# Do people really pronounce URL as "earl" **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 21, 2010, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-really-pronounce-url-as-earl/550952 "2010-08-21T05:05:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Runs\_With\_Scissors](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/278dde/32.png) [@Runs\_With\_Scissors](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Runs_With_Scissors)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2010, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-really-pronounce-url-as-earl/550952/61 "2010-08-24T05:06:08Z")
> [@si\_blakely](#): > > And don’t forget _dubdubdub_ (www) > > Si I like “double u, double double u.” 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Max\_the\_Immortal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6de8d8/32.png) [@Max\_the\_Immortal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_the_Immortal)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2010, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-really-pronounce-url-as-earl/550952/62 "2010-08-24T05:17:00Z")
I’ve only heard one person pronounce it “earl”, once, and I made fun of him for it. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2010, 10:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-really-pronounce-url-as-earl/550952/63 "2010-08-24T10:59:29Z")
“Jif”? I’ve only ever heard it pronounced “Gif”, with a hard G. ---
**Author:** ![BwanaBob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bwanabob/32/2985_2.png) [@BwanaBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BwanaBob)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2010, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-really-pronounce-url-as-earl/550952/64 "2010-08-24T21:04:24Z")
I’m stunned at the amount of you people who spell out URL. It’s human nature to pronounce acronyms as words if they’re readily pronounceable. Others have pointed out terms like PIN and SCSI. I’ve worked as a developer on both coasts (for 25+ years) and have heard both earl and U-R-L since the early '90s. I also pronounce GIF as “jiff” since that was intention of its creators. I’ve also taken several courses in SQL and the various instructors all said “sequel” rather than S-Q-L. ---
**Author:** ![redtail23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/3e96dc/32.png) [@redtail23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/redtail23)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2010, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-really-pronounce-url-as-earl/550952/65 "2010-08-24T21:57:02Z")
Generally I say U R L. If I were to make a word of it, it would probably be “yurl” rather than “earl”. I’ve never heard “earl”. Never heard “dubdubdub” either. But I may have to start saying “triple double u” just to be annoying. Although I don’t really say that much anymore, it’s just assumed for most people. I use both S Q L and “sequel”, and sometimes “squeal”. I prefer “gif” but will use “jif” if I have to, to avoid confusing others. I also say “ups” rather than U P S sometimes. It’s definitely “asskey”\*, I’ve never heard anyone spell it out unless they had no idea what they were talking about. I don’t usually say “ooh-sah”, but I do sometimes say “ooh-sanians”. “Wee fee” is just silly. Hi-fi, sci-fi, wi-fi - all pronounced “eye”. \*And thank you for that mental image. No, really, I’d never thought of it that way. And now I always will. ---
**Author:** ![Serenata67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/serenata67/32/10646_2.png) [@Serenata67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Serenata67)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2010, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-really-pronounce-url-as-earl/550952/66 "2010-08-25T01:21:07Z")
> [@OpalCat](#): > > u-r-l here Same here. I vocally spell it out… ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2010, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-really-pronounce-url-as-earl/550952/67 "2010-08-26T04:37:22Z")
It’s ‘you are ell’. And it’s important because there is also a ‘you are eye’. I may call the delivery service ‘ups’ for fun, but everybody knows it’s ‘you pea ess’, like the type pf power supply, as well as the news service ‘you pea eye’. Three letter initializations starting with a vowel should be pronounced letter by letter unless they spell a common word. Three letters with a vowel in the middle should be pronounced as word, unless it sounds stupid. More than three letters should be turned into a word if possible. But sometimes nothing works, like with ‘aitch tee em ell’. Why? Because that’s what I want it to be I guess. Oh yeah, and the people who actually know what those things mean should have the say-so. ---
**Author:** ![kim\_jung\_il](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/54ee81/32.png) [@kim\_jung\_il](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kim_jung_il)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2010, 7:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-really-pronounce-url-as-earl/550952/68 "2010-08-26T07:48:35Z")
With our strong "R"s, us Scots say “Earl” as “Errol” ---
**Author:** ![multimediac17](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/839c29/32.png) [@multimediac17](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/multimediac17)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2010, 8:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-really-pronounce-url-as-earl/550952/69 "2010-08-26T08:21:21Z")
If you asked me to make URL into a word, it wouldn’t be “earl”, I don’t know if that’s my accent or what. I’d say something like “yoouurrl”. ---
**Author:** ![Red\_Barchetta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/da6949/32.png) [@Red\_Barchetta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Barchetta)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2010, 9:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-really-pronounce-url-as-earl/550952/70 "2010-08-26T09:25:05Z")
> [@Manduck](#): > > They probably said “earl” too 😛 Not I. Perhaps I’m an exception? ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2010, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-really-pronounce-url-as-earl/550952/71 "2010-08-26T14:09:26Z")
Can I throw instant messaging into the fire(literally and figuratively)? My numpty co-worker, whose inability to say almost anything correctly is legendary, pronounces it as “I’ming”. It’s not something I have occasion to say out lout but in my head I would think “send me an IM” or “I’ll IM you”. So, before I add this to the list of idiotic things that come out of her mouth, I need to know how it’s supposed to be said. Also, I’ve never heard of “Earl” for URL but I’m going to start using it because I think it’s kind of cute. ---
**Author:** ![EristicKallistic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/85e7bf/32.png) [@EristicKallistic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EristicKallistic)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2010, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-really-pronounce-url-as-earl/550952/72 "2010-08-26T15:04:49Z")
I did not, until this thread, understand who or what “Weird Earl” was. Ignorance fought! I am in the “spell it out” camp for URL, but I have a co-worker who says “yurl” which always bugs me. ---
**Author:** ![Pit26](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f19dbf/32.png) [@Pit26](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pit26)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2013, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-really-pronounce-url-as-earl/550952/73 "2013-11-08T02:26:13Z")
For me all I hear is URL. When I was in class though a girl aked how do you spell U-R-L? She got the nickname URL (earl). ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2013, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-really-pronounce-url-as-earl/550952/74 "2013-11-08T03:25:44Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > I’m not buying your analogy. You say PIN, CAT scan, SCSI (“scuzzy”), SQL is often “sequel,” etc. Why not “earl” for “URL”? I don’t say it this way, but it’s perfectly sensible. In some 22 years of being in technology (college degree + professional experience), I can say that I have NEVER heard URL pronounced as “Earl”, except as the name of the robot cop in Futurama. It’s always Eww - Arr - Ell. Yet for some strange reason, it’s always been sequel and scuzzy. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2013, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-really-pronounce-url-as-earl/550952/75 "2013-11-08T04:00:08Z")
I find mow dem odd for modem. It is modulate demodulate, not MOWED ulate, de MOWED ulate. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2013, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-really-pronounce-url-as-earl/550952/76 "2013-11-08T04:37:23Z")
> [@Pit26](#): > > For me all I hear is URL. When I was in class though a girl aked how do you spell U-R-L? She got the nickname URL (earl). That makes no sense. She should have been nicknamed Countess. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2013, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-really-pronounce-url-as-earl/550952/77 "2013-11-08T05:09:38Z")
ASCII: I’ve always heard and said it as ass-key. Now, what about EBCDIC? I’ve often heard: Ebb-sa-dik (with the “a” very reduced, like schwa.) In this business, everyone knows that CYA stands for “Cover your asskey”. We had a program always running on our machines that called itself CYE. I must suppose that stood for Cover Your EBCDIC. SQL: “Sequel” works for me. This may have evolved from an earlier prototype of SQL, from the mid-1980’s, called QUEL (query language), that was pronounced like kwell. Any why isn’t there a common simple pronunciation for OB-GYN? Why does everyone always spell it out? Why not just say “obb jinn” ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2013, 7:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-really-pronounce-url-as-earl/550952/78 "2013-11-08T07:13:57Z")
“earl”. Suck it. ---
**Author:** ![AppallingGael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9bd4f/32.png) [@AppallingGael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AppallingGael)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2013, 7:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-really-pronounce-url-as-earl/550952/79 "2013-11-08T07:30:45Z")
The March 1, 2001 Final Jeopardy clue, category: Recent Innovations, was “known by a 3-letter abbrev., it was first proposed in 1989 by software developer Tim Berners-Lee”. One of the contestants wrote “what is a url”, and Alex, reading it back said “what is an earl”. Then (to the contestant) he asked, “what IS an earl?” Not necessarily as bad as the time he ruled “what is IN-X-S” incorrect because he was looking for “who are the inks?”, but I blame the show’s writers more, as they tend to perform badly when they try to be with it (is the web really “known” as the www? Do you ever call it that?). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-really-pronounce-url-as-earl/550952.md?page=3)