Linux - How do we say it ?

[milomak]

Oh FFS. I've been pronouncing it Dee-bee-an.

I swear these guys do this just to screw with us.

/heads off to Linux elocution class

From Debbie and Ian.

 

[Knyro]

From Debbie and Ian.

Yes I know that but it is still very counter intuitive.

 

[milomak]

Yes I know that but it is still very counter intuitive.

Your method seems counterintuitive. Debbie is shortened to to Deb just like the character in Dexter. And well Ian is Ian. Put them together and viola.

 

[Knyro]

Your method seems counterintuitive. Debbie is shortened to to Deb just like the character in Dexter. And well Ian is Ian. Put them together and viola.

Let me explain why.

I'd wager that most people come across the word "Debian" well before finding out its etymology. Usually when a vowel is followed by a consonant then another vowel the first vowel is a long vowel. If I had to read you username aloud I'd say my-low-mack for precisely this reason. The "i" and "o" are long vowels according to this rule of thumb.

That is why many people say Dee-bee-an and Ligh-nucks, because that is the most intuitive way to say it. Only when they find out the background of the words and the proper pronunciation do they change. This would not happen at the rate it does if it were not counter intuitive.

 

[milomak]

I say

Ligh-nucks

+1

I used to say this before I started saying it the proper way (still feels weird though). I don't know where everyone else got "line-ex" from, unless they mean the same thing and just spelled it differently.

so why didn't you go with lee noox then?

 

[milomak]

I'd wager that most people come across the word "Debian" well before finding out its etymology. Usually when a vowel is followed by a consonant then another vowel the first vowel is a long vowel. If I had to read you username aloud I'd say my-low-mack for precisely this reason. The "i" and "o" are long vowels according to this rule of thumb.

That is why many people say Dee-bee-an and Ligh-nucks, because that is the most intuitive way to say it. Only when they find out the background of the words and the proper pronunciation do they change. This would not happen at the rate it does if it were not counter intuitive.

the full message

 

[Knyro]

so why didn't you go with lee noox then?

For exactly the same reason, because the long "i" is pronounced "eye" not "ee"

Usually when a vowel is followed by a consonant then another vowel the first vowel is a long vowel.

I assumed you would be able to extrapolate from the example where I used your username.

l-eye-nucks / ligh-nucks
m-eye-low-mack / my-low-mack

The "u" does not have the consonant-vowel combination after it so that is why most people do not use the long "u" sound, which is pronounced "oo" or "you" in most cases

 

[darkfire2010]

In my personal opinion and trying to stay in the traditional Afrikaans culture.

Linux in Afrikaans is pronounced as "Leer iets" meaning “learn something”

 

[Arthur]

No further discussion necessary.

It's "LIN-ucks".

The horse's mouth has thus decreed. Easily found using your fave search engine.