I’m wondering about other not-quite-words (NQWs) that may have multiple pronunciations.
When I was taking a class on the C++ Standard Template Library way back when it was new, the instructor polled the class on how to pronounce deque (double-ended queue): deck, or Dee Cue? The class was roughly evenly split between the two options.
The instructor pronounced it Dee Cue, arguing that it should have the Cue part, since the word came from queue, and that looking at how it was spelled and then pronouncing it based on that didn’t make sense. Which was odd, because she pronounced char (as in the character type) like char as in burnt, not like the first syllable of character.
I pronounced both of those NQWs opposite how she did: Deck and Care. (For all I know, I’m the only person in the world who pronounces it like “care”.)
So, how do you pronounce deque and char? What other NQWs have a split in how they are pronounced? Any general rule you use, or just pick a pronunciation the first time you come across a term?
I’d say Dee-cue and Care. I have never heard of deque, so that is just a guess as to how I would pronounce it if I knew what it meant. “Care” I know because I frequently use Windows+Run then type in “char” to pull up the Windows program “Charmap” which I pronounce “care-map” when I say it outloud.
Deck and Care. Not that it really matters but Care retains a link with its progenitor, character but neither deck nor DeeCue really lead you back to double-ended queue in an obvious way so you might as well go with the simpler prounciation. In my opinion.
“Char” as in charcoal because I’ve been pronouncing it that way internally since the early 1980’s, even though it might not be consistent with my current internal logic.
The term SQL (Structured Query Language) is pronounced S-Q-L by some people and “sequel” by others. There is a historical reason for this and a few oldtimers will judge you by your choice.
In a different category, the term “hassassment” seems to get an alternate pronunciation in the media whenever it is used in a high profile way. I don’t know why saying it as ‘heris-ment’ is supposed to be more enlightened but some people seem to think so.
The data type “char” is pronounced identically to the word “care”.
The data structure “deque” is pronounced “DEH-cue”. DEE-cue is how you pronounce dequeue, meaning the opposite of enqueue. *Avoid ambiguity *is a good rule for programmers to live by.
I write ess-cue-ell code but run it on a sequel server. *Consistency *is also a good rule for programmers to live by. Huh???
I’ll ignore the silly digs at typos to say they pronounce it Harris-ment (I think that’s more accurate than HERRismnt) more specifically in order to avoid saying “her ass.” Everyone who pronounces Harris-ment is jerk, btw.
Haven’t come across deque before but agree with LSLGuy that pronouncing it “dee-queue” makes it sound like removing something from a queue.
I’ve not heard char pronounced any way other than as in “charcoal”… and had no idea before reading this thread that some people might have an alternate way of pronouncing it. (Been in IT since the '80s, but in NZ, so regional factors may be in play).
And like LSLGuy I’d write “S-Q-L” but run it on “see-quill server”… or more likely on “My-S-Q-L”.
I just posted two little essays here and here on the subject of how I think acronyms should be pronounced.
Okay, maybe not-so-little essays.
“char” seems like a rather abnormal case. I say like in charcoal, because the abbeviation is spelled that way and when pronounced as a word, it should reflect how it is written – yet in the case of “char”, the full word “character” is aberrant because the ch is not pronounced like the usual English (and Spanish) ch.
I have almost always heard “char” as in charcoal, and only rarely like in “careful”.
ETA: BTW, Shagnasty, what is the history of SQL pronunciation? What I know is, there was a precursor to the SQL language called QUEL (as in Query Language), which was my first introduction to relational database usage. Is that it?
I can’t really say how I pronounce “deque”, since this is the first I’ve encountered it. I suppose I would go with “dee kyoo”. And “char” I pronounce the same as “car”, though I can’t really give a logical defense for that, since it’s not the same as the first syllable of “character”.
Another word-without-a-pronunciation is “pwn”. It seems to be settling in on “pone”, rhyming with “own”, but I’ve also encountered folks who say it as “pawn”, or “poon” (by analogy with the Welsh loanword “cwm”). Or possibly “p’own”, with a gap between the “p” and the “own”.
This is a relic of the more la-di-dah nursing schools, pronouncing centimeter in a Frenchified way. I’ve also seen many older nurses use “et” instead of “and” when writing notes and orders.
Verbally, I pronounce it “sequel”, but sometimes when dealing with the Microsoft version I mentally pronounce it “Squeal Server”, for the porcine connotations.
