with other users we'll be better at communicating ideas to one another face-to-face. It has also been pointed out that no matter how many pronunciation guides exist, there will always be large differences if say, an Australian and a Canadian were to pronounce the same word in English. I will have to concede this may always be the case (due to differing dialects), but at least now some standards have been set so we can all attempt to say the same sounds. And more importantly, no more looking like an idiot at a gathering of users!
Discuss this article on the forums. (0 posts)
Copyright 2004 Jawad Niazi. Verbatim copying and redistribution of this entire article are permitted without royalty in any medium provided this notice is preserved. - Fridrik, on 10/12/2007, -4/+27The "r" in dyslexic is silent.
- backasswards, on 10/12/2007, -0/+14I knew a lady who said 'dot hot mail' for .html. Long story short, I punched her in her face and now I am in a juvenile detention center, which affords me plenty of time to surf the web.
- jedeye, on 10/12/2007, -0/+14Here is Linus stating Linux pronunciation.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1061159908534146317&q=linus&pl=true - celeronxl, on 10/12/2007, -5/+18This is unfortunately one of the reasons open source doesn't take off more. Sorry, but lots of little things add up to make a big difference.
"Windows" vs "Ubuntu" vs "SuSE" - The difference is obvious. - Knoton, on 10/12/2007, -1/+12Acronyms by definition are pronouncible as words, if you can't pronounce them then they are initialisms.
- ferrell, on 10/12/2007, -1/+12I'm sorry, but you are simply incorrect.
from the link...
"CompuServe used to distribute a graphics display program called CompuShow. In the documentation for version 8.33 in the FAQ section, it states:
The GIF (Graphics Interchange Format), pronounced "JIF", was designed by CompuServe and the official specification released in June of 1987.
There, straight from the inventors of the format.
Convinced yet? "
http://www.olsenhome.com/gif/ - elnerdo, on 10/12/2007, -1/+11Lol. Acronyms shouldn't be pronounced as words? Ha!
Scuba?
Radar?
Sonar?
I've never heard of ANYONE pronouncing them as non-words. - ksgant, on 10/12/2007, -0/+10I remember when Linux first came on the scene of pronoucing it "line-ux" instead of "lin-ux". I did that for years, sounding more of idiot that I normally do.
- drwtsn32, on 10/12/2007, -1/+9"Acronyms are not words so stop pronouncing them as such."
Ok, so you say "ess sea ess eye" instead of "scuzzy" (SCSI)?
Or "are aye eye dee" instead of "raid" (RAID)?
Some acronyms should be pronounced as words. - imperiousrex, on 10/12/2007, -2/+10Poor naming is a MAJOR factor in the slow acceptance by mainstream users of Linux, as it's seriously plagued by incomprehensible names (esp. to English speakers). I've always thought the naming of Suse, Gnome, XFCE, Ximian, Amarok, K3B, Xine, and other projects left a lot to be desired. Of course, there are some project names that are pronounceable, but utterly stupid. GIMP and Ogg Vorbis being the best examples. I think having an easily pronounced and cool sounding name is a significant reason behind the success of Firefox. While I understand the typical geek's contempt for marketing, an appropriate name certainly can make the difference between languishing in obscurity and widespread acceptance.
- troydoogle7, on 10/12/2007, -2/+9Site is D-Ugg anyone have a Korrall-Cash?
goo-gle cash is she-ite - barbobot, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7my old boss used to say my-sequel instead of mysql, and although both are appropriate my es qu el is the way its meant to be said
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mysql - cphuntington97, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7Um, crazy diggers, nailbunny is right.
Ubuntu, an African word from Zulu and Xhosa, is pronounced "oo-BOON-too". See the other FAQ on its meaning, it's a worthwhile read, and no, you're not the first person to wonder.
from http://www.ubuntu.com/support/faq?action=show&redirect=support%2Fdocumentation%2Ffaq
Besides, the correct pronounciation is more fun to say. Use the lowest register of your voice. Wasn't that fun? - MioTheGreat, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8I never know, so I avoid saying SATA, and just say 'serial ay tee ay'
But i suppose if i'm going to say ay-tee-ay, i might as well say ess-ay-tee-ay - drwtsn32, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6"so Line-ux would make more sense."
Not when you realize Linus made Linux to be a Minix clone. So it's pronounced just line Minix but with an L. - SuperSloth, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6GNOME is a word, so gnome. Guh-nome is accepted as a play on the word (much like kuh-nife is a play a knife, or kuh-nite is a play on knight). Guh-nome should not be accepted as accurate, though, even though the play obviously relates to GNU.
- LunchMoney, on 10/12/2007, -2/+8A postgresql pronunciation needs to be added to that article.
"PostgreSQL is pronounced Post-Gres-Q-L, and is also sometimes referred to as just Postgres." - vdxc, on 09/29/2008, -3/+9you are both wrong, LunchMoney was right.
it is post-gres-q-l - cpnx, on 10/12/2007, -5/+11and its gif, not jiff
- digdugsmug, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6I think it sounds stupid when people say Sah-Tah but thats only my opinion. I dont think there is anyone out there claiming either is right or wrong which probably holds true for many of these. I try to avoid provoking super nerds into arguments by always saying the entire name rather than the acronym...Serial Advanced Technology Attachment, about the only one i use is "Scuzzy" I think most nerds agree on that one though.
- KidVicious, on 10/12/2007, -3/+8I say Say-Tah.
- JesperL, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6I could have sworn it was pronounce as jiff... wasn't there are story about it on Digg a few months ago?
- digdugsmug, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5hettup? thats pretty funny. Let me guess, when you didnt know what they were talking about or even questioned the word they rolled their eyes like you were an ideot. I hate that. If you just say the letters http most people will understand you right away and there will be no confusion whereas if you say hettup almost no one will understand you and there will be lots of confusion.
- dravidian, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5I've heard people pronouncing "www" as "dub dub dub" - it was kinda cool when I first heard it, but now its just downright annoying.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -2/+7How do you pronounce "Digg Effect"?
I think it's something like: "Fux-Ohr-D" - hamoe, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5No it is not:
"Copyright 2004 Jawad Niazi. Verbatim copying and redistribution of this entire article are permitted without royalty in any medium provided this notice is preserved." - TomPizzle, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5"I believe the correct way to say it is actuall Line Ux , however most people just now say Lin Ux."
Actually Linus Torvalds wants it to be pronounced Lin-Ux instead on Line-Ux so people dont think of him whenever Linux is mentioned. - merdely, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5@inhail
From http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Linus_Torvalds, give a listen to http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/SillySounds/english.au - nailbunny, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6ubuntu = ooboontoo
- loftx, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5One which gets me is SATA (as in hard disks) is it Ess-Ay-Tea-Ay or Sah-Tah?
- ab500, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4digdugsmug: that is exactly what happens. I have to help a lot of not very smart people over the phone and when they try to pronouce everything it takes me a good 5 minutes to figure out what they are talking about.
"when I goto hettup google com I get a desny (DNS) error" - famous sentence I had to try to decrypt - as2003, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5Answers.com ( http://www.answers.com/topic/ethereal?method=5&linktext=ethereal ) has a guide.
I say ith-ear-real - burtonbe, on 10/12/2007, -3/+7It's funny how much variation I hear in the pronunciation of all these crazy software names. Dugg.
- bytesmythe, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4@ab500
Properly speaking, the ones that are pronounced as words are called acronyms. The ones that are simply spelled out are initialisms.
Read more here:
http://www.randomhouse.com/wotd/index.pperl?date=19980825
@everyone else
I always said "SA-tuh", where the first syllable rhymes with "Sam". - cazabam, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6Ubuntu is oo-bun-too because, like many others, it's a real word. Just not an English one.
- thebadrash, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4ab500 - "My skin always crawls when I hear someone try to pronounce acronyms". But there are plenty of acronyms which are eminently pronounceable. NATO, NASA, MODEM, Scuba and others are all perfectly sayable. SATA (sah-tah) works because it easily lends itself to pronunciation as a single word. An exception to this rule is CIA which ought to be called (see-ah) but is never referred to in this way.
- stmiller, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6It's not soo-seee. The "e" on the end of a german word has sort of an 'uh' sound. Almost like a word ending in 'a' in English, but when it sounds like 'uh.'
English:
Almost like: Montana = mon-tan-uh (/ah)
German:
Porche = Por-sha or Por-shuh
Suse = Soo-zuh or zoo-zuh, or soo-zeh (S has a Z sound in German)
frage = fraag-uh
etc, etc, etc.
Also, Americans pronounce Knoppix differently. In German, the opening 'K' is pronounced.
Knoppix = Ka-noppix
http://suseroot.com/about-suse-linux/how-do-you-pronounce-suse.php - debian_, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4GNOME, as related to the *nix desktop, is infact an acronym and not simply a name given to project which is meant to refference the mythical creature of the same name.
It stands for GNU Network Object Model Environment. This is probably why pronounciations such as guh-nome have become common, duh to the first portion of the GNU part of GNOME being pronounced guh as well. - timf, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6This really depends on personal taste.
Of these 3 names, I like Suse most and neither Windows nor Ubuntu very much.
Ubuntu however has at least a meaning whereas Windows ist just plain boring. - tizz66, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4This digg is a good indication of why lye-nux will struggle to become mainstream. Even geeks can't work out how to properly say all the names of the software, so how are ordinary people going to do it? FOSS people should drop all the confusing acronyms/abbreviations/conjunctions and just use normal words (Open Office is a good example). Doesn't sound half as geeky (which is no doubt part of the reason they use esoteric names in the first place), but it's so much more accessible.
- boyinuk, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3The Site is down. Anybody have a mirror? Coral Cache wasn't done fast enough.
- sentinel23, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3I actually really liked the article and the idea behind it. But I wish it had been longer.
What about µTorrent? The company has made it pretty obvious that that they want 'uTorrent' (as in you-torrent). However, I've heard people call it 'micro-torrent', and I can't stop myself from calling it 'miew-torrent'.
(see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Micro_sign if you don't get that last one) - marvy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3In German the 's' is pronounced softly, like an English 'z'. And yes, Sooh-suh is pretty much the way it should sound (although, it's not really an 'uh' but more of an 'eh'. There's no English phonetic equivalent).
- merdely, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3One that always got me was Nagios.
According to their FAQ (http://www.nagios.org/faqs/viewfaq.php?faq_id=3), it's:
nah-ghee-ose
At least I think that's how I pronounce it (damn phonetic spelling)... The "Na" sounds like "Nah", "gi" sounds like the first part of "geese", and "os" sounds like the last part of "verbose". You can pronounce it however the heck you'd like. - jakv5, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3The Webster's dictionary software has audio clips of almost every word so you can hear exactely how it sounds. It's an option on install.
- Urusai, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3It's pronounced the same as "wares", because it's just an intentional mispelling of same.
I've heard people pronounce "nub" (derived from "noob") as the word "nub" (nuhb). Wot a noober. - jcraveiro, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4my former employer pronounced "USB" as "uzb", as used that 'word' to designate USB flash drives ("the uzbs") +o(
- SuperSloth, on 10/12/2007, -5/+8ATA = A-Tee-A (long As)
SATA = Es-A-Tee-A (long As)
Linux = Lynn-ucks. Lie-nucks sounds wrong to most native English speakers, so it is.
SuSE = Susie (just like the short name for Susan)
Ubuntu = Ooo-bun-too
KUbuntu = Kay-ooo-bun-too
sudo = pseudo. It is never, ever sue-due. Might as well be ski-doo then.
Ethereal = ethereal. Not ether-real. This one is already a word, so you can't change the pronunciation without clearly looking like an idiot.
Debian = DebbieAnn (spoken quickly). It is never Dee-Bane, as one irritating co-worker insists that it is.
SQL = sequel or S-Q-L interchangably, no matter if we're talking My-, Postgre-, or MS-. No, I don't care that MySQL cares about their pronunciation. They didn't care about the ANSI SQL standard, so why should *I* bother?
GNU = gnu. Like the animal, you twit. Again, this was already a word. You dont get to change how it's pronounced just because you made a clever acronym.
UNIX = eunuchs. I actually knew a guy who couldn't stop calling it Uni-Ecks.
And while I'm at it:
Single data rate RAM = SDR RAM, not SDRAM. Everything has been and still is SDRAM since the mid to late 90's. DDR and DDR2 are still SDRAM (synchronous dynamic RAM). - AeonTorpor, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5It's the stupid english non-consistent conventions that cause this kinda crap. I pronounce .gif as "jif".
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