Well, now that you’ve got us hanging, how is it pronounced?
IIRC, the guy who created it was named Linus, so you can do the math from there…
Hmmm well I learned something. See, I would have thought “hone” was completely wrong. I always thought of it as meaning to increase or sharpen, as in “hone one’s skills”, that sort of thing.
But in answer to the OP, like most here have said, it depends upon who is correcting me and how sure I am of being right. If I’m not completely sure I’ll say something nice but noncommital such as “hmm, that’s interesting really?” or some such.
If I’m completely sure it still depends upon who I’m speaking with. If it’s someone I think may be all snotty about it, I’ll simply ignore them and continue with what I was saying, or possibly even change the subject, but not in a snotty way.
Which reminds me. How would you all pronounce the supplement “Glucomannan”?
I know that with other supps the emphasis is usually in the middle syllable, but I had someone say that that particular one is “Glu co Man nan”, where as comparing it to how other supps are pronounced I would have thought it would be more like “GluCOmanin”.
?? And someone did correct me (a Texan, and hmmm with all the nukulars going on there, I didn’t believe her, but didn’t say anything since I wasn’t sure…).
The pronunciation of Celtic. I pronounce it with a /k/ sound rather than an /s/ sound and people have yelled at me that it isn’t the proper pronunciation. For those of you who don’t know the history behind the word, the Greeks called the group “Keltoi” with a “K” sound. When it was brought over to Latin, the K was changed to C which, in those times, was pronounced with a /k/ sound (Caesar was pronounced like kaiser). So, both pronunciations are correct.
I had a work friend that used to just turn her head slowly and say “excuse me?” which got across the point that not only could she not believe the person was so rude, but that they were wrong. You won’t believe how this works unless you have someone do it to you. For some reason, the recipient is sufficiently chastized.
If the person’s rich and powerful, they’re always right. Actually, being part of the SDMB gives you practice in dealing with this phenomenon. On a serious note, any type of unjust suffering is about the hardest thing in the world to take. Again, being serious, often there will be someone there (at the meeting, etc.) who knows you’re right, and you can fortify yourself with the knowledge that the people that matter will have noted your original statement, and will know you’re right. Then, when you merely smile, as you let the ignorant comment pass, they will think “What a person - knowledgeable and secure!”
If you think that’s far fetched, consider the SDMB. Doesn’t one cherish almost more than anything else when someone you’ve never met (sometimes never heard of) pipes up to let you know, as James Taylor might have said, “you got a fan”.
Lin-ix Short I
I hate that Lyyyynux pronunciation. There’s an audio file floating around here somewhere with Linus Torvalds saying “Hi this is Linus Torvalds, and I pronounce Linux ‘Linux’ [with a short I]” Sure it’s named after him - that’s why I’ll take his word as to how it’s pronounced any day.
I get corrected at times, but its due to misunderstandings as I have a tendency to mumble and talk fast - not because I say the wrong things. I do have the ability to speak clearly, but I get uncomfortable if I’m expected to talk at great length or if I’m the center of attention. So yeah, even though I’m correct most of the time, in the end I still feel stupid.
If I am corrected, I usually don’t do anything other than repeat what I had said more clearly. Again, feeling rather stupid for attempting conversation.
I’m pretty quiet in general. 
Huh. I’ve never pronounced Celtic with an s sound, wouldn’t have even occured to me, unless I was referring to the basketball team the Boston Celtics.
And even then, I always thought they were wierd for pronouncing it that way.
My first response is to say, “Excuse me, but I’m quite certain it’s ”. If the person persists, it’s usually not worth it to me to continue the fight.
The worst case of this I came across was when I’d been laid off for a few months and was encouraged to give a support group for unemployed Christians a try. The fellow who ran the group spent a good 15 minutes pointing out and criticizing a typo on my resume. I’d only brought one copy of it, so I didn’t get a chance to see it and I was horrified to think I’d been sending out a resume with a typo on it. When I finally got it back from him, the typo he’d been talking about didn’t exist. I pointed that out to him, and I think he acknowledged it, but I didn’t go back to that support group. (There were other reasons, but that was the main one.)
CJ
This side of the Atlantic, it’s only ever pronounced that way when referring to the Glasgow football team (and that team’s name is never said any other way).
I’d say that the Columbia Guide to Standard English has a political axe to grind since I’ve heard “hone in” back in the 70’s.
If it has any relationship to Columbia University I rest my case.
That’s an insufficient response. Depending on where “Linus” is from his name would be pronounced differently, therefore so would Linux.
So how does “Linus” pronounce his own name - Lee-nus or Lie-nus?
A quick bit of googling shows that ‘hone’ (both noun and verb) comes from Old English, referring to a whetstone and more generally the act of sharpening. I also turned up several pages complaining about Columbia’s unwarranted Bush-bashing.
I generally
But what you should do is :
But I lack diplomatic skills…
I didn’t know the Thai prime minister posted here.
This is a key part of the Linux Pronunciation FAQ. He pronounces his name the first way. But the FAQ allows both pronunciations. I.e., the “European” and the “American”. In short, take how you pronounce “Linus” and change the “s” to an “x”. So “Lee-nux” or “Lie-nux”. Long first vowel, only 1 “n”.
I find that if you go “umm…” and look at them like they asked you to do something vulgar, then that tends to work well. Then you can add quickly “Pretty sure it’s (whatever)” and get back to talking.
We say “Linnux” down this part of the world. But then, we also pronounce “Mall” incorrectly, or at least we do according to the Brits.
Here’s a link to the mp3 I mentioned earlier:
http://www.paul.sladen.org/pronunciation/
Granted I will concede that he does sound more like “Lee-nux” but my ear compensates for his Swedish accent, and it sounds to me like Linnix.