this post was submitted on 12 Dec 2023
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Showerthoughts

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A "Showerthought" is a simple term used to describe the thoughts that pop into your head while you're doing everyday things like taking a shower, driving, or just daydreaming. The best ones are thoughts that many people can relate to and they find something funny or interesting in regular stuff.

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[–] rtxn@lemmy.world 99 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (3 children)

Well, ackshually...

tl;dw: the Swedish and Finnish pronunciations use the same "i" as "Linux", but Torvalds doesn't care if people use the English one.

[–] SatanicNotMessianic@lemmy.ml 19 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I first started using Linux in 1995 (I think it was kernel 1.2 or something), and this was being argued over (or at least discussed) even back then. The conclusion was that Leenus doesn’t care how you pronounce Leenux.

[–] entropicdrift@lemmy.sdf.org 17 points 11 months ago (1 children)

And he pronounces it Leenooks

[–] SatanicNotMessianic@lemmy.ml 7 points 11 months ago

You’re exactly correct. That was my best approximation.

[–] josefo@leminal.space 11 points 11 months ago

That was very enlightening, the Spanish pronunciation is actually more close to that than the English one, so I feel very validated as an Spanish speaker. Thank you. Also didn't knew that he wasn't from an English speaking country.

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[–] Epzillon@lemmy.world 54 points 11 months ago (6 children)

Except it doesn't in Finnish, where Linus Torvald is from. Linus and Linux is pronounced the same except for the final consonant.

[–] echodot@feddit.uk 19 points 11 months ago (6 children)

So his name is really Lin-us and not Line-us?

[–] Heavybell@lemmy.world 8 points 11 months ago (3 children)

I believe I saw a youtube clip of him saying his name and Linux that way, yes.

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[–] neidu@feddit.nl 4 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

Yes.

Source: I'm Norwegian but I used to know an irate IT finn named Linus. A separate irate IT finn named Linus, that is.

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[–] Scrollone@feddit.it 16 points 11 months ago (2 children)

I'm Italian and I pronounce both "i"s in the same way. Why is English so strange?

[–] samus12345@lemmy.world 8 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

In this particular instance, the Great Vowel Shift is to blame. What caused that is up for debate.

In general, English is so strange because it's a mongrel language, incorporating words from a variety of other different languages.

[–] DragonTypeWyvern 8 points 11 months ago (1 children)
[–] ebc@lemmy.ca 11 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Hey, we pronounce both the same, too. Sorry English, that's on you and you alone.

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[–] z00s@lemmy.world 26 points 11 months ago (4 children)

The real debate is whether it's sudo or sudo.

I know it means "super user do" so should be pronounced "sue doo", but it just grates on my ear. To me it will always be "Sue dough"

[–] milicent_bystandr@lemm.ee 6 points 11 months ago (6 children)

akshully

It's "substitute user do", and defaults to root

IIRC

[–] intrapt@sh.itjust.works 4 points 11 months ago (1 children)

So it should be pronounced "suh doo"?

I'll have fun annoying people with this pronunciation, thanks!

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[–] echodot@feddit.uk 5 points 11 months ago (1 children)

It's really confusing because "pseudo" pronounce the same way, means not real. So it's like you only kind of have admin access but really there's a lot of systems you can't change. Except that's not the case, and you have full access.

[–] Heavybell@lemmy.world 3 points 11 months ago

Yeah but you're not really root, you just have permission to run things as root ;)

That's my flimsy justification for pronouncing it like pseudo, anyway.

[–] Sinthesis@lemmy.world 4 points 11 months ago

I have no source to back this up so maybe I came up with this in my own reality, but I thought it was related to, pseudo = pretended.

[–] josefo@leminal.space 4 points 11 months ago (4 children)

Ah, yeah, that fucked me up too few months ago, there are several videos on the subject. I think it's a problem with words that are created as written first, and then got pronounced, in second place, like most tech lingo. As a non-native speaker those are always the hardest to speak correctly, and even english has no real consensus.

[–] Scrollone@feddit.it 3 points 11 months ago (4 children)

I'd like to introduce you to "GIF"

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[–] Chainweasel@lemmy.world 22 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (4 children)

I've heard a lot of people pronounce it "Line-ux" lately. I hope it doesn't blow up into another Gif vs Jif debate.

Edit: and if it was supposed to be pronounced jif it would be spelled "jif", regardless of what Steve Wilhite says.

[–] Draghetta@lemmy.world 4 points 11 months ago (3 children)

There is nothing to debate, Linux is just Linus with an x at the end and should be pronounced as such.

Though sometimes I wish Linus had claimed it was pronounced laynaxe just to fuck with people. Too bad we already know: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=c39QPDTDdXU&pp=ygUpbXkgbmFtZSBpcyBsaW51cyB0b3J2YWxkcyBhbmQgaSBwcm9ub3VuY2U%3D

[–] DharmaCurious@startrek.website 4 points 11 months ago (3 children)

Y'know the gnome/Guh-nome debate? I intentionally pronounce it Zhnome to fuck with people.

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[–] GissaMittJobb@lemmy.ml 3 points 11 months ago (3 children)

Linux is just Linus with an x at the end and should be pronounced as such.

Agreed. The Swedish/Finnish pronunciation of Linus is "Lee-nus" and not "Lai-nus", hence the correct pronunciation of Linux is "Lee-nux".

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[–] brettvitaz@programming.dev 21 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

I’ve always pronounced it Linux. Who pronounces it another way?

[–] helmet91@lemmy.world 3 points 11 months ago

I've always pronounced it as "Linux". And then, one day I heard it from a native English speaker pronouncing it as "Linix", and I still keep hearing that everywhere, but I just cannot fix my brain anymore. To me it always remains "Linux".

[–] Gigan@lemmy.world 18 points 11 months ago (5 children)

English doesn't make sense because it's been influenced by so many other languages. I'm not sure of the etymology of Linux and Linus, but I would guess that they have different roots.

[–] rtxn@lemmy.world 20 points 11 months ago (2 children)
[–] Hamartiogonic@sopuli.xyz 3 points 11 months ago (1 children)

English is such as mess that you actually have spelling contests to prove it. Try that with most other languages, and it’s going to be exciting for all the first graders who just learned the alphabet. Anyone older than that will be bored to death in the contest.

[–] rtxn@lemmy.world 3 points 11 months ago (1 children)

As a kid, I was so confused by (dubbed) cartoons' portrayal of spelling contests as some serious, non-trivial thing. Then I learned English and finally understood.

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[–] Gigan@lemmy.world 3 points 11 months ago

I thought of that meme when making my original comment lol

[–] JackGreenEarth@lemm.ee 14 points 11 months ago (8 children)

I thought Linux was named after Linus Torvalds, its creator.

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[–] Fiivemacs@lemmy.ca 5 points 11 months ago (3 children)

They do have different roots.

One is % sudo su –

And the other is Canadian directly. Ask his parents their nationality to find better roots.

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[–] kersploosh@sh.itjust.works 4 points 11 months ago

“English is not a language, it's three languages wearing a trench coat pretending to be one.”

For more fun, right about the time the printing press came into widespread use and English spelling became standardized, the language was in the middle of the Great Vowel Shift.

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[–] khaffner@lemmy.world 15 points 11 months ago (2 children)
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[–] Kolanaki@yiffit.net 9 points 11 months ago (5 children)

You don't pronounce it "line-ux?"

[–] misophist@lemmy.world 6 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

No, I pronounce them Lee-nukes and Lee-noose.

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[–] RampantParanoia2365@lemmy.world 8 points 11 months ago

Well he named it, didn't he? It's his own pronunciations.

[–] spudwart@spudwart.com 7 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Quick recap.

So, Linux is Linux because a set of events that lead to it being named after Linus.

It wasn't uncommon at this time for Unix systems to be named after their relevant creator or platform like this. HP-UX, PC-UX A/UX etc.

Linux would probably be seen as LIN-UX or LIN/UX, it may not seeing as Linux is not Unix, but that's just speculation.

Linux in its proper reading would be Linus Unix, but that doesn't make any sense Linux is Unix-like, but it was made in a vacuum without access to Unix source or even Unix systems at all near the beginning.

[–] Wootz@lemmy.world 3 points 11 months ago

Interesting! Do you happen to know where the -UX suffix convention came from?

[–] b0gl@sh.itjust.works 4 points 11 months ago

It's the same in Swedish so I never realized it's pronounced differently

[–] sirico@feddit.uk 3 points 11 months ago

Thats a real Tough trough though is really gets wound around the wound

[–] Fiivemacs@lemmy.ca 3 points 11 months ago (1 children)
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