# Ubuntu **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 4, 2010, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ubuntu/531283 "2010-03-04T15:29:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2010, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ubuntu/531283/1 "2010-03-04T15:29:05Z")
How should it be pronounced? I expect this to be one of the shortest threads ever… ---
**Author:** ![Spatial\_Rift\_47](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a8b319/32.png) [@Spatial\_Rift\_47](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spatial_Rift_47)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2010, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ubuntu/531283/2 "2010-03-04T15:32:14Z")
Operating system: Ooo-bun-too. African philosophy: Ooo-boon-too. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2010, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ubuntu/531283/3 "2010-03-04T15:33:41Z")
Thanks! (that’s how I’ve been saying it in my head, but I wasn’t sure. I didn’t realize it was named after a philosophy, either… so double-win) ---
**Author:** ![ScatteredFrog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8c91f0/32.png) [@ScatteredFrog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ScatteredFrog)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2010, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ubuntu/531283/4 "2010-03-04T16:46:15Z")
I pronounce it “LIN @x.” 🙂 Blast…wish there were a schwa on the keyboard. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2010, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ubuntu/531283/5 "2010-03-04T17:43:14Z")
ə. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2010, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ubuntu/531283/6 "2010-03-04T17:50:21Z")
Show-offs. There’s one in every bunch. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2010, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ubuntu/531283/7 "2010-03-04T18:05:34Z")
😉 ---
**Author:** ![Corner\_Case](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/corner_case/32/234_2.png) [@Corner\_Case](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Corner_Case)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2010, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ubuntu/531283/8 "2010-03-04T18:15:13Z")
> [@ScatteredFrog](#): > > I pronounce it “LIN @x.” 🙂 > > Blast…wish there were a schwa on the keyboard. You really shouldn’t put your schwa on the keyboard… ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2010, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ubuntu/531283/9 "2010-03-04T18:41:09Z")
That’s right… keep your schwa in your mouth, where it belongs. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2010, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ubuntu/531283/10 "2010-03-04T19:03:24Z")
> [@Spatial\_Rift\_47](#): > > Operating system: Ooo-bun-too. > African philosophy: Ooo-boon-too. Thanks, but where’s the accent? oo-BUN-too, I presume? ---
**Author:** ![ZenBeam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/3ab097/32.png) [@ZenBeam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZenBeam)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2010, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ubuntu/531283/11 "2010-03-04T19:34:00Z")
Will I get laughed at if I pronounce the OS ooh-BOON-too? Because that’s how I always imagined it was pronounced. Actually, not boon rhyming with tune. More like the vowel sound in look or book. ---
**Author:** ![ctnguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@ctnguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ctnguy)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2010, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ubuntu/531283/12 "2010-03-04T19:53:53Z")
> [@ZenBeam](#): > > Will I get laughed at if I pronounce the OS ooh-BOON-too? Because that’s how I always imagined it was pronounced. > > Actually, not boon rhyming with tune. More like the vowel sound in look or book. No, you’d be pronouncing it pretty much the way that the Ubuntu website [says it should be pronounced](http://www.ubuntu.com/aboutus/faq): > [@](#): > > **How do you pronounce Ubuntu?** > > Ubuntu, an African word from Zulu and Xhosa, is pronounced “oo-BOON-too”. In [this video](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l02bhwofEqw), at about 0:48, you can hear how Mark Shuttleworth pronounces “Ubuntu”. ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2010, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ubuntu/531283/13 "2010-03-04T20:44:50Z")
He actually pronounces it ubʊntu, the middle ʊ vowel being the same sound that is in _could_, not \*cooed \*or _cud_ (although _cud_ and \*could \*are pronounced the same by some English speakers.) ---
**Author:** ![ctnguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@ctnguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ctnguy)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2010, 9:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ubuntu/531283/14 "2010-03-05T09:50:53Z")
> [@Ximenean](#): > > He actually pronounces it ubʊntu, the middle ʊ vowel being the same sound that is in _could_, not \*cooed \*or _cud_ (although _cud_ and \*could \*are pronounced the same by some English speakers.) Yes, it’s unfortunate that there’s no way to write that in a sort of “pseudo-phonetic” way. I think “u-boon-tu” is the closest you can get. In fact, all three “u” sounds in “ubuntu” are pronounced the same, which is consistent with the Bantu languages from which the word comes.