<story><title>Common pronunciations of Linux directories, commands, etc. (2017)</title><url>https://www.linux.org/threads/common-pronunciations-of-linux-directories-commands-etc.4445/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>BossingAround</author><text>I found there is this &amp;quot;pride in the correct pronunciation&amp;quot; in the opensource community. It seems to be a signal of a group membership and a creed validator.&lt;p&gt;Who cares though? Why does &amp;quot;correct pronunciation&amp;quot; matter? Linux is nowadays used by many more non-native English speakers who will pronounce it very differently.&lt;p&gt;This attempt at correcting others seems like gatekeeping and, to me personally, feels like a very anti-inclusive thing to do.&lt;p&gt;Tangentially, the fact that some of the pronunciation is so non-intuitive (e.g. &amp;#x2F;etc -&amp;gt; etsy) should be a bug, not a feature and pride point. Can you imagine if you reported that a workflow is non-intuitive in a piece of SW and the devs told you &amp;quot;we know, cool, right?!&amp;quot;</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>combatentropy</author><text>It is for the same reason that anyone ever nudges anyone else about pronunciation, spelling, or grammar: speed of communication.&lt;p&gt;If you pronounce &amp;quot;&amp;#x2F;etc&amp;quot; as &amp;quot;et cetera&amp;quot;, then it will add a step in me parsing your speech (&amp;quot;Oh, he means &amp;#x27;etsy&amp;#x27;&amp;quot;).&lt;p&gt;Second, now I have an awkward decision to make when speaking back to you. Do I adapt my pronunciation to yours for the length of this conversation? Or do I pronounce it my way, causing the extra step in your translation of my speech, then also causing you to wonder why I am saying it differently, furthermore causing you to consider whether to change your pronunciation to mine, if nothing else to end this extra thought process every time?&lt;p&gt;Also, if I adapt my pronunciation to yours, I guess now I need to remember to say it your way every time we talk forever, and say it Henry&amp;#x27;s way when speaking to him, and now I have this whole table in my head of various pronunciations for various individuals.&lt;p&gt;And then what happens if I am in conversation with you and Henry at the same time? Do I say things your way, his way, or my way? And what do you do? And what does Henry do?&lt;p&gt;---&lt;p&gt;Or we could just stop, agree upon a common pronunciation, and move forward at the normal speed of conversation.&lt;p&gt;---&lt;p&gt;To clarify, the tone never should be condescending. This is a small matter. Therefore the tone should be light.&lt;p&gt;The pronunciation that is deemed &amp;quot;correct&amp;quot; is usually the one of the majority. So it is just an attempt to get everyone on the same page. It strikes me more as &amp;quot;inclusive&amp;quot; than &amp;quot;anti-inclusive&amp;quot;. If I were &amp;quot;anti-inclusive&amp;quot;, then I would silently let you say it your way, smile inside, and then talk behind your back to Henry about what a newb you are.</text></comment>
<story><title>Common pronunciations of Linux directories, commands, etc. (2017)</title><url>https://www.linux.org/threads/common-pronunciations-of-linux-directories-commands-etc.4445/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>BossingAround</author><text>I found there is this &amp;quot;pride in the correct pronunciation&amp;quot; in the opensource community. It seems to be a signal of a group membership and a creed validator.&lt;p&gt;Who cares though? Why does &amp;quot;correct pronunciation&amp;quot; matter? Linux is nowadays used by many more non-native English speakers who will pronounce it very differently.&lt;p&gt;This attempt at correcting others seems like gatekeeping and, to me personally, feels like a very anti-inclusive thing to do.&lt;p&gt;Tangentially, the fact that some of the pronunciation is so non-intuitive (e.g. &amp;#x2F;etc -&amp;gt; etsy) should be a bug, not a feature and pride point. Can you imagine if you reported that a workflow is non-intuitive in a piece of SW and the devs told you &amp;quot;we know, cool, right?!&amp;quot;</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>dvirsky</author><text>It takes some getting used to this idea, but I try to remember that when someone mispronounces an uncommon word or jargon term, it means that they&amp;#x27;re getting all their information through textual means - which probably means they don&amp;#x27;t have people close to them with the same interests or intellectual curiosity. That usually means, especially if it&amp;#x27;s a younger person, that they are smart and probably lonely.</text></comment>