On 21 Oct 98, Jack Killpatrick wrote:
> A friend of mine who's been using Linux for a few years says it:
>
> lynn icks
Yeah, I've seen that cited as the "correct" pronunication in a couple of
Linux FAQs.
The point is moot though: the nature of English is such that the "correct"
pronunciation is whatever the majority of educated speakers of the
language think it is. We don't, mercifully, have an "Academie Anglaise"
making rulings about acceptable usage from on high, as the French do.
It's like "GIF" files: the owner of the name, Compuserve, has posted
various FAQs and whatnot stipulating that the correct pronunciation is
"jiff" (rather nonsensically, considering it is an acronym for /G/raphics
[hard G] /I/nterchange /F/ormat; and also because there was already a
.JIF graphics extension for a different format); but the majority of people
pronounce it GIF with a hard G, not jiff.
I've heard Linux mentioned in several TV shows recently, and each time
it's been "Line'cks"... I imagine that pronunciation will take. It does
conform with the usual English rules for long/short vowel sounds, which
would normally require the "i" to be long.
I suspect most people base their pronunciation on the word's obvious
derivation from "Unix": U [long vowel] 'cks [silent vowel]. Which would
make sense, I guess.
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