# URLs in spoken form **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 22, 2003, 9:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urls-in-spoken-form/170278 "2003-04-22T09:16:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![DarkJudicator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/da6949/32.png) [@DarkJudicator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DarkJudicator)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2003, 9:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urls-in-spoken-form/170278/1 "2003-04-22T09:16:11Z")
This subject came up briefly in IRC, and I got to wondering. I’ve read somewhere, possibly in [The Jargon Lexicon](http://catb.org/esr/jargon/html/The-Jargon-Lexicon.html), that Europeans tend to pronounce the dots when saying a URL out loud (ie “dubya dubya dubya dot straightdope dot com”), whereas Americans usually leave them out (“dubya dubya dubya straightdope com”). However I studied a unix component as a part of one of my maths subjects at university, within which I was told that the nomenclature was the opposite way around - that Americans do pronounce the dots, and Europeans don’t. Furthermore, when discussing the matter in IRC today everybody I talked to, regardless of point of origin, claimed to say the dots out loud when verbally giving a URL. As I figure the likelihood changes both with how “geeky” people are and where they come from, my incredibly trivial questions for the Teeming Millions are as follows: 1. Are you a “Dotter” ? That is, do you pronounce the dots when saying a URL out loud? 2. What country do you live in? 3. Do you work in the IT industry? I guess the operating system of choice could have an influence as well, but this isn’t meant to be a scientific linguistical study - just a matter of idle curiosity. Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![DarkJudicator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/da6949/32.png) [@DarkJudicator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DarkJudicator)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2003, 9:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urls-in-spoken-form/170278/2 "2003-04-22T09:20:41Z")
For the record: 1. Yes, I say “dubyadubyadubya dot somedomain dot com”. 2. I’m Australian, have lived here all my life. 3. I don’t work in IT, but I’ve got lots of friends who do. And I’m mostly a Windows boy, if that makes any difference. ---
**Author:** ![Ice\_Wolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/dfb087/32.png) [@Ice\_Wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ice_Wolf)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2003, 9:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urls-in-spoken-form/170278/3 "2003-04-22T09:23:53Z")
1. Dot pronouncing. 2. New Zealand born and reside. 3. I call on IT folk for help when disaster looms. (No, I’m not in IT). 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Essured](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/278dde/32.png) [@Essured](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Essured)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2003, 9:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urls-in-spoken-form/170278/4 "2003-04-22T09:52:25Z")
1. Dub-dub-dub dot straightdope dot com. 2. Aussie born and bred 3. Definitely not an IT person, but Mr Goo who is says the same. (I’m obviously hipper than those silly ‘dubya’ kiwis with my shortened ‘dubs’ 😉 ) As for preferred OS, I’m an XP girl and Mr Goo deals mostly with Unix and 2K Server for work and OpenBSD for fun 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Ice\_Wolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/dfb087/32.png) [@Ice\_Wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ice_Wolf)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2003, 10:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urls-in-spoken-form/170278/5 "2003-04-22T10:02:44Z")
_Au contraire_, delightful **Goo** – local EnZed radio stations have been dubbing the URLs for yonks. 🙂 I’d say, “hip-wise”, you’re on a par. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![finn1911](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/d78d45/32.png) [@finn1911](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/finn1911)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2003, 10:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urls-in-spoken-form/170278/6 "2003-04-22T10:09:19Z")
1. i’m a dot’er 2. Canada 3. Work in IT. by far the best url to say is “dubya dubya dubya dot slash dot dot org” 🙂 [www.slashdot.org](http://www.slashdot.org) or… “dub dub dub dot dot dot com” [www.dot.com](http://www.dot.com), which i always wished i could register ---
**Author:** ![merge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9f8e36/32.png) [@merge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/merge)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2003, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urls-in-spoken-form/170278/7 "2003-04-22T12:36:05Z")
1. If you don’t say dot… most people won’t know to type it… so yes I say dot… actually I don’t think I have ever heard anyone leave the dots out… that just sounds odd… 2. US 3. Work in IT ---
**Author:** ![XJETGIRLX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9fc29f/32.png) [@XJETGIRLX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XJETGIRLX)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2003, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urls-in-spoken-form/170278/8 "2003-04-22T13:05:13Z")
1. I’m a dot-girl 2. Raised in Europe / US 3. Nope ---
**Author:** ![racer72](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/racer72/32/3075_2.png) [@racer72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racer72)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2003, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urls-in-spoken-form/170278/9 "2003-04-22T13:23:07Z")
1. Yes. 2. USA. 3. No. I have never heard anyone not use dot. I call my dog Dot too. ---
**Author:** ![Lsura](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7993a0/32.png) [@Lsura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lsura)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2003, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urls-in-spoken-form/170278/10 "2003-04-22T13:32:51Z")
I say the “dot”, but not the WWW, so I’d say straight dope dot com. Born/raised/currently live in the Southern U.S. Nope, not in the IT field. Former Internal Auditor, currently in school to be a librarian. ---
**Author:** ![Coil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bb73d2/32.png) [@Coil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coil)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2003, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urls-in-spoken-form/170278/11 "2003-04-22T13:43:41Z")
1. Depends on who I am talking to. I skip the dots if i am talking to someone with at least some computer savvy. If I am talking to my mother on the other hand I would make sure to mention every dot otherwise she’ll call me when she cannot get the url to work. 2. Sweden. 3. No. ---
**Author:** ![refusal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ac91a4/32.png) [@refusal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/refusal)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2003, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urls-in-spoken-form/170278/12 "2003-04-22T14:18:38Z")
1. I say dots, but not usually the initial “WWW”, like **Lsura** says. 2. United Kingdom. 3. I work in IT, but most people here have an electronics background. ---
**Author:** ![dwc1970](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a183cd/32.png) [@dwc1970](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dwc1970)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2003, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urls-in-spoken-form/170278/13 "2003-04-22T14:32:15Z")
1. My inclusion or omission of “dot”, 'www", etc. will depend largely on how experienced the person I am talking to is with computers and the Internet. For co-workers and for friends/family who use computers all the time I don’t bother if it’s a familiar and frequently visited site. I’ll just say the site name (e.g. “go to Google and search for it”, or “I bought a really cool book from Amazon”). If the site is lesser known then I’ll just say the URL name followed by the “dot” com/net/org, etc. If it’s a long URL or if the URL is not as easy to understand verbally I’ll spell it out. I only mention “http” if the URL doesn’t have a “www” in it. For less computer literate people I find that it’s best to say the “www” and the “dot”. 2. I live in the US. 3. I do work in the IT industry. ---
**Author:** ![tirial](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ac91a4/32.png) [@tirial](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tirial)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2003, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urls-in-spoken-form/170278/14 "2003-04-22T14:43:03Z")
1. I say the dot. Mainly to preempt managers’ phonecalls when the URL doesn’t work without them… 2. UK-based 3. I work in IT. ---
**Author:** ![DeVena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dec6dc/32.png) [@DeVena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeVena)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2003, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urls-in-spoken-form/170278/15 "2003-04-22T15:00:25Z")
1. Dot person here (and I “dot” a lot - I have to give out a web address over the phone 100s of times a month and it has 4 “dots”.) 2. US, y’all 3. Nope - environmental ---
**Author:** ![World\_Eater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f04885/32.png) [@World\_Eater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/World_Eater)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2003, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urls-in-spoken-form/170278/16 "2003-04-22T15:00:28Z")
1.) Yes 2.) Brooklyn 3.) Yes Windows, Linux, Solaris, you name it. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2003, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urls-in-spoken-form/170278/17 "2003-04-22T15:08:52Z")
1. Yes\* 2. UK 3. Yes \*I _hate_ trying to speak URLs; invariably it will be something like [www.ultracom.com](http://www.ultracom.com) and the person on the other end of the phone will be saying “infra dot com?.. infra dot com dot com?.. boo hoo, I don’t understand!”. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2003, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urls-in-spoken-form/170278/18 "2003-04-22T15:10:10Z")
oops, except they would be saying “ultra dot com?.. ultra dot com dot com” :o ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2003, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urls-in-spoken-form/170278/19 "2003-04-22T16:07:50Z")
I dot, but don’t dub. In other words, “somedomain dot com” My only exception is if it’s a freakish weirdo like “ww2 dot newdomain dot com” or “aych tee tee pee ess colon slash slash securedsite dot com” ([https://securedsite.com](https://securedsite.com)) Want to really confuse someone? Send them to “dot com dot com” ([www.dotcom.com](http://www.dotcom.com)) which resolves to Network Solutions. I’m in the US and drive a helpdesk, so yep, I’m in IT. ---
**Author:** ![Flymaster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c4cdca/32.png) [@Flymaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flymaster)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2003, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urls-in-spoken-form/170278/20 "2003-04-22T19:37:22Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by gotpasswords \* > \*\*“aych” \*\* For your useless info of the day, the letter is spelled “aitch.” You can look it up 🙂 As for the OP: Dots, no dubs US Yep, IT. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urls-in-spoken-form/170278.md?page=2)