dmiessler.com | grep understanding - Latest Comments in The Pronunciation Of Linux

Re: The Pronunciation Of Linux

cantormath — Wed, 06 Dec 2006 23:25:00 -0000

Here is Linus Torvalds clearing things up for you.
" Linux is alway Linux" - L.T.
http://tinyurl.com/ybrh4s

Re: The Pronunciation Of Linux

maxo — Tue, 05 Dec 2006 10:53:04 -0000

The Linus/Linux point is not important because the English alphabet is not phonetic. Just like son, and Don. The o has a completely different sound in each word. In English there is a great amount of play we are allowed to do with our vowels. The change in most English accents deals primarily with the pronunciation of vowels. Even when hearing Linus talk we naturally convert the "Leenooks" to be "Lehnicks" because we naturally translate the accent in our mind.
In short, comparing the pronunciation of one word with another doesn't prove anything. Proper nouns can work however we decide we want them to work.

Re: The Pronunciation Of Linux

deadcrow — Fri, 20 Oct 2006 19:43:45 -0000

I don't care how even Linus himself says he wants it pronounced. What actually comes out of his mouth, using "California English based phonetics", is "LEE-nooks"!

Re: The Pronunciation Of Linux

Virginia — Fri, 11 Aug 2006 00:59:35 -0000

The word adobe is pronounced &-'dO-bE and is three syllables. A listening button is provided at Merriam-Webster -- online, for those who are too hard-nosed to look in a printed dictionary and would rather argue about how many teeth are in a horse's mouth.

http://www.m-w.com/dictiona...

You can also try calling Adobe customer service and asking them, instead of arguing here. (800) 833-6687

I called McAfee for that reason, after hearing someone say mc-AFF-ee too many times.

As for Linux, I simply disagree with almost every argument here in favor of lie-nucks. Definitely the pronunciation given by Linus himself is best, with a very slight modification from the Scandinavian accent. I can't understand why there was ever a large number of people who thought otherwise.

I'm not a linguist, but I do have an English degree and above-average pronunciation, and lie-nucks drives me crazy. I suspect the Anglo pronunciation of Linus isn't any more correct anyway (maybe a Greek-speaker could clear it up better).

Linus: from the Greek, meaning flax(en)

Linus is taken from the refrain ai-linon, or "woe is me"

From the Greek name Λινος (Linos)
lee'-nos

Pronunciation button available here -- #3044 (although my speaker connection doesn't seem to work at the moment)

http://www.searchgodsword.o...

Re: The Pronunciation Of Linux

Karen — Fri, 04 Aug 2006 11:06:45 -0000

Here it is:
"Adobe Systems (NASDAQ: ADBE) (LSE: ABS) is an American computer software company headquartered in San Jose, California, United States that was founded in December 1982 by John Warnock and Charles Geschke. They founded Adobe after leaving Xerox PARC in order to further develop and commercialize the PostScript page description language. Adobe played a significant role in sparking the desktop publishing revolution when Apple Computer licensed PostScript for use in the LaserWriter printer product line in 1985. The company name Adobe comes from the Adobe Creek, which ran behind the house of one of the company's founders.

Adobe acquired its former competitor, Macromedia, in December 2005."

Re: The Pronunciation Of Linux

Karen — Fri, 04 Aug 2006 10:51:18 -0000

I lived in Denmark for ten years where we all pronounced it as "ah-dobe". I found it very strange when moving back to the States, it was pointed out to me that I was pronouncing it incorrectly.

Well, why do people always say "to-ki-yo" when it's phonetically spelled and pronounced "Tokyo"?

As for names, in Denmark they pronounce mine "kaahn" like Genghis Khan - or James Caan. Daniel's right - you make adjustments for your audience.

So, really, who originally invented Adobe and is the author, like Linux, adamant that it be pronounced in this arabic/spanish/egyptian way??

Re: The Pronunciation Of Linux

jeff — Mon, 24 Apr 2006 09:34:19 -0000

"Yeah, dude…”adobe” is from the Spanish adobar which means “TO PLASTER” and is traceable through Arabic tauf to an Egyptian hieroglyph meaning “brick”. The word may be pronounced ah-doh-bee or uh-doh-bee."

Lazy Bastard, did you mean that Adobe was pronounced ah-doh-bee in arabic pronounciation of english?

In english, the "e" sound is silent like in "probe". Unless there is a y or i in the word, the name is pronounced with no y or i sounds. If this is the case, the English pronounciatiaton of Adobe is in fact, "Ah-dobe", not "ah-doh-bee" unless you're talking arabic context.

Re: The Pronunciation Of Linux

Lazy Bastard — Thu, 14 Jul 2005 22:58:40 -0000

Yeah, dude..."adobe" is from the Spanish adobar which means "TO PLASTER" and is traceable through Arabic tauf to an Egyptian hieroglyph meaning "brick". The word may be pronounced ah-doh-bee or uh-doh-bee.

Re: The Pronunciation Of Linux

sincere — Sat, 18 Jun 2005 00:43:11 -0000

thanks for clearing this up, I've always said linnux, then heard someone bust out the one that rhymes with Linus (and Lucy). As far as Adobe... Dude, that's a WORD already. They didn't make that one up. Look it up in any respectable dictionary. My freaking house is made out of it.

Re: The Pronunciation Of Linux

nova20 — Tue, 29 Mar 2005 22:30:44 -0000

You say toe-may-toe, I say toe-mah-toe...

Let's just call the whole thing off.

Re: The Pronunciation Of Linux

Daniel Miessler — Tue, 29 Mar 2005 09:34:11 -0000

"Personally, I say leenuhks in Swedish and linnuhks in English. I pronounce my middle name as leenuhs in Swedish and lienuhs in English. Perhaps I should pronounce it “hypocrite”."

Nah, I don't think so. Since communication is the main goal when using language, it's quite alright (in my book anyway) for someone to make slight adjustments to pronunciation for their audience.

-Daniel

Re: The Pronunciation Of Linux

Pedant — Tue, 29 Mar 2005 08:39:38 -0000

Thanks for the "sinus" and "minus" examples Alex. That's the point I was attempting to make earlier (obviously less successfully).

Meanwhile, the Adobe/abode issue remains unresolved ...

Re: The Pronunciation Of Linux

alex — Tue, 29 Mar 2005 04:13:45 -0000

Linus is from a Swedish-speaking part of Finland, so his first language is Swedish, albeit with a Finnish accent (which among other things makes "uh" sound more like "oo"). He would pronounce Finland very much the same as it is pronounced in English. If he were to speak Finnish, he would pronounce it Suomi, as this is the Finnish name for the country. This is all quite irrelevant, but *my* OC does not allow such things to go uncorrected.

Now, for a bit more relevance, consider that most of the words containing "-inu-" and pronounced "-eynu-" in English are from Latin: sinus, minus, and the name Linus. Incidentally, these are all pronounced "-eenu-" in Swedish.

So does that mean that "eynu" or "eenu" is correct in English? I suppose it depends on whether or not you want to continue the long-standing English practise of bastardising proper names from other languages, but that's not my call to make.

Personally, I say leenuhks in Swedish and linnuhks in English. I pronounce my middle name as leenuhs in Swedish and lienuhs in English. Perhaps I should pronounce it "hypocrite".

Re: The Pronunciation Of Linux

chap — Tue, 29 Mar 2005 02:43:25 -0000

I didn't know Checkpoint knew about linux... Don't seem to be the case when you look at their VPN client, and you see that the only version available is an rpm for RedHat 7.2... Been asking them for a couple years for a vpn client for linux, they never did it. So I switched all I could to Cisco, which maintain linux vpn clients :) Wake up Checkpoint.

Re: The Pronunciation Of Linux

Daniel Miessler — Mon, 28 Mar 2005 23:03:33 -0000

"I guess that means we pronounce Linus that way too."

Yeah, I think you're right about that. That's how I'm going to say it anyway. I think "technically" we're supposed to say "Lee-noose", like he does, but I doubt he minds if we match it to the way he wants Linux pronounced.

-Daniel

Re: The Pronunciation Of Linux

Pedant — Mon, 28 Mar 2005 22:50:44 -0000

I stand corrected. I guess that means we pronounce Linus that way too.

Re: The Pronunciation Of Linux

Daniel Miessler — Mon, 28 Mar 2005 20:53:26 -0000

Right, but he specifically says in the documentary Revolution OS that "there's only one way to say Linux", and that's with a short "i" sound, as in "Linen".

He *specifically* states this, in his own words. In other words, he's saying Lye-nux is not right, nor is Lee-nux.

It's his word; he created it. If he says it's Lynnuks (with a short "i" sound) then I'm going to go with that.

-Daniel

Re: The Pronunciation Of Linux

Pedant — Mon, 28 Mar 2005 20:42:25 -0000

Heh ... I was talking English pronunciation, not Finnish, dammit!

Re: The Pronunciation Of Linux

Daniel Miessler — Mon, 28 Mar 2005 20:35:38 -0000

"If you pronounce Linus “lie-nus”, why wouldn’t you pronounce Linux “lie-nux”?"

Because Linus himself said that's not the correct way to say it. ;)

-Daniel

Re: The Pronunciation Of Linux

Pedant — Mon, 28 Mar 2005 20:30:34 -0000

There's a simple rule in English which goes something like: a vowel says its name if it's followed by a consonant, followed by another vowel. If you pronounce Linus "lie-nus", why wouldn't you pronounce Linux "lie-nux"? All that's changed is one letter.

I also feel strongly that "Adobe" should be pronounced the same way as "abode", as the only difference is the consonants have been swapped around. However people persist in saying "Adobie".