Abstract
- Have you ever wondered what is the correct pronunciation of some
of the tech words? Well, I compiled a list of some of these words
with their correct pronunciation.
GNOME - GNOME stands for "GNU
Network Object Model Environment". GNU stands for "GNU's
Not Unix", and has always been officially pronounced "guh-NEW"
to minimize confusion. Since GNU is GNOME's first name, GNOME is
officially pronounced "guh-NOME".
However, many people pronounce GNOME as just "NOME" (like those
short people from legend), nobody will hurt you if you find this
pronunciation easier.
LINUX - Linux" is a computer operating system
kernel commonly used in GNU/Linux
operating system such as Debian
and RedHat.
Here's the gaffer and chief kernel hacker,
Linus Torvalds showing us—in his very own words (with Swedish/Finnish
accent)—how to say Linux: torvalds-says-linux.wav
(81kB).
There are at least three common pronunciations, and none are authoritative.
Because Linus is an ethnic Swede from Finland, he pronounces it
with a short "ee" sound we don't have in English. Some people pronounce
it "Line-ix" like the English version of Linus. Others pronounce
it "linnix", trying to imitate the Swedish. (The last vowel, being
unstressed, can sound like a short i, short u, or schwa, as is normal
rules of English.)
Now that Linus has been in the US a few years, he's starting to
adopt an American pronunciation. When he spoke at the LinuxWorld
in '98, he pronounced his name "Line-us" and his OS "linnix". Even
when he used both in the same sentence. However, he has said he
doesn't care how people pronounce it. He just wants people to use
it.
SuSE - SuSE stands for System und Software Entwicklung,
which is German for "System and software development".
The closest English approximation to the German pronunciation is
something like soo'-sah with the stress on the first syllable (that's
how suse.com says to pronounce it.
Of course, that's not a natural pronunciation for a native English
speaker. The only e's at the ends of English words that are not
silent are long (double e's), and this influences a lot of native
English speakers to pronounce SuSE like Susie.
Debian -Debian
GNU/Linux is a free distribution of the GNU/Linux
operating
system.
Debian is pronounced Deb'-ee-en, with a short e in Deb, and emphasis
on the first syllable. This word is a contraction of the names of
Debra and Ian Murdock, who founded the project. (Dictionaries seem
to offer some ambiguity in the pronunciation of Ian (!), but Ian
prefers ee'-en.)
GIF - The GIF graphics file format was invented
by CompuServe in 1987. In the years since, a debate has been raging
as to the correct way to pronounce "GIF": like "jif",
or with a hard 'g' as in "gift" as a majority of Mac users
seem to prefer.
It's pronounced like "jif". Period. The end. That's final.
End of story.
JPEG - JPEG stands for Joint
Photographic Experts Group, the original name of the committee
that wrote the standard, and is pronounced "jay-peg."