this post was submitted on 12 Jun 2023
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...But I've only ever heard SSL pronounced as its three letters. Why not like "Cecil"? Or "Sizzle"?

πŸ€”

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[–] [email protected] 62 points 1 year ago (4 children)
[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

This introduces a non-trivial increase in syllabatic inefficiencies

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago
[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I'm glad this is top comment, I thought I was weird for a moment there

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

No you and that guy both.

[–] onewhobrowses 3 points 1 year ago

At this point I can’t remember if the first time I heard of SQL was in reading and I just read it as an acronym or if it was audio/visual and that’s how the person said it… Sadly, it’s a mystery I’ll never know the answer to.

[–] [email protected] 32 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I have never heard of someone call SQL squeal lmao, sequel or S Q L is all I have heard

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Came here to say this.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I second "sizzle" or "sissle." My partner pronounces API as "appy" and it's the best thing ever.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

That's adorable.

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[–] RockDeBilly 14 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

In French, we just pronounce it as three letters, so I was very confused at first when my English-speaking colleagues were referring to sequels of apparently nothing.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago

It’s always Star Wars

[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 year ago (3 children)

I just pronounce it exactly like reading the letters individually, because I'm actually a human being.

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[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago (3 children)
[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago

I had a uni lecturer pronounce MySQL as "my squirrel"

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

Where does the R come from? πŸ€”

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

I also have heard Squirrel, the first time I ever heard of SQL. It was in a webinar info session for just a very superficial top-level type of understanding, really intended for nothing more than to acquaint first-tier support staff with technical terms and concepts. "SQL stands for Structured Query Language. For short, we can call it 'sequel' or 'squirrel'." (Cue stupid clip-art graphic of a buck-toothed smiling squirrel on a tree branch, holding an acorn, because what's a webinar without insipid mnemonics?) That sort of thing.

I grokked the use of 'sequel', because the letter sequence S-Q-L is exactly that word, sans vowels, and even if schwas are substituted for the vowels, the pronunciation doesn't change much.

But for 'squirrel' I had to imagine that they were taking the R from 'queRy' and injecting it to make SQL into SQrL for the sake of a cute memory device that would resonate with people who weren't expected to have any interest deeper than a front-line customer service drone.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

I'd be curious if "Squirrel" originated with the SQuirreL client. The only time I've heard someone call SQL "squirrel" was because they were using SQL interchangeably with the client.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I like to use the non-acronym name, so that I can say: "Structured Query Language. Or, with the JSON field type, more like UNSTRUCTURED query language!" And then I laugh like a maniac for 5 minutes while the other people in the line at Wendy's give me weird looks.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago

To be consistent, you should call them JavaScript Object Notation field types

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago

I have always pronounced it spelled out. Es Qu El

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Ever since I saw this XKCD I've called it Squill

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Everything has a relevant XKCD. There's probably even an XKCD about there always being a relevant XKCD.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I've always pronounced it "sequel", but ever since I attended a talk by the authors of PHP and MySQL Web Programming, and they pronounced it Ess-Cue-Ell I've been second guessing myself.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago

What I remember attending a PHP event in ~2009 was one of the old veterans there saying:

Only Microsoft folks say "Sequel Server", we say "My S Q L"

[–] False 3 points 1 year ago

I always pronounced it as ess-cue-ell but gave up on it when everyone in professional environments said "sequel".

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago (3 children)

I had a project manager back in 2008 who pronounced SQL "skwall." I heard "My Skwall" and "Skwall Server" so many times. We all said "S Q L." No one ever corrected him.

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[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Some are more established than others. The one with the highest levels of agreement I've ever encountered, is SCSI, which pretty much everyone in-the-know pronounce "scuzzy".

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

I'm struggling to realise it's anything but scuzzy.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago

I personally pronounce it S.Q.L

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago

I kind go 80/20 Sequel/EsQueueEl (squeal wtf?) when talking in english and "Ese Cu Ele" 100% when talking in Spanish

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago (3 children)

People pronounce Sql as squeal? O.o

[–] Moghul 5 points 1 year ago
[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Only monsters

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

SurrealDB has Surreal QL. I abbreviate it SuQL and pronounce it "suckle," haha

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

The execution environment should be called "teat"

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

Since I learned it by myself and never said it out loud for 10 years, I've always pronounced SQL as "school" and I'm not going to stop.

[–] gts 5 points 1 year ago

definitely using β€œsizzle” at the earliest available opportunity

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

We could have been updating our sizzle certificates all this time!

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

I mean, people call JSON jason, so i suppose sequel for SQL is alright (although, i still use Es-cue-elle). Sizzle absolutely needs to become a thing.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

Germany here: In my company we pronounce every letter, so: "Eß Kjuh Γ„l".

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Log4j is another fun one.

Log For Jay or Log Forge?

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago
[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

ITYM "Squirrel".

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

!devshowerthoughts (community idea?)

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

If I am going to believe random articles I found on the internet (and, of course, I am), the reason is because SQL was originally called SEQUEL until the creators ran into a trademark issue.. They changed it to SQL, but us old timers just kept calling it the old thing. Something about old dogs and new tricks.

https://medium.com/tableplus/how-to-pronounce-sql-properly-s-q-l-or-sequel-7203a5185676

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Skwill just to be different.

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