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Linux on Jeopardy
yesthatguy writes "Tonight's episode of Jepoardy! featured a question in the "Tech Business and Industry" category that asked which operating system was made by Linus Torvalds and can be obtained for free.
The answer(question), of course: 'What is Linux?'
An interinsting point I noticed...the kid (Teen Tournament) that gave the answer, pronounced the name wrong. Jeopardy usually will not give credit to a mispronunciation... " Please! No pronunciation holy wars! But that is pretty cool. Ya know you've hit the big time when you get a question on Jeopardy.
Of course, it'd be cooler if I cared about jeopardy. The song is so annoying. Anyhoo, great to know the answer to one of the questions on that show, FINALLY...
Target Practice
There's a 68.71% chance you're right.
is it leen-ooks?
lin-ix?
line-ux?
wtf?
Why is "LIN nux" considered the proper pronunciation? After all, Linus Torvalds named it after himself. Wouldn't that make it "LIE nux"?
First post?
News for nerds? Stuff that matters?
i never understand people who argue over pronumciation and then go on to write stuff like "r u goin 2 the store"
There was a debate about the pronounciation of Linux and Linus here before... I personally say both `lie-nucks' and `lin-ix' since I really don't care. But anyways... it's `Yet Another Linux Plug by the Media'
Let's here it for pathetic self validation!!!
Let Linux stand on its own merits. I could care less whether its it is on "Jepoardy" or not.
This article gets a big fat yawn. . .
Think about it, we could replace Alex Trebek with Linus, replace the Jeopardy Logo with Tux, and have CmdrTaco and Hemos as the Judges(aka the guys that ring the wrong buzzer). We could ask things like "There are this many lines of code in the current stable release of the Linux Kernel", or "This distribution of Linux is the most open of them all"
What have you done? All that can come from this topic is a war on the pronuciation of Linux!!!
You are not me, therefore you are not important
Jeez. Do you think Windows users argue like this?
"It's a piece of shit"
"No, it's a piece of shite"
"You're both wrong, it's a pile of shit"
"Actually..."
Be grateful you can still count contending pronunciations without taking your socks off.
I have heard this a hundred times.. Does it matter how one pronounces Linux ?? My answer would be a YES. Now.. before you jump on me let me explain.
:0
Linux is growing. Its "followers" have constat wars is news grps etc about the best text editor, the best windows manager, the best distribution and so on. All healthy. But please, if you are using a software that runs the whole damn computer, you better pronounce it correctly. Let there be atleast two things that we agree upon, the first being that LInux is the best
BTW how exactly do we pronounce Linux ?? Linux or 'Lenux' ??
A rose is a rose but looses it charm when you call it 'shit' !
Manifest
... "follow me" the wise man said, but he walked behind
They should have done it as a video clue with Torvalds himself.
And he could be flagrantly displaying a Transmeta coffee mug or something, just to screw with our minds.
"Help make the world a better place. Kill a moron."
Notice that jeopardy emphasized the free beer aspect rather than the free speech.
Just a random observation on a random story.
Here in Chicago, I don't know anybody who doesn't refer to his name as the peanuts character. Just wanted to defend our pronunciation. You must be from the east coast.
It is easier to get forgiveness than permission.
Pardon my arrogance, but I'd like to suggest that Linus probably knows how to pronounce it.
Yep. Linus doesn't use the American pronunciation of his name. The show did, though.
monkeys.
This is much cooler than the proposed superbowl commercial. just personal opinion of coarse, but the people who watch jeoparody seem to care more about computers than those who watch the superbowl. As the jeoparody is a game of intellect and the superbowl is one of brawn. So maybe we'd be better off if we skipped the whole superbowl idea and got commercials at some other time? like during jeoparody, or sponsored NOVA.
.sig
matisse:~$ cat
shows that computers, programmers, and industry heads are slowly starting to become part of mainstream culture. I remember about a month ago out school trivia team went to a tournament and a full bonus category about computer figures popped up, featuring questions about assorted people ranging from innovators like Torvalds (and others whom I forget) to businessmen like Steve Case and Andy Grove. I also notice computer acro questions are starting to become more popular in trivia competition, though unfortunately they tend to be mispronounced as well :)
Nope, Linux Torvalds isn't pronounced like Linux on Peanuts. It's the Peanuts pronunciation which gave rise to the myth that it is pronounced "LINE-ux."
Consider, by the way, that "Linux" is actually a dual pun. It plays both on Linus' name and Minix, the OS which inspired Linux. Minix is pronounced with a short i (like the first i in"mini"). Linus, as least in the context of Torvalds' first name, is also pronounced in this way. Therefore, why would Linux not also be pronounced with the same short i as both of its linguistic predecessors? Particularly since Linus himself pronounces it the same way he pronounces his name.
As far as I'm concerned, the person who gave the OS its name gets to pick how it's correctly pronounced. But let's not get into a holy war over this.
FWIW, you can hear how Linus pronounces Linux.
More to the point, Jeopardy does not mark you wrong for unambiguous mispronunciations or spellings.
--
"L'IT c'est moi!"
Well, down under, it's LIN-ux (which is right, that is how Linus says it...)
Well, you know you've _really_ hit the big time when you get on Wheel of Fortune. And after that, who knows? Maybe in the Showcase on The Price Is Right. Now _that_ would be prestige!
No, it's not. Neither of them are pronounced the way you think.
You will find a sample of Linus pronouncing his own name, as well as linux, on ftp.kernel.org
Okay, here's how it is : There are two pronunciations (according to Linus), one in English and one in Swedish. The English one, used by most, is Lie-Nuchs. The Swedish, and, many argue, purer one, is Lih-Nuchs. Some may argue that although it is best if one pronounces it in his native tongue, I believe that we owe it to Linus to pronounce it the way he and his people do : Lih-Nuchs.
- Dave "It's better to be a pirate than to join the Navy" - Steve Jobs
It should have been there a long time ago...
I don't care about pronounciations. As long as I know what they're talking about or vice versa, I am happy. LILO is another one with a couple of possibilities, but don't tell me which one! I don't care! People know what I'm talking about.
Of course a question like this would only be asked on a Teen Tournament. Face it, teens are more likely to know / care about this stuff than their elders. Why? I dunno. I suspect that it might have something to relate to the time they have to mess around with such things or how angry they get at their other operating system when it crashes in the middle of writing a report. Just guesses, considering that these are among my reasons. Perhaps it is also because the word 'cool' is used much more often by teens than by adults, and they have to find something to describe with it. No holy OS wars because of this, please!
Speaking of publicity, my parents say that there was something about Linux on NPR, but I didn't hear it so I don't necessarily believe them. Somebody verify this. There was also a short interview with Red Hat's CEO, but I forget what network that was on. There's something for you to post about; I know you've been waiting a whole minute to find something. Why? Because you read this post! Okay, that was pointless.
Kenneth Arnold
So I hereby decree that although it may sound like I say "lie-nux", I am in fact saying "lee-nux" with a thick American accent.
Ffor people wondering why if his name is Linus that we pronounce it LINN-ucks, its because he pronounces his name LINN-us. There ya go :P
-- There's only one replacement for displacement.....
I was watching this teen tournament thing the other day. Some kid was given "The Pollen producing component of the plant," to reply to. His answer : What is the hymen? You could see Trebeck fighting the urge to burst out laughing.
- Freehold, or maybe a rock.
According to the WAV file referenced in another reply (on ftp.kernel.org somewhere) and to posts Linus has made himself (and the correct *FINNISH* pronounciation of his name), it's pronounced something like "Leenucks". I used to insist on "lineucks", now I say "lynnucks" because it's faster to say :). Of course, the instructor in my UNIX OS and UNIX Administration classes pronounces it correctly ("leenucks"), and boy is it hard to listen to :)
"To err is human, to forgive is simply not my policy." --root
I don't know where in America you're from, but in Delaware and surrounding area it's pronounced lyn-ux.
Speaking of publicity, my parents say that there was something about Linux on NPR, but I didn't hear it so I don't necessarily believe them. Somebody verify this.
My father said there was a feature on Linus and Linux, and this was several (>6) months ago.
-palp
Lets get our proximal scandinavian countries straight, eh?
For my 2 cents:
*Ideally we'd all call it Lee-nooks, after Lee-noos Torvalds, but thats kinda awkward.
*If Linus were American, he'd pronounce his name Lie-nus.
Thus:
My American toungue calls it "Lie-nucks" after it's creator.
But you won't get me correcting any other pronunciation.
The 'net is a reading-based culture, so as long as we can all spell it right we're ok.
--Andrew
That's just it. The combination of phonemes in "LEEN-ooks" occurs so rarely in English that it's rather awkward for a native English-speaker to say. The correct paraphrase is, if I'm not mistaken, "LINN-ucks," therefore both pronunciations are linguistically correct, given the differences in language. "LINE-ucks" is still way out there.
I, with my own ears through the miracle of digital audio, have heard Linus say Linux as "lee-nooks," "lie-nuks" and "lin-uks." On ZDNET television, I heard him say both "lie-nuks" and "lin-uks."
Then why is it that their online game, although written in Java, only works in Windows, because of the way it stores files? I've tried it in Linux and in MacOS. They don't respond to my emails. I love the game but I can't play it in Linux.
grep -ri 'should work'
Then why is it that their online game, although written in Java, only works in Windows, because of the way it stores files? I've tried it in Linux and in MacOS. They don't respond to my emails. I love the game but I can't play it in Linux.
grep -ri 'should work'
Personally, I pronounce it "LI-nux" with the ;).
long "i". I always thought it was a good
way to differentiate old-school vs. new-
school Linux users. Back in the day, we
didn't have any way of knowing how it was
pronounced, because the word was only in
print! So we decided on the long "i"
version because it just sounded right
--- witty signature
At some point I had never thought about pronouncing it because I just typed it instead. Wonder if it's proper to capitalize or not... ohwell :)
Is Windows 2000 that millenium bug everybody's talking about?
-S
The Redhat interview is saw was on CNN's Moneyline sometime this weekend, they asked Bob Young about the MS case (who had a 6.0 box in the background, apparently they haven't upgraded the PR studio), he said his favorite remedy was a perpetual investigation. They also asked him about the Cobalt IPO (I think the interviewer thought it was a direct competitor), he said the more Linux companies the better. Redhat gets a lot of press since the IPO so the fact of a Redhat interview isn't really news.
The latest linux story on NPR is here. It was a pretty well informed interview with John Dodge, the editor of PC Week. You can find archives for most NPR shows at www.npr.org. The first story I could find using their search engine was in April of 1998.
--
"L'IT c'est moi!"
The entire debate with the pronounciation of Linux is all really English's (and maybe German's) fault. It's that simple. Even when you try to explain the pronunciation in text, it does not work. Not even if you say something like 'short i' or 'long i.' To different people that means different things. To Americans, and other Native English speakers 'short i' means the i in little and 'long i' means the ie in lie.
Whereas, in Romance languages, 'long i' means the ee in geek. Heck, even speakers of the same language don't agree. The British pronounce things differently than Americans.
Also, grammar and spelling is different. Such as ' quote ' as opposed to American " quote ." And colour and theatre as opposed to color and theater.
Case in point: This is all English's fault. I say we rm -rf /English/* right now. It will be the best for all of us. No more confusion. While we're at is let's just cp /Español/* /mnt/thing/backup and then rm -rf /* and then rcp /Español/* / to fix everything else too.
Hasta luego!
-El Señor Dragón al'JeRHombre Semidiós'de'Guerra
(in case you didn't figure it out, that was a joke, it's Lord Dragon al'PiLMaN Dai'Shan en Español)
Does the People's Republic's Official OS have and Official Pronounciation?
sup
Well, yes, it is spelt 'Luxury Yacht' but it is pronounced 'Throat-Warbler Mangrove'.
MrCreosote Meow!Thump!Meow!Thump!Meow!Thump! "You're right! There isn't enough room to swing a cat in here!"
I actually got in an argument with a teacher over how "DOS" was pronounced. She insisted it was pronounced with a long O, as in "dose" (eg. like the Spanish number 2). I of course insisted on a short O, "doss", if you will...
*sigh*
--Joe--
Program Intellivision!
What I want to know is where is the Pronunciaion How-To?
If you really want a geeky pronunciation argument, try any of the following:
csh
tcsh
lilo
cache
~
#
!
For the record I'm:
cee-ess-aich
teesh
lie-low
cash
tild-ah, although I'm gravitating towards twiddle
hash
bang
--
"L'IT c'est moi!"
They did something like it two years ago at the end of Linux Expo... Teams of people, questions like "name 20 linux distros", etc...
.tar.gz file was bigger than 10MB?"
The funniest thing about it was the question:
"What kernel version was the first one where the
and Bruce Perens (I think, it was a while ago) answered "Windows NT". Yeah, you had to be there.
Linus was in the audience and was consulted a
couple of times for corrections. Afterwards, I got run over by Miguel de Icaza chasing Eric Raymond around in the lobby... All in all it was damn cool!
Linus is part of the Swedish speaking minority (6%) of Finland. Swedish is one of the two official languages of Finland. I found this out from esr's Rampantly Unofficial Linus Torvalds FAQ
--
"L'IT c'est moi!"
How is LINE-ucks way out there? It is just a change in accent, like lin-ucks instead of lee-nooks. In fact, though it seems to be very popular, how in fact is lin-ucks a correct pronounciation? in the .au file, linus pronounces his name leenoos, and the OS lee-nooks. In the unitd states, people with the name Linus are called Lie-nus. So it would be correct to say lee-nooks, or Line-ux if you feel like americanizing it. Lin-ucks is just lazy pronounciation. (not that it matters)
Hamsters are at least as feathery as penguins. HamLix
Is this to say that the second "i" in "mini" is a long "i"? Min-eye?
Not that this whole thing isn't off-topic anyway. I'm a "linnucks" (short "i") man myself. Maybe we should all go FreeBSD since it's easier to pronounce?
I like music
Regardless of how Linus pronounces his name, the
name is Latin. How would a Roman have said this
name? I believe that we should honor Linus'
Scandinavian heritage, but we also should not be
so hard on people who assume that the name is pronounced
as it would be in most of the rest of the world
where latin names are common.
-fb Everything not expressly forbidden is now mandatory.
Other Jeopardy mainstays include the many inventions of Buckminster Fuller and Esperanto. And now Linux. Be afraid.
"He's canadian, no wonder he didn't get it right, what'd you expect?"
"Ummm how about 'Linux, eh?'"
Well, some of those people have been using Linux since kernel level .99, so they probably don't give a damn if you think it's funny how the pronounce it.
---
There are 11 types of people in the world: those who understand unary, and those who don't.
I think linux should adopt a symbol for its name just like the artist formerly known as prince did. maybe it could be a cute little penguin.
but the again people would argue about wether it was "the OS formerly known as LIE nucks," or the OS formerly known as LYNN ucks."
hmmm, maybe we should jsut shorten it to "ucks" since that is the only thing similar between the two...
"The importance of using technology in the right way has never been more clear."
Now I'm gonna be working on my Linus impression. I'm sure they'll be a couple hundred people who get it and maybe 3 that'll think its funny.
"If money were steam, LINUX is a sailboat"
crazy dynamite monkey
People can't even decide how to pronounce vi and GIF , when both of these have unambiguous official pronounciations. (Quickly: vee eye, and jiff, NOT vye and giff (as in 'gift')). Next, you'll be arguing over whether bin and lib should be pronounced with a long or short I. (I vote 'short'.)
Give it up, people.
Besides, how many of you could correctly pronounce my last name, ZBICIAK, even if I told you what the correct pronounciation was? (I don't know the truly correct pronounciation myself, a testament to the fact that it doesn't freakin' matter.)
--Joe--
Program Intellivision!
It was the final question in that catagory. #1000
Jeopardy is the only show on TV worth watching. But my @#%!#$ station delays all games one day due to Monday Night Football. So I guess I'll have to wait till tomorrow...
It's easy to figure out the pronounciation. Linus in Finnish is Li-noos
so Linux is pronounced Li-noox....in finnish. In english Linus is pronounced Ly-nus, thus in english Linux would be Ly-nux. So in the end it's wheather you want original or translated.
Not only that but he used all of 3 diferent prononciations in a single speach.
:).
Try this. Pick a dozen "I'm a cluless reporter who have discoverd Linux" articles and read them. Consistently the least cluefull of them start of by explaining how to pronounce it
--= Isn't it surprising how badly I spell ?
Actually, I think there is a pronunciation HOWTO, which I read years ago.
;-) ).
;-)
It gave good reasons why Lye-nucks is the correct pronunciation for English-speaking people. It was something like this:
1. "Linux" is taken from Linus' name.
2. English speakers pronounce the name Linus as "Lye-nuss" (or should
3. Therefore, "Linux" should be pronounced as "Lye-nucks" by English speaking people.
4. Lee-nooks would be the alternate correct pronunciation (based on how Linus prounounced his own name when he lived in Finland).
5. There is no basis for the "Lin-nucks" pronunciation.
Cheers. Don't flame too hard
Life's a lot like money-- you spend it, then it's gone. Spend wisely.
I think there is a pronunciation HOWTO, which I read years ago.
;-) ).
;-)
It gave good reasons why Lye-nucks is the correct pronunciation for English-speaking people. It was something like this:
1. "Linux" is taken from Linus' name.
2. English speakers pronounce the name Linus as "Lye-nuss" (or should
3. Therefore, "Linux" should be pronounced as "Lye-nucks" by English speaking people.
4. Lee-nooks would be the alternate correct pronunciation (based on how Linus prounounced his own name when he lived in Finland).
5. There is no basis for the "Lin-nucks" pronunciation.
Cheers. Don't flame too hard
Life's a lot like money-- you spend it, then it's gone. Spend wisely.
I'm glad that someone remembers exactly how to pronounce "Linux" =)
And remember, it's spelled N-e-t-s-c-a-p-e, but it's pronounced "Mozilla."
jason
Flamebait?! Sheesh. You will get yours in Meta-Moderation! May your karma wither and die!
:-)
IIRC, you cannot say more than one (it might be two) syllable wrong.
Since Linux would be (I hope, heh) two syllables.. saying them both wrong would be pretty hard, but it doesn't look like they'd be able to mark you wrong for it.
Umm, is it tomorrow (Friday) because of Monday Night Football that didn't show Jeopardy? Damn! This one had The Phantom of Menance category.
:(. Thanks!
Any ideas?
Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
That's probably a good thing since I don't see anyone forking out millions of dollars for a superbowl advertisement for a free operating system (redhat maybe?) ... :)
"trivial shit" might actually be the official definition of Microsoft Windows by 2005.
+&x
is what you put on sand witches with honey and mustard. Mustard!? Don't let's be silly!
+&x
Yeah, jeopardy was wrong but was is the contestant suppose to question?
"What is the GNU... uh... Lignu.. hmmm... Oh! What is GNU's Not Linux!"
I guess Linux is correct. One could have a liberal definition of 'system' I guess.
***Beginning*of*Signiture***
Linux? That's GNU/Linux to you mister!
Anybody remember the days when we were all excited to get a mention in the trade press?
:(
Man! we're obsessed!
***Beginning*of*Signiture***
Linux? That's GNU/Linux to you mister!
Yeah I've heard that commercial when I wasn't paying attension to the tv and thought they were talking about Linux...
=1000101
Linus called his OS Freeax. An FTP site
maintainer thought that was a stupid name,
so he named the OS after the author.
I have ALWAYS pronounced it LY-nux as in Linus. It seemed to make sense, back when I first READ about it. Who knows how to 'pronounce' most of what programmers use to code with anyway, since we only READ it! In the BASIC days the controversy for me was chir-string or character-string for chr$ and char was either pronounced as it is spelled or said character... for c programs... I think Linus, a programer, considers it correct as long as it is spelled
l-i-n-u-x, by the way a "five letter word". for those who know what I mean.....
-Scott
Ya, but the question was worth $1000 which means that it was supposed to be hard. If it had been worth been worth less that would mean you had really hit the big time.
DeCSS is akin to a tool that breaks the lock on your house
Taken from http://www.mpaa.org/Press/default.HTM
Does it really matter how it's pronounced? As long as we all recognize the name Linux when it is spoken, it doesn't matter what it sounds like. Although I would like to know how you pronounce Linus's name if it's not like the Peanuts character...
Have you read the Moderation Guidelines Addendum?
is to see some schlutz like one of those ladies from "The View" have to try to say Linux. Then we'll have achieved World Domination
silicon - sili-kin not sili-khan gigabyte - soft first "g" (think "gigantic") gigaherz - ditto GIF - soft "g" (CompuServ said so) ... The most four commonly mis-pronunced words in the industry (especially gigabyte)
silicon - sili-kin not sili-khan
gigabyte - soft first "g" (think "gigantic")
gigaherz - ditto
GIF - soft "g" (CompuServ said so)
... The most four commonly mis-pronunced words in the industry (especially gigabyte)
I've heard another theory as to why it should be pronounced "LIN-nucks": As you may recal, Linus started writing the Linux kernel as a "quasi-port" of Minix to the 386 architecture (I say "quasi-port" because he wanted an OS like Minix, but one that would take advantage of the 386 hardware, and he didn't start off with any of the Minix code himself). The name "Linux" can be though of as a contraction of "Linus' Minix," and "Minix" is of course pronounced "MIN-nicks," so "Linux" is pronounced to kind of rhyme with "Minix"...
Of course, all this ignores the fact that Linus wasn't the one that bestowed the name on his kernel; it was the manager of the archive site where he uploaded the first kernel sources. Linus had originally wanted to call it "Freax," which would have been pronounced "freaks." (Sounds like a gathering of Marillion fans to me :-). )
Eric
--
"Free your code...and the rest will follow."
Be who you are...and be it in style!
As far as I'm concerned, the person who gave the OS its name gets to pick how it's correctly pronounced. But let's not get into a holy war over this.
:)
Why certainly, now that you've gotten your 2 bits in...
"fisk"
or when I'm feeling verbose
"f-s-check"
--
"L'IT c'est moi!"
The Gods will frown on me, I made a spelling error in a pronunciation thread.
--
"L'IT c'est moi!"
You Americans are SO DAMN unknowledgeable about the world outside the fast food and coca cola zone...
you seem to be forgetting the 'computing machine technology' zone...
(well what would YOU call it? "computing zone" sounds stupid...)
--Siva
Keyboard not found.
Keyboard not found.
Press F1 to continue.
There really doesn't need to be an arguement at all, for two reasons:
o It would be stupid to argue about a little thing like that. People know what you mean.
o For those that really do care, it can be easily settled by playing that sound file of Linus pronouncing it. It can be had in lots of places, and it plays when you use sndconfig to configure your sound card. He does use the short i version, but his foreign accent make it obvious why there is confusion here in the US but not there. He pronounces his name as something closer to "Leenus" (say it keeping your mouth only partly open) and says "Linux" exactly the same way as his name, changing only the consonant at the end, as in "Leenux".
Saying it like that would sound weird here in the states, so most people use a short i.
--
grappler
Vidi, Vici, Veni
hmm.. I'm in chicago and I get core dumps when i say lie-nucks
fsck = fa-suck
and on another note, what's with that guy who wants us all to say "jigabyte"? what the fsck is he on?
wisconsin does not exist.
Actually they had a question about java a few days ago.
Well, although I don't have much of a use for csh and tcsh, I pronounce them as "ksh" and "tuh-ksh". More like sound effects than words.
Lilo I pronounce as "lie-low", and cache I pronounce as "cashe" with a long "a" vowel sound (as opposed to cash or cash-ay).
But the real tricky part is explaining symbols to the users. From nerd to nerd, both parties know what each other means even if they might disagree with the pronounciation. But with an end-user...
Me: Then press the tild (or tilde) key.
User: What's that?
Me: The squiggle.
User: What's that?
Me: The one next to the 1 key in the top left corner.
User: Oh! The worm!
Me: Press the hash key.
User: What's that?
Me: The Noughts and Crosses symbol.
User: Oh, okay!
Fotunately everyone seems to understand "exclamation mark" so I don't have too many damaged keyboards.
Minix is a unix like operating system for x86 systems written as an education tool by Andrew S. Tanenbaum. Linux is originally based off it though... I've generally seen both Li-nucks and Lie-nucks (based on the American pronouciation of Linus) as accepted pronouciations
"A 32 bit extension and graphical shell for a 16 bit patch to an 8 bit operating system originally coded for a 4 bit microprocessor, written by a 2 bit company that can't stand 1 bit of competition."
:) :)
"What is Windows 95?"
Ahhh... it's an oldie but a goodie.
Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum viditur.
Holy war, indeed. Linus himself put out a soundfile on how he pronounces it (Linux pronounced like Linus, the Finnish accent).
;-).
;-).
The problem is, people either don't want to listen to him, or don't want conceide that they were/are wrong. Makes me shrug, because it's silly. He's clearly pronounced it the right way (if you don't agree, go email Linus -- I'm sure he'll be gentle
Then there are the people that say s-ice-op, instead of sys-op (system operator), or VESA like VISA (not the way you pronounce it, the way it's spelt -- think Bart Simpson) instead of VESA (which is really weird), or I-S-A as "ICE-Ah" (ICE-Ah sounds, uhm, very wrong -- and if it was to be pronounced as spelt, it'd be "Iss-ah"). Either way, there are always people who will mispronounce things, claim they are correct, and then fight about it (this is why the US doesn't talk like the British, and are independant
(humour poke at US citizens) Besides, everyone knows Roof is pronounced "Roo-ffff," not "Ruhff" like some southern US people do! (/humour poke at US citizens)
---
--
Internet Explorer (n): Another bug -- that is, a feature that can't be turned off -- in Windows.
Let's see ... how do Scandinavians pronounce 'vanilla'?
vu-nee-la?
If Linus says lee-nux then to be consistant Anglophiles should probably pronounce it lin-ux.
As if it realy mattered.
first:
... karat ... ampersand ... pipe, i forget the alternatives...anyone? ... dot .. left/right paren .. left/right curly bracket .. left/right [square] bracket
see-shell
tea-see-shell
lie-low (pardon my ignorance, but what else is there?)
cash
til-duh
pound (though im trying to move to hash)
bang (except when talking to lusers)
how about these less frequently debated:
^
&
|
.
()
{}
[]
and finally, are there cleaner, shorter alternatives to "greater-than sign" and "less-than sign"?
--Siva
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--
"L'IT c'est moi!"
The "LI" portion of the word "Linux" is pronounced the same as the "LI" portion of the word "Live".
Linus Torvalds called his operating system freix of course. Pronounced free-icks I presume. The person who uploaded it onto the internet for him didn't like the name and called it linux, definitely pronounced linn-icks. Unfortunately I don't know who it was who renamed linux to linux.
Cuiusvis hominis est errare; nullius nisi insipientis in errore perseverare.
from the almighty Jargon file
The ANSI/CCITT standard is surrounded by suck/blows and the INTERCAL substandard is surrounded by U turn/U turn backs
^ Common: hat; control; uparrow; caret; <circumflex>. Rare: chevron; [shark (or shark-fin)]; to the (`to the power of'); fang; pointer (in Pascal).
& Common: <ampersand>; amper; and. Rare: address (from C); reference (from C++); andpersand; bitand; background (from sh(1)); pretzel; amp. [INTERCAL called this `ampersand'; what could be sillier?]
| Common: bar; or; or-bar; v-bar; pipe; vertical bar. Rare: <vertical line>; gozinta; thru; pipesinta (last three from UNIX); [spike].
. Common: dot; point; <period>; <decimal point>. Rare: radix point; full stop; [spot].
() Common: l/r paren; l/r parenthesis; left/right; open/close; paren/thesis; o/c paren; o/c parenthesis; l/r parenthesis; l/r banana. Rare: so/already; lparen/rparen; <opening/closing parenthesis>; o/c round bracket, l/r round bracket, [wax/wane]; parenthisey/unparenthisey; l/r ear.
{} Common: o/c brace; l/r brace; l/r squiggly; l/r squiggly bracket/brace; l/r curly bracket/brace; <opening/closing brace>. Rare: brace/unbrace; curly/uncurly; leftit/rytit; l/r squirrelly; [embrace/bracelet].
[] Common: l/r square bracket; l/r bracket; <opening/closing bracket>; bracket/unbracket. Rare: square/unsquare; [U turn/U turn back].
< > Common: <less/greater than>; bra/ket; l/r angle; l/r angle bracket; l/r broket. Rare: from/{into, towards}; read from/write to; suck/blow; comes-from/gozinta; in/out; crunch/zap (all from UNIX); [angle/right angle].
--
"L'IT c'est moi!"
Actually both theatre and theater are found in American english. Theatre refers to the place where plays are held, whereas a theater would be where movies are shown. Of course who said American english was used properly anymore anyhow. toku
toku...
I actually don't care either way how to say it.
Years ago when I was Installing Linux no-one I knew cared. Some said it one way, others another. I'll actually say it both ways mattering on my mode/mood.
What bakes my noodle
Is when some corp Type Bandwagon $Grubber, who _HAS NEVER INSTALLED LINUX_ corrects me. Besides that call it what you will
JustBe
_Chunk
Who cares about Linux on Jeopardy? I just want to see Eddy back on there! Let's get that blind ass-kicking sportswriter back! Eddy is my all-time favorite Jeopardy player. These teen tournaments are making me sick. All the contestants are so obnoxious.
~GoRK
nt
"Perspective is lost in the spirit of the chase." -[I have no clue who said this]
Even though I must say I'm completely and utterly opposed to this pronounciation, I must remind you all of the famous line(s) from "Back to the Future" ...
"1.21 gigawatts??!! 1....point....twenty..one gigawatts? Marty....!"
Pronounced with a quite distinct "jiga-watts"
On the other hand, just about every radio ad these days from "dumb companies" involving a computer system as the topic (i.e. MicroCenter, CompUSA, etc.) simply refers to hard disk sizes in "Gigs" -- not "Jigs"
"The new Compaq Presario comes with a whopping 32 meg of ram and 10 gig of hard drive...."
Ferrari and other exotic car rentals in New York
Now what would be a truly Real Good Thing (tm) would be to take this soundbyte and include it in every Linux distro, and play it at the part of installation where you find out if your sound card is configured correctly.
Oh wait... that part doesn't exist yet? (in the distros I have used at least) Well, it will eventually!
This also raises the possibility of the computer mispronouncing Linux all by itself... but that's a different story!
-=-=-=-=-=- POOP -=-=-=-=-=-
Scene: Bar, south Texas
;)
Players: Miguel, a visiting Mexican national
Chuck, a very large muscular trucker
Chuck: "Nice to meet you" glances at card Miguel hands him, "Migwell."
Miguel: "Um, nice to meet you, too, Chuck. But my name is pronounced 'mih-GELL'."
Chuck: (sincerely) "Oh, sorry! Miguel!"
Miguel: "Think nothing of it. Si?"
Chuck: (not hearing Miguel's slip into Spanish) "Yes, I see."
Miguel: "So, would you like to play a game of pool?"
Chuck: "Sure! 8 or 9 ball?"
Miguel: "I am not as familiar with 9 ball.... we should just play standard -- 8 ball, you call it? Are there any good Kays in this bar?"
Chuck: "Well, I've seen a few good looking women when I pass through here. None tonight, though."
Miguel: "No, no, mi amigo, pool kays."
Chuck: "What the devil are you talking about?"
Miguel: "Pool stick... you know... kay!"
Chuck: "OOOHHhh. You mean que!!!"
Miguel: "K-YOO???? But it is spelled Q U E, si?"
Chuck: "No, I don't see."
Miguel: (slipping into spanish again, just before the bar-brawl starts...) "Que?"
(For those who don't get it, que means "what" in Spanish, and is pronounced KAY.)
The lesson? The pronunciation is NOT determined by YOUR nationality, but by the ORIGINS. Linux is, therefore, pronounced LEE-NOOKS. Don't believe me? Well, if not, you probably are fairly new to linux, so odds are you're running Red Hat. If so, you can get "official" confimation of my tiatribe at any time by SETTING UP YOUR SOUNDCARD!
Deal with it
Is there anyone besides myself out there that still says "string" whenever they see "$"?
This comes from spending WAY too much time coding in Basic back in the day!
I only do it if there is a $ at the end of a word though. Q$ is "Q STRING" to me.
-=-=-=-=-=- POOP -=-=-=-=-=-
There are a lot of sites that actualy explains how to pronounce the word. Like "debian", or words like that, that are always typed but never speaked.
--
Stay tuned for some shock and awe coming right up after this messages!
I see even classic Slashdot is now pretty much unusable on dial up anymore.
Actually, we do...
Bee, Cee
not
Bee, Sigh
"Nobody owns the fucking words man." - James Dean
Actually the sample contains the corrent Swedish pronounciation of his name, but in the Finland-Swedish dialect.
It's not only Lin-nucks in English. In Japanese "Linux" is pronounced thusly: "Ri(n)nakusu" (where "ri" comes out like a combination of the English) ree/lee/dee; and you don't really pronounce the "u"s). The other possibility is "Rainukusu," ("rai" = English "rye"), but I've never heard it pronounced like that. Anyhoo... at least it had some mention on the show.
'Linus' is pronounced as [li:nus], with long 'i' - the name is of swedish origin and the short 'i' would result only if there was double consonant after it (like in Linnus). So then, in accordance with the pronouncation of the name, it is [li:nuks].
God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ --1Thes5:9
Now that's true linux for the masses :)
//rdj
No one can understand the truth until he drinks of coffee's frothy goodness.
--Sheikh Abd-Al-Kadir, 1587
WindozSux!
whaddya think?
I see even classic Slashdot is now pretty much unusable on dial up anymore.
When I'm creepin on a comeup, and some sucka asks me what OS I be usin, I tell dat foo "LEEEEEEEEEEENAAAAACKZ!" pronounced similarly to Ice Cube saying "BIIAAAAAAAATCH!!!". I then follow it promptly with a "BOOOYA!"
Here is an example: lib (as in /usr/lib)
I would pronounce that as in 'liberate' but I once had a Canadian lecturer in university who would constantly pronounce it as the first syllable of 'library' which was really odd.
As for directories, I generally ignore pronouncing the slashes, and follow the if-it-makes-a-word rule: so /usr/local/bin is 'user local bin' etc.
And what's this strange North American habit of pronouncing # as pound?? £ is a pound sign. # is a hash!!!!
I was struck by the wording "can be obtained for free".
It's an example of how the general public just haven't been told that GPL'd software is free in that it "has freedom", rather than "can be obtained gratis".
People, when you see this kind of thing, *please* make a point of informing people, so they'll know in future.
--
I saw it... OMG... I almost pissed myself.
That guy must develop on a Mac or something.
HEHEHE
But how do you pronounce Linux? is it lie-nucks maybe lin-nucks (like in pin) i know, how about l-i-n-u-x ...
There was a time, in the dark days before the Internet, when it was considered commercial suicide to release a product with a hard-to-pronounce name, on the grounds that people would be embarrassed to ask for it. Just another bit of established commercial wisdom that doesn't seem to apply these days.
Andy Armstrong
That's another good point: speed o pronounciation.
So we have going for linn-ux:
- closer to the Swedish original
- closer to Linus + Minix --> Linux
- quicker and easier to pronounce
Why bother with anything else?
I prefer my own name to be pronounced in a way that matches the language of the sentence it is embedded in.
ftp://ftp.linux.org/pub/kerne l/SillySounds/english.au
Nope since that phrase has been around for YEARS at least as far back as version Netscape 1.1N (20-Apr-95), which is the oldest I can lay my hands on at the moment. The word Mozilla appears 20 times in the binary as text (strings -a netscape | grep -i mozilla | wc -l)
/. page a bit screwy.
;-)
For the record the same binary still runs on my Solaris 8 Beta system, although it gets today's
Back then the "View Page Source" was MUCH better than it is now - it was a proper motif text widget that you could Search in! Well thats progress for you
Can't we just give it a symbol and call it "The Operating System formerly known as linux" ?!!
Jeopardy is trivia, so linux is trivial.
heh, knew it all along.
Well, when I was first introduced to Linux (over the net, ie: someone mentioned the name in text form), I assumed it was pronounced lie-nix as in you-nix but with lie instead of you.
/ english.au, which is the man himself pronouncing the name for the operating system he made. He says it Lee-nix (or thats how I hear it).
I then heard other people (in real life) pronounce it lin-ix (lin as in linen, ix as in icks, so linicks). I then found the sound ftp://ftp.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/SillySounds
Anyway, I now call it lin-x, because I believe its the "correct" way...and plus, it rhymes with cynics.
- I don't have an attitude problem, you have a perception problem. -
If the article I was reading recently is correct there might not even have been a single person going by the name of "Christopher Columbus", can't remember where it was though (Hmnn, might even have been an offtopic in a /. thread). At least you were actuate is saying land rather than most people who say "discover" ;-)
Actually, I kinda like the WTF pronunciation.
Someone did... /bin/tsh is the Trusted shell used in Trusted Solaris 1.2 for executing privelged programs from the trusted path then using the Admin or ISSO roles.
;-)
What about the way you say zsh
I say Zed Shell. I've heared others say ZEE Shell because it is a parody on csh when saying the letter Z the American way (ie ZEE rather than ZED).
There is a basis for "Lin-nucks" - linux was based on minix, pronounced "lin-nix". Of course, that's just my interpretation of how "lin-nucks" is pronounced...
OK, this is just weird. Do you pronounce "milk" as "melk" too?
Yeah, whatever...
csh - Sea Shell
tcsh - Tee Sea Shell
lilo - Lie-Low
cache - Cah-Shay (It's french, damnit)
~ - Til-Dah
# - hash
! - exclamation point (although lately i've used bang like the rest of the world)
BTW, cache must be cah-shay, because:
a) it's french (at least originally)
b) you can't say CASH because if you're working on an e-commerce system things become confusing really quickly.
---
- Give a man a fire and he's warm for a day, but set him on fire and he's warm for the rest of his life.
or as I prefer in my Tolkien-esque mentality
Mordeth?????
*OK I'M OPENING UP A WHOLE CAN OF WORMS ON THAT ONE*
at least for those who know how to translate Quenya...
OK as long as I'm rambling, is it Tol-ken or Tol-KEY-enn????
OK OK Grossly offtopic, but isn't most of this thread?
-- Life: Hate the Game... Love the cereal
From the Linux-FAQ:
Here in .au, it's Lee-nucks, and definately not Lin-nucks :)
--
jamesw
I've been a tolkien fan for a long time and i've never heard it pronounced Tol-KEY-enn; it's always been Tol-ken.
5. There is no basis for the "Lin-nucks" pronunciation.
6. "Lin-icks" is a subtle variant on #5.
I am fairly confident #6 came into use because it rhymes with Unix (you-nicks) and Minix (Min-icks), both of which Linux has as ancestors.
(Personally, I use #6, mainly because it is what I heard first, but that's just me.)
dragonhawk@iname.microsoft.com
I do not like Microsoft. Remove them from my email address.
Okay, that's IT! If anyone has ever run sndconfig (and if you haven't, do it just to see the point i'm going to make), you'll hear the Linus himself pronounces Linux LIN-ux! Not Ly-nux! Yes, his name very well might be pronounced Ly-nus, and yes, great argument, but HE HIMSELF pronounces it for you in sndconfig, and it IS LIN-ux! End of story!
I remember a while ago they had an answer like this: "This is what http://www.jeopardy.com is" and someone answered what is a domain name? and got the point.
Of course that is just plain wrong. www.jeopardy.com is a domain name. http://www.jeopardy.com is an URL. After that blatant mistake I know the writers there are clueless. I even wrote Jeopardy about their mistake and no answer.
I don't watch the show but did flip through and saw that question and answer. Even my wife was surprised such a blatant mis pronunciation was allowed. Oh well, Jeopardy and technology -- bad combination.
"Remember, it's spelled N-E-T-S-C-A-P-E, but it is pronounced Mozilla!"
dragonhawk@iname.microsoft.com
I do not like Microsoft. Remove them from my email address.
Duh
That's the way I've always heard it.
"We're sorry, but the website you're trying to reach has been disconnected."
That in no way SOUNDS right. The intelligent decision would have been to use a short "i" since the word is NOT spelled Line-ux. There is not "e-" in Linux, so intelligently it's a short "i", and it in no way sounds intelligent with a long "i". Every person i've heard pronounce it with a long "i" sounded completely ridiculous to me.
Hmmm. Wonder if Stallman is stewing over the fact that the correct Jeopardy answer wasn't 'What is GNU/Linux'? ;-)
f-suck is much more evocative of the grinding noise my machine does in process
ef-suck
as in, the grinding noise my machine makes
Linux can be obtained for free (as in free beer).
The fact that it is also free-as-in-free-speech doesn't change the fact that Linux can be obtained for free-as-in-free-beer.
Jeopardy isn't a forum for free software. It would be idiotic for the Jeopardy writers to try to explain that distinction in a Jeopardy question!
Lighten up! It's a game show, ferchisssake!
The post tried not to start a holy war, but I see 350+ posts, so it looks like it did.
I pronounce it like this -- Linux!
-d9
You're right. Any doofus knows the correction pronunciation of Windows: it's "WINE-dohs".
I say "surge-eeh-oh".
They say "oh!"
I say "but we use the Brazillian pronunciation, it's from my wife's family: sayre-ghee-oh".
They just nod and call him "surge-eeh-oh" from then on. I know I should have put more thought into his name.
Stupid sexy Flanders.
Here's the wav file: http://www.trigger.net/~aok/ar ticles/LinusTorvalds.wav I'm gonna make a bold statement and suggest that Linus himself knows the correct pronunciation. This pronunciation, of course, is subject to gross Americanization, so Americanized equivalents of his pronunciation should also suffice. It's not LIE-nux. So There. :oP hehehe ZP
Got Rhinos?
I personally pronounce it LIN-ucks because IMHO it's just easier to say. Therefore in the tradition of tab completions......
...I guess we can't consider Linux a "mainstream" OS quite yet. Only fairly arcane knowledge gets the $1000 (or #1000) answer, right?
Read This story written by Lars Wirzenius, speech given at 1998 Linux Expo.
There he states a well known fact (in Finland), that it was Ari Lemmke who gave Linux the name Linux.
Snippet from Liw's text:
Allow me to explain why!
In 'english.au', Linus pronounces Linux 'Linux'. Americans, confused by an unfamiliar phoneme, start pronouncing it using a short 'i', English's closest equivalent. Linus moves to America and eventually starts pronouncing Linux 'Linnux' because it's too much effort to fight the tide.
I maintain that the correct way to pronounce it is using the appropriate transliteration (that's not the right word - whatever the phonetic equivalent of transliteration is). So in English, it's 'Lie-nux'.
Just my 2 Euro's worth.
Hamish
"Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools, because they have to say something" - Plato
fox paws
pot pour rye
*duck*
Need a Catering Connection
I live in Ohio too, and they pronounce it wrong around Toledo because that is the correct way to prounce the name of a small suburb here. It bugs me when I hear it because they pronounce it correctly back in Indiana where I'm originally from.
I switch between "pound" and "sharp" for # (though when I install and rpm, I watch the "hash marks" go by)...
On a different note... whenever I type a "$" I think of it as "ssh" (as in "be quiet", not secure shell) in my head - anyone else do this? So I do a lot of "ell ess bang ssh"...
--
This
Yes, but I believe only 'theatre' is used in the Queen's English.
Well then I guess they were just lying. Oh well... Besides, anyone who hasn't heard about Linux already probably shouldn't (with a few exceptions), and most anyone who has ever run Linux knows how good it is and doesn't need anyone else to tell them that.
K.A.
Jesus Christ. And some of you actually wonder _why_ your labeled as geeks! Only geeks would fill the entire message board with pronunciation arguments while ignoring the main issue! "Its the Hamner-Brown Comet" "Noo, Hammer-Brown" "Your both wrong, its Lucifer's Hammer!" BANG. Btw, this 'Linus Torvalds' characters knows not what he is talking about. Its pronounced 'Leen-ooks'. =P
Actually, Linux was initially (emphasis on initially) based on Minix, probably because it was the only x86 Unix that Mr. Torvalds could afford. (I don't think FreeBSD was quite out yet. AFAIK, there was a 386BSD, but there were some issues I think with AT&T and the guys at Berkeley.)
"There are no shortcuts to any place worth going."
"Be regular and orderly in your life, so that you may be violent and original in your work." -Flaubert
Um, I don't know about your accuracy as it relates to the name Linus. Under RedHat 6.0 ( and I think 5.x) the configuration of the sound card is tested by playing a sound file where Linus pronounces his first name like
lee-o-nis. Perhaps it's his accent, but it sure doesn't sound like linn-us to me.
However I do agree that Linus pronoinces Linux, linn-icks.
LK
"Hi. This is my friend, Jack Shit, and you don't know him." - Lord Kano