this post was submitted on 26 Feb 2025
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TIL that "nginx" is pronounced "engine-x", and not "n-jinx" (sh.itjust.works)
submitted 1 month ago by Kalcifer@sh.itjust.works to c/programmer_humor@programming.dev
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nginx ("engine x") is an HTTP web server, reverse proxy, content cache, load balancer, TCP/UDP proxy server, and mail proxy server. […] [1]

I still pronounce it as "n-jinx" in my head.

References

  1. Title (website): "nginx". Publisher: NGINX. Accessed: 2025-02-26T23:25Z. URI: https://nginx.org/en/.
    • §"nginx". ¶1.
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[–] criitz@reddthat.com 1 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (2 children)

People forget in the 90s/00s both GIF and JIF were relatively common image file types. It was only logical to use the hard G for GIF. So that's how we used it. This overrules all arguments of how acronyms work or what the creator originally called it.

[–] JohnnyCanuck@lemmy.ca 3 points 1 month ago

Bah, I was there. .jif was barely used and came 5 years after. They should have used a different name!

[–] tyler@programming.dev 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

nobody was using jif as a file type in the 90s, and no it wasn't "only logical to use the hard G". There are plenty of sources stating that no one pronounced it with a soft g up until it got popular as an image format on social media. It was universally understood to be a play on the peanut butter name. There are plenty of sources on this, I'm sorry but you're either just making shit up or you were the only person to call it with a hard g in the 90s.

[–] criitz@reddthat.com 1 points 1 month ago

I used jif files in the 90s. Sure they were less common but they existed. Everyone I knew said gif like gift in the 90s. I sure other people said jif instead. But I'm not making this up. Your experiences aren't necessarily universal.