UNIX AS A SECOND LANGUAGE
By Sandra Henry-Stocker, Unix Dweeb, Network World
MAY 15, 2018 12:03 PM PDT
How to speak Linux
We might all agree on the command line, but start talking about Linux, and we might find that the rules of how
to pronounce the names of Unix commands are not universal.
I didn’t even stop to imagine that people pronounced Linux commands di erently until many years ago when I heard a co-worker use the word “vie” (as in
"The teams will vie for the title") for what I’d always pronounced “vee I.” It was a moment I’ll never forget.
Our homogenous and somewhat rebellious community of Unix/Linux advocates seemed to have descended into dialects — not just preferences for Solaris
or Red Hat or Debian or some other variant (fewer back in those days than we have today), but di erent ways of referring to the commands we knew and
used every day.
[ Two-Minute Linux Tips: Learn how to master a host of Linux commands in these 2-minute video tutorials ]
The "problem" has a number of causes. For one thing, our beloved man pages don't include pronunciation guidelines like dictionaries do. For another, Unix
commands evolved with a number of di erent pronunciation rules.
The names of some commands (like "cat") were derived from words (like "concatenate") and were pronounced as if they were words, too (some actually
are). Others derived from phrases like "cpio," which pull together the idea of copying (cp) and I/O. Others are simply abbreviations, such as "cd" for "change
directory." And then we have tools like "awk" that go in an entirely di erent direction by being named for the surnames of its creators (Alfred Aho, Peter
Weinberger, and Brian Kernighan). No wonder there are no consistent rules for how to pronounce commands!
Some commands are basically pronounced as if we are spelling them out loud — like “el es” for ls and “pee double-u dee” for pwd, while others are read
like “chown” (rhyming with "clown") as if they are words. And since many Linux users might first be exposed to the Linx command line on some old PC that
they decided to put to better use, they may never hear other people saying Linux commands out loud. So, in today’s post, I’m going to explain how I
pronounce Linux commands and how I’ve heard some others going in di erent directions.
We'll start with the easy stu . Several Linux commands are simply words and, at least for English speakers, just get pronounced like the words when people
use them in conversation.
Linux commands that are words
These Unix/Linux commands are also common words and should be pronounced as expected.
alias
for
tar
apropos apt
gawk
less
top
touch
cat
locate
while
echo
man
who
eval
more
zip
exec
ping
expect
shutdown
export
snort
find
sort
Linux commands pronounced as if they are words
A number of other commands are pronounced as if they were words:
awk
chmod
chown
cron
grep
ifconfig
ifdown
ifup
netstat
passwd
perl
sed
sudo
traceroute
uniq
vim
whoami
beginning of “awkward”
sh+mod or ch+mod (one syllable)
ch+own (rhymes with "clown") or ch+own (rhymes with "own")
beginning of “chronology”
similar to “grope”, but with a soft “e” (as in “end”)
if+config (beginning of “configure”) but some say "eye eff config"
if+down
if+up
net+stat
pronounced as if spelled “password”
pronounced like “pearl”
pronounced like "said"
pronounced like "pseudo” (doesn’t rhyme with “voodoo”) or "soo doo"
(rhyming with "voodoo")
pronounced like the word “trace” followed by the word “route”
pronounced like "unique”
rhymes with “gym” (I’ve never heard it pronounced “vee eye em”
pronounced like the question “Who am I?”
Linux commands that are spelled out
In my experience, all of these commands are simply spelled out. People say "see dee" for cd and "pee es" for ps, etc.
cd
ls
cp
ps
cpio
pwd
dd
ssh
df
tr
du
ufw
env
w
ln
wc
Anyone who says "piss" for ps or "turr" for tr is bound to get some funny looks.
Linux commands that are both read and spelled out
Other commands include words but also contain some extra letters that are generally spelled out.
emacs
gzip
mysql
nslookup
rsync
sdiff
slocate
xtop
uname
vmstat
wget
xargs
pronounced
pronounced
pronounced
pronounced
pronounced
pronounced
pronounced
pronounced
pronounced
pronounced
pronounced
pronounced
“ee max”
“gee zip” (not "gee zee ipp")
“my es queue el”
“en es lookup”
“are sync”
“es diff”
“es locate”
“ex top”
“you name”
“vee em stat”
“double you get”
“ex args”
How to use the nslookup command: 2-Minute Linux Tip
Breaking the rules
It gets more interesting in some cases when, like my old coworker with her “vie” pronunciation for vi, people vary from these general pronunciations. I can
only imagine what the commands sound like when pronounced in languages that have very di erent pronunciation rules.
Probably the command with the most variations in how it’s pronounced is the fsck command. Part of the reason may be its similarity to a common English
curse word. I’ve always pronounced it as if I were spelling it — "ef es see kay." Others, however, say “ef es check,” “fiss check,” or even “ef suck.”
And it's not just commands
There many directories and files on Unix and Linux systems that also get pronounced in multiple ways. One that comes to mind is /etc. While I’ve always
said “etsy,” some say “etcetera” or "ee tee see." In addition, I’ve referred to the fstab file as “ef es tab” though I’ve heard it called “ef stab.” Some say "lib"
(first syllable of "liberty") for the lib directory while others insist it should be "libe" (first syllable in "library"). One reader said he once heard someone call
CLI "cly" (first syllable in "climate").
Another, and potentially unexpected, pronunciation issue for Linux is how people say the word “Linux” itself. While most people say the “Li” in Linux as
they do the “li” in “little,” there are some who insist on saying “Linux” as in “Lye nux.” The reason is clear once you reflect on the fact that Linux was named
a er its creator and historically principal developer, Linus (pronounced “Line Us”) Torvalds.
And, of course, we've probably all heard an occasional person referring to a router as a "rooter" -- the old "rowt" vs "root" argument that comes into play
when we try to drive across the country.
There are probably many others, and I’d love to hear some of your favorite mispronunciation stories.
Join the Network World communities on Facebook and LinkedIn to comment on topics that are top of mind.
Sandra Henry-Stocker has been administering Unix systems for more than 30 years. She describes herself as "USL" (Unix as a second language) but remembers enough English
to write books and buy groceries. She lives in the mountains in Virginia where, when not working with or writing about Unix, she's chasing the bears away from her bird feeders.
Follow
👤



Copyright © 2018 IDG Communications, Inc.