On Mon, Jun 11, 2012 at 3:57 PM, Jon "maddog" Hall <mad...@li.org> wrote: > On Mon, 2012-06-11 at 15:30 -0500, Harley Laue wrote: >> On Mon, Jun 11, 2012 at 1:15 AM, Dr. H. Nikolaus Schaller >> <h...@goldelico.com> wrote: >> > Linux is pronounced in english as "Line-ugs" (/ˈlɪnəks/ [1]). I.e. it >> > should be "phon-ugs". >> > [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux >> >> Just as an FYI from a native speaker, /ˈlɪnəks/ would be lin-əks With >> "lin" which sounds like bin or the proper name Lynn > > Except that Linus' name is pronounced 'Lee-nus', not "Lin-us" or > "Lie-nus". Therefore if the kernel was named after him, it would have > been pronounced "Lee-nux". > > As the various groups went back and forth with the pronunciations of > "Linux", Linus created a .au file (Ogg had not been developed yet) and > put it in the kernel sources. You can listen to that audio file, > converted to .ogg, at the Wikipedia site. > > Seemingly one of the vast numbers of people could say "Lee-nux" even > with the audio file, so most either called it "Lin-nux" or "Lie-nux". > > After a while Linus said "I do not care what you call it as long as you > use it." and things settled down for a while. > > One day, after Linus had moved to California and was working for > Transmeta, I phoned him, and he answered the phone "Lye-nus". > I said "Lea-nus that is not even your name." He said '"I know, but > nobody in California can say "Lea-nus", so I am "Lye-nus"'. > > And so it goes. While it is nice that everyone pronounce the name > correctly, the most important thing is that they use your project, > including being able to find it using a search engine. > > Warmest regards, > > maddog (all lower case, one word)
I concede that you're right about Linus and Linux. The fact remains for phoenux would still hold since it's pronounced with the same long e sound as in Linus' name. So fee-nəks (or fee-nux) and not phon-ugs. _______________________________________________ Openmoko community mailing list community@lists.openmoko.org http://lists.openmoko.org/mailman/listinfo/community