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If you want to hear Linus himself say how he pronounces it download
english.au or swedish.au from ftp.funet.fi (in
/pub/OS/Linux/PEOPLE/Linus/SillySounds). If you have a soundcard or the
PC-speaker audio driver you can hear them by typing
cat english.au >/dev/audio
The difference isn't in the pronunciation of Linux but in the language
Linus uses to say hello. The English version was parodied very well by Jin
Choi as
"Hi, my name is Leenoos Torvahlds and I pronounce Leenooks as Leenooks."
For the benefit of those of you who don't have the equipment or
inclination: Linus pronounces Linux approximately as Leenus, where the ee
is as in feet
but rather shorter and the u is like a much shorter version of the French
eu sound in peur (pronouncing it as the u in put is probably passable).
When speaking English I pronounce it Lie-nucks (u as in bucket) --- this
is an anglicised pronunciation based on the analogy with Linus' name,
which in
English is usually pronounced Lie-nus (u as in put). It is of course quite
acceptable and common to modify the pronunciation of a proper noun when it
changes languages.
I think I can safely say that the pronunciation Linnucks (short i as in
pit, short u as in bucket) is wrong in English, as it is not the original
Swedish
pronunciation, not a sensible direct anglicisation of it, and not based on
the anglicised version of Linus' name.
On Fri, 28 Mar 1997 AlumsHubby -at- AOL -dot- COM wrote:
> I'm about to start teaching myself C programming and general UNIX techniques
> using that great piece o' cloneware...and since I'm a nomenclature freak, I
> just gotta start by asking...Does anybody know, definitively and
> authoritatively, which pronunciation is correct? Some of my C++ developer
> friends and I had a good-natured but spirited argument about it, and they
> wound up insisting (maybe only half tongue-in-cheek) that since they're paid
> to program and I'm paid to write, they'd know better than I, ipso
> facto....but some of them differed on how it's pronounced anyway.
>
> Proud to be a part of this number (by which I mean, the mailing list)...
>
> Bill McClain (AlumsHubby -at- aol -dot- com)
> "Nomenclature is destiny"
>
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