this post was submitted on 26 Feb 2025
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nginx ("engine x") is an HTTP web server, reverse proxy, content cache, load balancer, TCP/UDP proxy server, and mail proxy server. […] [1]

I still pronounce it as "n-jinx" in my head.

References

  1. Title (website): "nginx". Publisher: NGINX. Accessed: 2025-02-26T23:25Z. URI: https://nginx.org/en/.
    • §"nginx". ¶1.
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[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

I always pronounced it engine-x (fluent as one word) but never thought of it meaning engine lol

n gin x -> en gin ex -> "enginex" spoken, nginx thought

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[–] MuskyMelon 47 points 1 day ago

I've always pronounced it "not-Apache"

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 day ago (4 children)

If you want people to pronounce your project name correctly you should spell it that way. Having a FAQ on pronunciation means you've messed up and lost already. Want it to be called "Engine X"? Call it "Engine X".

My favourite is SAP not wanting people to call it Sap but to spell it out S.A.P. Well sorry, but it's a CVC word, literally the first kind of word everyone learns.

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[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 day ago (2 children)
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[–] Semi_Hemi_Demigod 125 points 1 day ago (34 children)

And JSON is pronounced “javascripton“

[–] [email protected] 82 points 1 day ago

Oh my god it's Javascripton Bourne!

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[–] [email protected] 21 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

My workplace calls it "n-jinx", we know its nonstandard but its still what is understood by the team.

[–] perviouslyiner 86 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (8 children)

There's a linux file called fstab which is often pronounced f-s-tab because it's a table of file systems. It was somewhat surprising to hear Dave Plummer pronounce it as "f-stab", as in stabbing someone...

[–] [email protected] 60 points 1 day ago (1 children)

It'll forever be F-stab in my head

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[–] eager_eagle 20 points 1 day ago (1 children)

f-s-tab is feeble. Unsatisfactory. Bureaucratic.

f-stab is jocose. Nonchalant. Sharp.

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[–] [email protected] 30 points 1 day ago (3 children)

Whereas fsck, short for "file system check", should be pronounced "fisk" when someone in a suit is around, otherwise it's "fuck".

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 day ago

With the issues i had in the past with fstab, the desire to stab someone was certainly provoked.

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[–] [email protected] 91 points 1 day ago (3 children)

I've been pronouncing it N-gin-X, which is probably close enough once slurred together

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[–] eager_eagle 58 points 1 day ago (4 children)
[–] [email protected] 43 points 1 day ago (5 children)

like how curl in my head is "curl" and not "c-url"

[–] [email protected] 52 points 1 day ago

It is pronounced like "curl" though!

We pronounce curl with an initial k sound. It rhymes with words like girl and earl. This is a short WAV file to help you:

https://media.merriam-webster.com/soundc11/c/curl0001.wav

https://curl.se/docs/faq.html#What_is_cURL

[–] [email protected] 27 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

…it's not "curl"?

EDIT (2025-02-27T04:15Z):

cURL (pronounced like "curl", /kɜːrl/) […] [1]

🤔

References

  1. Title (article): "cURL". Publisher: Wikipedia. Published: 2025-02-20T12:12Z. Accessed: 2025-02-27T04:17Z. URI: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CURL.
    • ¶1
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[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 day ago

"nnnnn-ghinks"

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 day ago (1 children)

It's, ummm, literally the first thing on the website (nginx.org). Tell me you didn't read the docs without telling me you didn't read the docs

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