Should I say the "K" in KNOPPIX?

[sjborch]

Silly English Knnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn iggits!

[Hunkah]

How ironic, I just watched that movie like two days ago.

[oscar]

Knopper is german, so you need to pronounce the 'k' as well... 'k'
So no 'noppix...

and which is the sound of K in Germany...?

[preater]

There should be a few Linus-style sound files provided on the CD or FTP mirrors - Klaus saying "I'm Klaus Knopper and I pronounce Knoppix as Knoppix". In English and German.

[FlorianK]

@oscar, from an irony-proof German (who doesn't cnow whether it was a serious cuestion) - it would be like "cnoppix", the "o" being short as in "lot" (European "lot", not Californian "lut" ).

At least one way a newbie like me can help ...

Regards

[j.drake]

OK, on a related note, how about the pronunciation of other words - I've noticed that w/r/t computers, people have very definite opinions as to how certain technical words should be pronounced, yet this can be a difficulty in a discipline where people communicate almost exclusively with written text.

Someone mentioned the Screen Savers a while back, and I remember the pronunciation of a couple of words coming up, for example:

1. Debian - I always assumed it was DEE-bee-un, but Leo recently pronounced it DEB-ee-un. How do you folks say it?

2. Daemon - I always assumed it would be DEE-mun, as in the English word "demon", but spelled with an archaic spelling, maybe as a nod to D&D or something. However, I remember TSS having some hotshots from BSD on the show, who insisted that it was pronounced DAY-mon. Anybody here have an opinion?

3. SuSE - Not "Suzy", as most 'stupid Americans' (to use Henk's words) would assume, but SOO-zuh, as in John Phillip Souza. Since it's a German company, makes sense to pronounce it that way, I suppose.

Other examples:

4. Linux - OK, so Linus T. pronounces it LEE-nooks, despite the fact that most people would assume that it's LINE-ux, to sound like LT's first name. Most American techies compromise with LIN-ux - giving a nod to Mr. Torvald's preferences without sounding too conspicuous in the process (as Hunkah said, you don't want to sound like an idiot).

5. URL - You know, a lot of tech acronyms are sounded as a word if they can be (e.g., LAN, WAP, PERL) because it's quickerand more convenient, but "URL" seems to be an exception, as techies will demonstrably cringe if you say it as a word. Generally, it's only the acronyms that cannot be pronounced as a word that are pronounced as discrete letters (e.g., HTML, XML, DHCP, DSL, ISDN, VGA, USB). Heck, even SCSI is pronounced "scuzzy", so why is URL different?

Are there other weird pronunciations I should be aware of - like is the penguin's name pronounced TOOX, or something?

[horo]

Hi j.drake,

just my 0.02 €

- The german Company SuSE is written S.u.S.E but it is pronounced Novell
(No, it is pronounced like "Zoo The")

Ciao Martin

[Hunkah]

How I do it.

1. Debian - Deb-ian, I read somewhere that the name came from a guy anamed Ian and his wife Deb that makes Deb-ee-yun

2. Daemon - Day-mon

3. SuSE - Suzy, even though I just heard Suzah was the way it was said during that Novell takeover. (by the way that Spelled suse said Novell was funny horo)

4. Linux - Lin-ux - because I am not an idiot!

5. URL - you-are-ell

[nube]

Thanks to FlorianK for pointing me to this thread...

I've always pronounced Debian with the long E as well... I guess I have to learn to do it right.

As far as SuSe (formerly SUSE or SuSE ) I emailed the US customer service office and asked them what it meant and how to say it...

It was my very first taste of Linux - I wanted to get it right... (8.1 Pro)

Their response was that it's a German achronym, so we Americans probably will never say it right, but that they (at the SUSE US office) pronounce it like Soo-Suh, or Soo-Say depending on who you ask...

... for what it's worth...

This is a great forum.

-Nube

[silvestrij]

Their response was that it's a German achronym, so we Americans probably will never say it right, but that they (at the SUSE US office) pronounce it like Soo-Suh, or Soo-Say depending on who you ask...

... for what it's worth...

This is a great forum.

-Nube

Well, I was curious, so I Googled on this matter, and after going though a load of old newsgroup postings, I finally found this, which answers my little curiosity "What is the acronym?"
http://www.netsys.com/suse-linux-e/1999-Mar/0371.html

As to the whole Debian thing - Debian was started by Ian Murdock, and he named it after his then girlfriend, now wife, Deborah, and himself. Hence the "Deb" pronunciation.

And yes, this is a great forum .