Pronunciations (was: And how do you pronounce "csh"?)

[Tom Christiansen]

In article <440 at nixba.UUCP> mike at nixba.UUCP (Mike Lyons) writes:
|[ I'm already wearing my flame-retardant suit for this one... :-) ]
|
|As you can see from my header, I work here in Germany.  I'm always debating
|with my colleagues over what the "correct" pronunciation for various UNIX
|things are. Here's a short list of the way some things are said here, and I'd
|like some feedback (e-mail of course!! :-) on what the One True Pronunciation 
|for each item is:


There must be a better group for this.  If I could think of it, I'd
put a followup line there.  Oh well, here goes.

My basic tendency, and those of most (although not all) around me
is to say the UNIXism in the easiest possible way, that is, with the
fewest syllables.  Thus I nearly never spell out a command I could
otherwise pronounce.  The first three in Mike's list are some of these.
Yes, and that means I say "vye" as well, but tough noogies.  Paul Dubois 
and I just share that distinctive Madisonian accent.  It's true that
this introduces an ambiguity with "ex" and "X11", but context always
seems sufficient to differentiate them.  

That said, on the list...

|		sed = ess - e - dee
nope, just "sed", as in "joe said".
|		ed  = e - dee
ditto, just "ed", as in "mr. ed, the talking horse".
|		awk = a - w - k
again, just "awk", like "auks", the northern diving birds.
|		ioctl = i - o control
i've always sais "i - octal", but i've heard others say "i - o - cuddle",
which sounds nice and warm but takes 4 syllables.
|		fcntl = f - control
agreed.
|		strrchr = stir - recker
this we pronounce "rindex".  :-)
|		tty  =  t - t - y
yes, or "titty", which can be fun.
|		uucico = you - you - kee - ko
agreed.
|		HUPCL = hoop - sell
got be handing.  what's that?
|		mkdir = m - k - dir
no -- 'makedir'.
|		mknod = m - k - node
no -- 'makenode' or others: 'makenod'.
|		pg  = p - g
again, we pronounce this "less". :-)

--tom

    Tom Christiansen                       {uunet,uiucdcs,sun}!convex!tchrist 
    Convex Computer Corporation                            tchrist at convex.COM
		 "EMACS belongs in <sys/errno.h>: Editor too big!"