From iOS to SQL: The world's most incorrectly pronounced tech terms:
A lot of people pronounce common tech terms wrong, from iOS to SQL to Qi. It's understandable: Some of the proper or official pronunciations of these terms are counterintuitive at best. Still, we think it's time to clear the air on a few of them.
To that end, we're starting a discussion and inviting you to share your examples with us. Next week, we'll look into a bunch of them and publish a pronunciation guide.
[...] Below are a handful that have come up within the Ars [Technica] staff. Again, dear readers, feel free to discuss and debate, and to introduce some others of your own. For some of these and other terms suggested, we'll follow up with an article making the case for some correct (or, at least official) pronunciations versus incorrect ones, sourced as best as we can.
- [...]iOS and beOS
- [...]OS X and iPhone X
- [...]SQL and MySQL
- [...]Linux
- [...]Qi
- [...]Huawei
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Bot on Monday May 18 2020, @01:38AM (8 children)
> A lot of people pronounce common tech terms wrong
but but your barbaric language of obvious demonic origin does NOT have a concept of inherently right or wrong pronunciation, so the right pronunciation is the one that the other guy identifies, no more no less. Every time people needs to make sure the other guys get the correct letters around here, we stop using the anglosaxon pronunciation and use the well defined Italian one. Works every time, even without expanding acronyms.
Account abandoned.
(Score: 3, Funny) by petecox on Monday May 18 2020, @02:45AM (1 child)
You make a valid point but can we all agree its pronounced Jigga as in Jiggawatts?!
(Score: 3, Informative) by driverless on Monday May 18 2020, @11:09AM
Who you callin' a Jigga, honky?
(Score: 3, Informative) by Arik on Monday May 18 2020, @02:49AM (5 children)
If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
(Score: 2) by Bot on Monday May 18 2020, @07:43AM (4 children)
I am not sure of what you are referring to, anyway English, like other languages, considers vowels as something to separate consonants with. Not so in God given languages like Latin.
Account abandoned.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Arik on Monday May 18 2020, @11:59AM (2 children)
See;
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Vowel_Shift
In short, the way we pronounce vowels under certain conditions changes dramatically a few centuries back. Spellings remain conservative, which helps to keep the spoken dialects from diverging too far from the literary language, but leaves us with a rather complicated relationship between the written and spoken form of the vowels.
So for a couple of examples;
'Bite' used to be pronounced as it's written; two syllables, almost like the german word for please. After the great vowel shift, it's still spelled the same way, but the long 'i' has become a dipthong 'aj' and the final vowel has been elided completely.
The first person singular pronoun used to be 'ic' (very much like german 'ich'.) But just like in 'bite' the long 'i' became a dipthong 'aj'. (The 'c' was lost separately, leaving the modern 'I.')
English still has pretty much the same vowel values as other languages using the same alphabet (the latin alphabet) if you pick the right words. So 'a' as in papa, 'e' as in pet, 'i' as in bit, and so on. But if a word existed in old english and had a long vowel, then it's probably changed dramatically.
See also;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hqQpziIETo [6:26 craptube video; the great vowel shift]
If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 18 2020, @02:51PM (1 child)
While there are some issues relating to spelling that occurred in part due to the Great Vowel Shift, it's not really correct to blame the inconsistency of English spelling on it.
No, that's simply wrong. "Bite" wasn't pronounced like a German short 'i' -- the 'i' was long even in Middle English. It was pronounced closer to "beat" in Modern English. As for the loss of pronunciation for the final vowel, that had absolutely nothing to do with the GVS, as loss of pronunciation for things like unstressed vowels and final sounds in words is very common over time in most languages.
The GVS simply rearranged the vowel sounds (as well as moving toward diphthongs for many long vowels), but spelling mostly still had a close relationship to pronunciation. Vowels that had previously been long generally remained long; they just were all pronounced differently.
English spelling is a mess for a number of reasons (lots of different stages of importing foreign words from various languages, gradual disconnect of spelling from pronunciation that happens in many languages, strange insertions of silent letters by amateur etymologists in days gone by, etc., etc.). Not all words went through the GVS consistently, so it did contribute to spelling problems with a few words. It's the reason why English vowel sounds often deviate significantly from the sounds those letters have in other European languages, but it wasn't the reason for all (probably not even most) of English's spelling woes.
(Score: 2) by Arik on Saturday May 23 2020, @12:44PM
And I didn't really do that. You're jousting a straw man. The Great Vowel shift was the first large disruption in the spelling of /vowels/ and explains a good bit of the weirdness in English spelling when it comes to /vowels./ Certainly it doesn't explain ALL of it, but context! I brought this up in response to the poster who complained that English uses vowels differently from the common usage in other languages (derived from Latin, like the alphabet itself.) And I pointed out it's not that the original values are gone (a as in papa, e as it net, etc. still match) but just that we have a bunch of alternate values depending on the context, and that situation is specifically rooted in the great vowel shift.
"No, that's simply wrong. "Bite" wasn't pronounced like a German short 'i' -- the 'i' was long even in Middle English. "
Keep jousting that straw man!
I didn't say the i was pronounced short like German, I said the word was pronounced with two syllables like German, which it was. I could have mentioned the difference in the vowel but why? It's irrelevant to the point I was making, and many readers would have no idea what a 'long-i' sounds like anyway.
"As for the loss of pronunciation for the final vowel, that had absolutely nothing to do with the GVS"
And that's absolutely false. You could have argued that it was not the same thing exactly, and made a decent case there, but 'nothing to do with' it? Absolutely wrong. The two changes were at the least intimately connected.
"Vowels that had previously been long generally remained long; they just were all pronounced differently."
Completely incorrect. Long vowels were converted to other vowels - and Modern English has no long vowels as a result. Even if we still /call/ them long vowels in certain context (grammar school teaches much nonsense) that's not what they are.
Anyway pointless post, as you didn't understand what you were replying to.
If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
(Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Monday May 18 2020, @10:59PM
Latin predates Christianity and its monotheism, and was the language of Ancient Rome, which was a polytheistic society that worshiped gods like Saturn, Neptune, and Mars, among many others. So which god gave us Latin?
(Score: 5, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 18 2020, @01:49AM (2 children)
[horse shit]iOS and beOS
[dog shit]OS X and iPhone X
[rat shit]SQL and MySQL
[Linux]Linux
[snake shit]Qi
[panda shit]Huawei
[human shit]Windows
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 18 2020, @01:59AM
[Shit-gates]Windows
(Score: 2) by inertnet on Monday May 18 2020, @08:02AM
[ape shit]Windows
(Score: 0, Disagree) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 18 2020, @01:50AM (12 children)
SQL is pronounced "sequel," right or wrong. You are fighting a (long) lost war.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 18 2020, @04:36AM
Yet I still think "ESS que ell" and say it like that too more often
(Score: 4, Funny) by The Vocal Minority on Monday May 18 2020, @05:31AM (2 children)
The correct pronunciation of SQL is the one that annoys the uptight people around you the most :)
(Score: 5, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 18 2020, @05:47AM (1 child)
That is why I pronounce it MongoDB.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 19 2020, @05:26AM
Your pronunciation is terrible. Are you German with Finnish roots from Gaul?
Its pronounced "Dee Bee two".
Happy to hell you.
Next!
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 18 2020, @05:53AM (2 children)
When referring to the actual textual commands used with a database, I say "ess que ell". When referring to a server product, such as Microsoft's SQL Server, I say "sequel".
This way there's always someone who bitches at me.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 18 2020, @10:16AM (1 child)
I actually do the same. Whenever someone bitches at me, I try to convince them that the official pronunciation is "squeal" and that any deviation from that is equally wrong.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 18 2020, @04:59PM
I pronounce it like "suckle"
(Score: 2) by captain normal on Monday May 18 2020, @05:55AM
http://www.sqlcourse.com/intro.html [sqlcourse.com]
"It is easier to fool someone than it is to convince them that they have been fooled" Mark Twain
(Score: 4, Informative) by Dr Spin on Monday May 18 2020, @10:16AM (1 child)
SQL is pronounced "sequel," - only by the utterly corrupt, moral degenerates, and Microsoft shills.
Sequel was a different product which preceded SQL and fortunately is slightly deader than some undead things.
Its name should never be mentioned in public lest you invoke the devil himself - and you data gets released into the cloud.
Also, anyone who thinks SQL is a Microsoft product should be taken round the back and have the living daylights beaten out of him.
Yes, I know there is MSSQL - I have used the dreaded beast. There are also PostgreSQL and MySQL and a lot of others.
IBM invented the concept. Microsoft is not, and never will be a market leader in this area.
Warning: Opening your mouth may invalidate your brain!
(Score: 2, Disagree) by Grishnakh on Monday May 18 2020, @11:05PM
You seem to have some issues with reality.
1. SQL is pronounced "sequel" whether you like it or not. Proof: countless people actually pronouncing it that way, and it appears to be a majority of people who actually know what SQL is and what it stands for.
2. Any products name "sequels" before the invention of SQL are irrelevant. The *only* that that matters is how the term is pronounced now, by most people.
3. "SQL Server" *is* a Microsoft product whether you like it or not. They bought it and it's theirs, and has been theirs for several decades now. I don't like it either, but I'm not going to deny reality.
4. MS *is* a market leader in this area, again, like it or not. I'm pretty sure if you go look up sales figures for commercial databases, Microsoft's is right up there, probably right behind Oracle (another "dreaded beast"). Again, I don't like it either, and I wish everyone would just convert to PostgreSQL, but it is what it is.
4a. How do you pronounce "MySQL"? As I recall, it was named by some Swedish guy after his daughter, My, which apparently is pronounced like "me" in English, not "my". Does anyone care, or do they just pronounce it "my-sequel"?
(Score: 2) by sjames on Monday May 18 2020, @01:05PM
(Score: 2) by cmdrklarg on Monday May 18 2020, @05:05PM
I prefer to use "squeal".
Answer now is don't give in; aim for a new tomorrow.
(Score: 3, Funny) by Gaaark on Monday May 18 2020, @02:00AM (4 children)
My name is Linus Torvalds, and I pronounce Linux uh, Linux.
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 18 2020, @02:08AM (2 children)
If you like lysol, thank god for trump, it's pronounced ly as in lysol, nuc as in knucklehead, and ... X. Why X? Because it's like unix, got the x in the end, like all cool names.
So it's pronounced "lie knuck X."
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 18 2020, @02:11AM (1 child)
No it's not
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 18 2020, @02:16AM
Oh no?!#E%$
(Score: 4, Informative) by MostCynical on Monday May 18 2020, @03:11AM
here [youtube.com]
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 2) by Rosco P. Coltrane on Monday May 18 2020, @02:03AM (15 children)
They're either acronyms that are so annoying to pronounce people quickly came up with an easy shortcut that stuck (sequel, scuzzy...) or stuff that was just made up from the get-go by whatever marketdroid came up with the name (chi). You can pronounce Ess Queue El if you so wish. It just marks you as "one who doesn't know the name" guy in the technical meeting room, with the hipsters in the know quietly pitying your ignorance.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 18 2020, @02:17AM
Actually, I wear my ignorance of SQL as a badge of honor.
(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 18 2020, @02:25AM (1 child)
The language was originally named "SEQUEL" for Structured English Query Language. Alas, that name was already taken, so they had to change it. Thus, renamed to SQL, pronounced "SEQUEL."
Now you know.
:-D
(Score: 2) by Dr Spin on Monday May 18 2020, @10:20AM
No. Sequel was a previous language, similar in concept but over ambitions in its
attempts to be English-like (for 1963) and was replaced by SQL - a completely different, less ambitions
and more realistic project, after people discovered parsing English was more difficult than parsing COBOL.
Warning: Opening your mouth may invalidate your brain!
(Score: 2) by hendrikboom on Monday May 18 2020, @02:43AM
Isn't that the name of a persocon in Chobits? Pronounced like the beginning of the word cheese?
(Score: 2) by Arik on Monday May 18 2020, @03:40AM (4 children)
That's the one you're wrong on. Qi is the pinyin spelling of the Chinese word for breath. Before pinyin, it was usually spelled ch'i. In addition to meditation and martial arts, the word should be familiar to many from the game Wei qi, more often known in the western world by it's Japanese name, Go.
So no marketdroid made that one up. They just misappropriated it.
If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 18 2020, @06:00AM (3 children)
Uh, no. The former is 氣, qì, and means breath, pneuma etc. 棋, qí, is a chess type game (圍棋 == surround chess, go).
(Score: 2) by Arik on Monday May 18 2020, @11:32AM (1 child)
But I'm not unaware of the tones, I was just trying to avoid making my post unnecessarily long and confusing for those who don't really want a full lesson on mandarin. And despite knowing the tones, you seem to have missed my point, perhaps because you don't know the game.
In the game weiqi (qi here is rising tone, meaning game) one of the fundamental concepts is qi (and here it's falling tone, meaning breath.)
Each stone, or group of stones, must have at least one breath available at all times. Should the last available breath be lost, then the stone or group of stones are removed from play. A group of stones may have an /internal/ breath hole, which makes it more difficult to attack, or it may even reach the point of having /two/ internal breath holes, in which case it is invulnerable to attack.
If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
(Score: 3, Touché) by Phoenix666 on Monday May 18 2020, @01:19PM
You're both so, so wrong. Qi means "weird," as in 奇怪, which is clearly an ancient Chinese reference to Arik's choice of typeface.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 18 2020, @08:01PM
whoever said "chinese chars" are picto grams originally is talking shit.
no one making up pictograms with a mediocre sense of logic would not consider a "magical fire embodied into life" pictogram to not have a circle in the middle.
maybe, just maybe, it's just phony and the pictogram creator knew it all along and the REAL pictogram revolves around ... $
(Score: 3, Funny) by canopic jug on Monday May 18 2020, @05:02AM (3 children)
I've only every heard posers and microsofters call it "sequel". But what would they be doing near a technical meeting?
Money is not free speech. Elections should not be auctions.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 18 2020, @05:53AM
Glad to know that both Donald Chamberlin and Raymond Boyce are considered a posers and Microsofters.
(Score: 5, Informative) by coolgopher on Monday May 18 2020, @05:56AM (1 child)
My main objection against pronouncing SQL "sequel" is that that was in fact the predecessor to SQL. SQL = Structured Query Language. SEQUEL = Structured English QUEry Language. If you're in fact referring to the IBM version from 1974 then by all means call it "sequel", but for those of us who don't want to be dragged into legacy support, "ess cue ell" keeps it clear.
(Score: 2, Disagree) by Grishnakh on Monday May 18 2020, @11:10PM
You've got to be kidding. The reality is that 99% of people who actually use SQL *today* call it "sequel", and almost none of them remember some long-dead predecessor from the 1960s or early 70s, nor were most of them even alive then. There's no "legacy support" for this thing just like there's no legacy support now for MULTICS, so its existence is utterly irrelevant except as a historical curiosity, just like the existence of SCO Unix and Coherent Unix.
(Score: 2) by shortscreen on Monday May 18 2020, @06:07AM (1 child)
My prefered method for solving these mysteries (when available) is to check the kana [wikipedia.org]. Es kyuu eru. Settled.
How about that thing that directs the packets this way and that? Ruutaa [wikipedia.org]
Although sometimes there is a term which is so bad in every possible way that nobody can make sense of it and one has to take matters into one's own hands. I decided long ago that I would refer to this [wikipedia.org] simply as "duh."
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Monday May 18 2020, @01:22PM
Shortscreen, what you say is the road to madness. It would lead to you pronounce the word, "Makudonarudozu," instead of the proper, the sensible, "Mickey-D's."
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 2) by MostCynical on Monday May 18 2020, @02:22AM
Lewis Carroll had Humpty explain it best [goodreads.com]
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 18 2020, @02:31AM (3 children)
Pronounced "Postgres."
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 18 2020, @02:39AM (1 child)
Honey Bunches of Oats. The bestest cerial.
Fuck Count Chocula.
(Score: 1) by Ethanol-fueled on Monday May 18 2020, @08:18PM
Racist motherfucker. Honey Bunches of Oats is for rich White Boys, the real White Trash prefer Oh's.
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Monday May 18 2020, @01:23PM
I always thought that rhymed with "boogers" as a quasi-French, cum-English product such as "Worchester" being pronounced "Wooster."
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 18 2020, @05:56AM (1 child)
What we should all take away from this is the realization that ArsTechnica must really be hurting for hits at the moment. So they came up with something for everyone to fight over.
Oh, how I'd love to see that site shut down, the employees fired, the forum posters scattered to the uncaring winds.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 18 2020, @02:48PM
Why ? Because they're liberal ?
(Score: 2) by Muad'Dave on Monday May 18 2020, @12:14PM
I pronounce it "squeal", which usually elicits a chuckle.
I also call 'log4j' log for Jesus, but that's another subject.
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Monday May 18 2020, @01:26PM
The stupid article doesn't even proclaim which pronunciation is proper so we can burn the heretics. I shined up my pitchfork for nothing.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 18 2020, @04:26PM
I’ve been working in SQL for 30 years and nearly everyone uses them interchangeably while absolutely no one gives the flyingest of fucks if one is more “correct” than the other.
(Score: 2) by Megahard on Monday May 18 2020, @05:45PM
Pronounced as "router", no, wait, "router". I mean "router".