Theiling Online    Sitemap    Conlang Mailing List HQ   

li! (Was: Re: Naming mp3 players and Yakuza was Re:

From:John Cowan <jcowan@...>
Date:Friday, January 24, 2003, 15:03
Daniel Andreasson Vpc-Work scripsit:

> Okay, I couldn't resist this, but is it really just a coincidence > that his name is Li-nus and the name of his OS is Li-nux!? ;)
No, of course not. He didn't choose the name, though; he wanted to call it Freax ("free" + "freak" + "Unix"), but the administrator of the FTP site where Linux was first released from thought "Linux" a better name. Most Americans, at least, make the latter ['lInUks] although ['linUks] is certainly acceptable. People who say ['lainVks] are beyond the pale. Linus being, of course, a Finland-Swede says ['lInUks]. Here he is saying "Hello, this is Linux Torvalds and I pronounce Linux 'Linux'" in English (http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/linus/swedish.au) and Swedish (http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/linus/swedish.au). The second time he says "Linux" in the Swedish version it sounds more like ['LInYks] to me. Or maybe the [I]s are really short [i]s, but they sure sound lax to me. -- If you understand, John Cowan things are just as they are; http://www.ccil.org/~cowan if you do not understand, http://www.reutershealth.com things are just as they are. jcowan@reutershealth.com

Reply

Douglas Koller, Latin & French <latinfrench@...>