Linux on Jeopardy 416
yesthatguy writes "Tonight's episode of Jepoardy! featured a question in the "Tech Business and Industry" category that asked which operating system was made by Linus Torvalds and can be obtained for free.
The answer(question), of course: 'What is Linux?'
An interinsting point I noticed...the kid (Teen Tournament) that gave the answer, pronounced the name wrong. Jeopardy usually will not give credit to a mispronunciation... " Please! No pronunciation holy wars! But that is pretty cool. Ya know you've hit the big time when you get a question on Jeopardy.
Now that's just plain cool (Score:1)
Target Practice
so what is the right pronunciation? (Score:1)
lin-ix?
line-ux?
wtf?
Pronunciation (Score:1)
First post?
What is this? (Score:1)
Re:so what is the right pronunciation? (Score:1)
with a short i
wasnt this a poll a while back?
lih-nucks (Score:2)
Re:so what is the right pronunciation? (Score:2)
Re:I don't get all the holy wars (Score:1)
Re:lih-nucks (Score:1)
what about u? r u inclined 2 trust linus?
(whee.)
regards,
-efisher
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Who cares? (Score:2)
Let Linux stand on its own merits. I could care less whether its it is on "Jepoardy" or not.
This article gets a big fat yawn. . .
We should dedicate a jeopardy tournemant to Linux (Score:1)
Oh No!!!! (Score:1)
Re:Pronunciation (Score:1)
http://www.linux.org/info/index.html
Look down in the middle of the page. =)
Pronunciation (Score:5)
"It's a piece of shit"
"No, it's a piece of shite"
"You're both wrong, it's a pile of shit"
"Actually..."
Be grateful you can still count contending pronunciations without taking your socks off.
What is in a pronunciation (Score:2)
Linux is growing. Its "followers" have constat wars is news grps etc about the best text editor, the best windows manager, the best distribution and so on. All healthy. But please, if you are using a software that runs the whole damn computer, you better pronounce it correctly. Let there be atleast two things that we agree upon, the first being that LInux is the best
BTW how exactly do we pronounce Linux ?? Linux or 'Lenux' ??
A rose is a rose but looses it charm when you call it 'shit' !
Manifest
Re:Pronunciation (Score:1)
English: Lie nus
Finnish: Lin oos
Cool... (Score:1)
And he could be flagrantly displaying a Transmeta coffee mug or something, just to screw with our minds.
beer not speech (Score:1)
Just a random observation on a random story.
Re:Alex too (Score:1)
Linus knows. (Score:3)
They mispronounced Linus as well (Score:2)
cooler than a superbowl commercial (Score:2)
matisse:~$ cat
Re:What is this? (Score:1)
Re:Who cares? (Score:1)
Re:What is in a pronunciation (Score:1)
A rose is a rose but looses it charm when you call it 'shit' !
And where does the charm go when it's loosed?
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Michael Hall
mphall@cstone.nospam.net
computers in pop culture (Score:1)
Re:I don't get all the holy wars (Score:4)
Consider, by the way, that "Linux" is actually a dual pun. It plays both on Linus' name and Minix, the OS which inspired Linux. Minix is pronounced with a short i (like the first i in"mini"). Linus, as least in the context of Torvalds' first name, is also pronounced in this way. Therefore, why would Linux not also be pronounced with the same short i as both of its linguistic predecessors? Particularly since Linus himself pronounces it the same way he pronounces his name.
As far as I'm concerned, the person who gave the OS its name gets to pick how it's correctly pronounced. But let's not get into a holy war over this.
Re:Pronunciation (Score:1)
The master speaks (Score:2)
More to the point, Jeopardy does not mark you wrong for unambiguous mispronunciations or spellings.
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Well, down under, it's LIN-ux (Score:1)
Jeopardy's all well and good, but... (Score:3)
Re:Now that's just plain cool (Score:1)
Re:I don't get all the holy wars (Score:1)
You will find a sample of Linus pronouncing his own name, as well as linux, on ftp.kernel.org
The "Official" Pronunciation (Score:1)
Re:Now that's just plain cool (Score:2)
matisse:~$ cat
Linux on Jeopardy (and other unimportant things) (Score:1)
I don't care about pronounciations. As long as I know what they're talking about or vice versa, I am happy. LILO is another one with a couple of possibilities, but don't tell me which one! I don't care! People know what I'm talking about.
Of course a question like this would only be asked on a Teen Tournament. Face it, teens are more likely to know / care about this stuff than their elders. Why? I dunno. I suspect that it might have something to relate to the time they have to mess around with such things or how angry they get at their other operating system when it crashes in the middle of writing a report. Just guesses, considering that these are among my reasons. Perhaps it is also because the word 'cool' is used much more often by teens than by adults, and they have to find something to describe with it. No holy OS wars because of this, please!
Speaking of publicity, my parents say that there was something about Linux on NPR, but I didn't hear it so I don't necessarily believe them. Somebody verify this. There was also a short interview with Red Hat's CEO, but I forget what network that was on. There's something for you to post about; I know you've been waiting a whole minute to find something. Why? Because you read this post! Okay, that was pointless.
Kenneth Arnold
If Linus doesn't care, why should I? (Score:1)
So I hereby decree that although it may sound like I say "lie-nux", I am in fact saying "lee-nux" with a thick American accent.
Re:so what is the right pronunciation? (Score:1)
Re:Linus knows. (Score:1)
Re:Jeopardy's all well and good, but... (Score:1)
matisse:~$ cat
Pronunciation (Score:1)
Teen Jeopardy... (Score:2)
I was watching this teen tournament thing the other day. Some kid was given "The Pollen producing component of the plant," to reply to. His answer : What is the hymen? You could see Trebeck fighting the urge to burst out laughing.
- Freehold, or maybe a rock.
Re:What is in a pronunciation (Score:1)
In case you didnot notice, I said charm and not "quality'.
Manifest
Re:I don't get all the holy wars (Score:1)
Re:so what is the right pronunciation? (Score:1)
Re:Europe vs. America (Score:1)
I don't know where in America you're from, but in Delaware and surrounding area it's pronounced lyn-ux.
Re:Linus knows. (Score:1)
I don't know if he said "LiNuX" at all, because about 2 minutes into the segment, the cable went out. Go figure. (as I systematically take out each Comcast office 50 miles around here... FWOOM!)
(New Media News was the show)
Re:so what is the right pronunciation? (Score:1)
"Hey, what OS are you running?"
"'I don't care.'"
"No, really..."
Re:Linux on Jeopardy (and other unimportant things (Score:1)
My father said there was a feature on Linus and Linux, and this was several (>6) months ago.
Sweedish? Are rou retarded? (Score:1)
For my 2 cents:
*Ideally we'd all call it Lee-nooks, after Lee-noos Torvalds, but thats kinda awkward.
*If Linus were American, he'd pronounce his name Lie-nus.
Thus:
My American toungue calls it "Lie-nucks" after it's creator.
But you won't get me correcting any other pronunciation.
The 'net is a reading-based culture, so as long as we can all spell it right we're ok.
--Andrew
Re:I don't get all the holy wars (Score:2)
Re:Linux on Jeopardy (and other unimportant things (Score:2)
The latest linux story on NPR is here [npr.org]. It was a pretty well informed interview with John Dodge, the editor of PC Week. You can find archives for most NPR shows at www.npr.org [npr.org]. The first story I could find using their search engine was in April of 1998.
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English (Score:2)
The entire debate with the pronounciation of Linux is all really English's (and maybe German's) fault. It's that simple. Even when you try to explain the pronunciation in text, it does not work. Not even if you say something like 'short i' or 'long i.' To different people that means different things. To Americans, and other Native English speakers 'short i' means the i in little and 'long i' means the ie in lie.
Whereas, in Romance languages, 'long i' means the ee in geek. Heck, even speakers of the same language don't agree. The British pronounce things differently than Americans.
Also, grammar and spelling is different. Such as ' quote ' as opposed to American " quote ." And colour and theatre as opposed to color and theater.
Case in point: This is all English's fault. I say we rm -rf /English/* right now. It will be the best for all of us. No more confusion. While we're at is let's just cp /Español/* /mnt/thing/backup and then rm -rf /* and then rcp /Español/* / to fix everything else too.
Hasta luego!
-El Señor Dragón al'JeRHombre Semidiós'de'Guerra
(in case you didn't figure it out, that was a joke, it's Lord Dragon al'PiLMaN Dai'Shan en Español)
Pronunciation (Score:2)
Forget Linux (Score:5)
csh
tcsh
lilo
cache
~
#
!
For the record I'm:
cee-ess-aich
teesh
lie-low
cash
tild-ah, although I'm gravitating towards twiddle
hash
bang
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Swedish is correct (Score:2)
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Trebek's kiss of death (Score:2)
"He's canadian, no wonder he didn't get it right, what'd you expect?"
"Ummm how about 'Linux, eh?'"
Re:Trebek's kiss of death (Score:2)
--
Re:Forget Linux (Score:2)
tee-see-shell
lie-low
cash
tilde
hash or pound, depending on context (or when I'm feeling really funky, 'octothorpe'
bang or exclamation point, again depending on context
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"'Is not a quine' is not a quine" is a quine.
Re:Pronunciation (Score:2)
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"'Is not a quine' is not a quine" is a quine.
Re:Pronunciation (Score:2)
Re:Forget Linux (Score:3)
csh - Sea Shell
tcsh - Tea See Shell
lilo - Ok, you win
cache - Here too...
~ - Til-dee
# - Octothorpe or Pound (depending on my mood)
! - Damn, 3/6... That's pretty good!
Yeah, you got it, ! and # on him till he hertz! Then he'll talk(1)!
C picks C SHs by the C Shore.
We'd better Lilo till they're gone...
Watch out for me! I don't have an *!
Oh oh, I might != be able to continue at this rate...
When she told me to &, I didn't know she wanted her clothes full of dirt!
Why a corn husk, when you can have a ksh?
Sysadmin (About a home directory): I put him in
Luser (50% lobotomy... Up to now): User? A local? You put him in a bin then you bashed him? After all the slashings? I'm phoning the police, your larting has gone too far!
Stupid person at a computer store: A SCSI drive? Do you mean he sells drugs, hires hitmen, and does all the other dirty work, all from his car?
Why have a 3 1/2" floppy when you can enjoy a 5 1/4"?
A person new to computer electronics: Why does this book keep saying I need a PROM... I'm out of high-school, dammit!
The exclamation of a Lamer/Loser in high-school: EPROM!
At the end of a letter to Captain Blackbeard M., from his mates: IBM.
A semi-popular rap-exclamation from the 80's: AAAAAAAMC.
Well, I'm fresh out for today, I must have hit my Zenith(tm)...
Re:Pronunciation: Depends on your mother tongue. (Score:2)
It gave good reasons why Lye-nucks is the correct pronunciation for English-speaking people. It was something like this:
1. "Linux" is taken from Linus' name.
2. English speakers pronounce the name Linus as "Lye-nuss" (or should
3. Therefore, "Linux" should be pronounced as "Lye-nucks" by English speaking people.
4. Lee-nooks would be the alternate correct pronunciation (based on how Linus prounounced his own name when he lived in Finland).
5. There is no basis for the "Lin-nucks" pronunciation.
Cheers. Don't flame too hard
Re:Linux is an OS? (Score:2)
"What is the GNU... uh... Lignu.. hmmm... Oh! What is GNU's Not Linux!"
I guess Linux is correct. One could have a liberal definition of 'system' I guess.
***Beginning*of*Signiture***
Linux? That's GNU/Linux [gnu.org] to you mister!
Re:lih-nucks (Score:2)
That's the way I pronounce it too, except with a somewhat shortened i. But I have to admit that that the other side has a case too, at least for English, since English traditionally "enjoys" the effects of the Great Vowel Shift, which makes nice Continental words like Linus come out sounding like Lainus. [1]
So maybe we can keep both parties happy (or at least offend them both equally) by saying that Lainux is the English pronunciation and Linux is the International pronunciation.
I, being an Anglophone, justify using the International pronunciation on the grounds of being a citizen of the Linux community, as well as of an Anglophone nation.
And BTW... for me, that Pauling guy is named Lainus, but that Torvalds guy is named Linus. Oh, the joys of language, it's idiosyncracies!
[1] Except for an exceptional monopthongization of the English "long" i, which appears to have its epicenter in Muleshoe, Texas, radiating out with diminishing strength of effect from there. But the result is still nothing like the Continental pronunciation of Linu[sx].
--
It's October 6th. Where's W2K? Over the horizon again, eh?
Wow! Sudden flashbacks! (Score:2)
Man! we're obsessed!
***Beginning*of*Signiture***
Linux? That's GNU/Linux [gnu.org] to you mister!
the Big Time (Score:2)
Ya, but the question was worth $1000 which means that it was supposed to be hard. If it had been worth been worth less that would mean you had really hit the big time.
Re:Forget Linux (Score:2)
(the fsck on reboot will be a bitch too)
I say 'fisk' in case you're wondering.
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Re:Pronunciation (Score:3)
Take, for example, a case I encountered yesterday. While I exclaimed that Windows was really an "ass-smoking handicapped piece of crap" after it refused to boot, my boss, only a room away, interpreted windows as more of a "bloated, sheep-probing pile of crap" as the file server BSOD'd.
These subtle linguistic variations prove the flexibility of Windows and demonstrate a truly superior design, especially when compared to the antiquated Unix architecture.
Re:You forgot a few... (Score:2)
Fortunately, Webster's says that both a hard and soft g are ok for giga- [m-w.com]and that silikahn and silikin are both ok for silicon [m-w.com].
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fsck you (Score:2)
or when I'm feeling verbose
"f-s-check"
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s/gigilo/gigolo/ (Score:2)
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im sorry... (Score:2)
you seem to be forgetting the 'computing machine technology' zone...
(well what would YOU call it? "computing zone" sounds stupid...)
--Siva
Keyboard not found.
I agree with you 99% (Score:2)
o It would be stupid to argue about a little thing like that. People know what you mean.
o For those that really do care, it can be easily settled by playing that sound file of Linus pronouncing it. It can be had in lots of places, and it plays when you use sndconfig to configure your sound card. He does use the short i version, but his foreign accent make it obvious why there is confusion here in the US but not there. He pronounces his name as something closer to "Leenus" (say it keeping your mouth only partly open) and says "Linux" exactly the same way as his name, changing only the consonant at the end, as in "Leenux".
Saying it like that would sound weird here in the states, so most people use a short i.
--
grappler
Re: Well, down under, it's LIN-ux (Score:2)
"Hello, this is Leenus Torvalds and I pronounce leenux as leenux."
So we're all wrong I guess. I say it as "LIE-nux" because the Americanization of the name Linus is "LIE-nus" and I live in Massachusetts, so that sounds about right to me.
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"You can't shake the Devil's hand and say you're only kidding."
Microsoft Jeopardy Question (Score:2)
"What is Windows 95?"
Ahhh... it's an oldie but a goodie.
jigabyte is too close to gigolo (Score:2)
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Re:heres some more too (Score:2)
The ANSI/CCITT standard is surrounded by suck/blows and the INTERCAL [tuxedo.org] substandard is surrounded by U turn/U turn backs
^ Common: hat; control; uparrow; caret; . Rare: chevron; [shark (or shark-fin)]; to the (`to the power of'); fang; pointer (in Pascal).
& Common: ; amper; and. Rare: address (from C); reference (from C++); andpersand; bitand; background (from sh(1)); pretzel; amp. [INTERCAL called this `ampersand'; what could be sillier?]
| Common: bar; or; or-bar; v-bar; pipe; vertical bar. Rare: ; gozinta; thru; pipesinta (last three from UNIX); [spike].
. Common: dot; point; ; . Rare: radix point; full stop; [spot].
() Common: l/r paren; l/r parenthesis; left/right; open/close; paren/thesis; o/c paren; o/c parenthesis; l/r parenthesis; l/r banana. Rare: so/already; lparen/rparen; ; o/c round bracket, l/r round bracket, [wax/wane]; parenthisey/unparenthisey; l/r ear.
{} Common: o/c brace; l/r brace; l/r squiggly; l/r squiggly bracket/brace; l/r curly bracket/brace; . Rare: brace/unbrace; curly/uncurly; leftit/rytit; l/r squirrelly; [embrace/bracelet].
[] Common: l/r square bracket; l/r bracket; ; bracket/unbracket. Rare: square/unsquare; [U turn/U turn back].
Common: ; bra/ket; l/r angle; l/r angle bracket; l/r broket. Rare: from/{into, towards}; read from/write to; suck/blow; comes-from/gozinta; in/out; crunch/zap (all from UNIX); [angle/right angle].
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Arghh damn ye HTML gods (Score:2)
The ANSI/CCITT standard is surrounded by suck/blows and the INTERCAL [tuxedo.org] substandard is surrounded by U turn/U turn backs
^ Common: hat; control; uparrow; caret; <circumflex>. Rare: chevron; [shark (or shark-fin)]; to the (`to the power of'); fang; pointer (in Pascal).
& Common: <ampersand>; amper; and. Rare: address (from C); reference (from C++); andpersand; bitand; background (from sh(1)); pretzel; amp. [INTERCAL called this `ampersand'; what could be sillier?]
| Common: bar; or; or-bar; v-bar; pipe; vertical bar. Rare: <vertical line>; gozinta; thru; pipesinta (last three from UNIX); [spike].
. Common: dot; point; <period>; <decimal point>. Rare: radix point; full stop; [spot].
() Common: l/r paren; l/r parenthesis; left/right; open/close; paren/thesis; o/c paren; o/c parenthesis; l/r parenthesis; l/r banana. Rare: so/already; lparen/rparen; <opening/closing parenthesis>; o/c round bracket, l/r round bracket, [wax/wane]; parenthisey/unparenthisey; l/r ear.
{} Common: o/c brace; l/r brace; l/r squiggly; l/r squiggly bracket/brace; l/r curly bracket/brace; <opening/closing brace>. Rare: brace/unbrace; curly/uncurly; leftit/rytit; l/r squirrelly; [embrace/bracelet].
[] Common: l/r square bracket; l/r bracket; <opening/closing bracket>; bracket/unbracket. Rare: square/unsquare; [U turn/U turn back].
< > Common: <less/greater than>; bra/ket; l/r angle; l/r angle bracket; l/r broket. Rare: from/{into, towards}; read from/write to; suck/blow; comes-from/gozinta; in/out; crunch/zap (all from UNIX); [angle/right angle].
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Re:so what is the right pronunciation? (Score:2)
It will always be thus in my mind. No matter what anyone says. If you say Lynn-us follows the rules of English or some such more closely, remember this. Linus, who named the damn thing in the first place, doesn't speak english as his first language. Anyhoo.
The dollar sign .... string? (Score:2)
This comes from spending WAY too much time coding in Basic back in the day!
I only do it if there is a $ at the end of a word though. Q$ is "Q STRING" to me.
-=-=-=-=-=- POOP -=-=-=-=-=-
Re:They mispronounced Linus as well (Score:3)
If I wanted to provocate heated arguing, I would say that is just so typical American attitude.
But I am not saying that, I am just saying that at least here in Finland (where Linus is from, too) we usually pronounce names like they should be pronounced in their own language. I pronounce American names American way (as well as I can, of course) and Swedish names Swedish way and so on.
Linus is, in this case, Finnish name, so Finnish pronounciation would be preferred if you are being considerate.
Forget pronunciation: discuss *freeness* (Score:2)
It's an example of how the general public just haven't been told that GPL'd software is free in that it "has freedom", rather than "can be obtained gratis".
People, when you see this kind of thing, *please* make a point of informing people, so they'll know in future.
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Re:1.21 gigawatts?! (Score:2)
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"'Is not a quine' is not a quine" is a quine.
Re:Forget Linux (Score:2)
hash-ping-slash-user-slash-bin-shhhhhhh....
Wrongo (Score:2)
tcsh - Tee Sea Shell
lilo - Lie-Low
cache - Cah-Shay (It's french, damnit)
~ - Til-Dah
# - hash
! - exclamation point (although lately i've used bang like the rest of the world)
BTW, cache must be cah-shay, because:
a) it's french (at least originally)
b) you can't say CASH because if you're working on an e-commerce system things become confusing really quickly.
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Didn't they just pass Eubonics??????? (Score:2)
Mordeth?????
*OK I'M OPENING UP A WHOLE CAN OF WORMS ON THAT ONE*
at least for those who know how to translate Quenya...
OK as long as I'm rambling, is it Tol-ken or Tol-KEY-enn????
OK OK Grossly offtopic, but isn't most of this thread?
Re:Forget Linux (Score:2)
like an e with an accent ague
Re:Wrongo (Score:2)
Re:Pronunciation (Score:2)
Re:You forgot a few... (Score:2)
Re:1.21 gigawatts?! (Score:2)
Re:Jeopardy's all well and good, but... (Score:2)
or maybe "Who wants to be a millionaire" (aka "Who wants to be broke on a diet of pizza and coke")
There are more (Score:2)
6. "Lin-icks" is a subtle variant on #5.
I am fairly confident #6 came into use because it rhymes with Unix (you-nicks) and Minix (Min-icks), both of which Linux has as ancestors.
(Personally, I use #6, mainly because it is what I heard first, but that's just me.)
Re:lih-nucks (Score:2)
A lesson from Netscape (Score:2)
Re:Europe vs. America (Score:2)
Re:Forget Linux (Score:2)
I guess that could stand for "f*ing-sick"
Re:Forget pronunciation: discuss *freeness* (Score:2)
... but you could also have downloaded IE5 for "free" as in "free beer". But you wouldn't be allowed/able to modify it and pass it on to someone else, the way you are with Slackware.
In reply to the other two posts - it's true that the Jeopardy question was correct. I was pointing out the emphasis built in to the question -- both free speech and free beer are parts of the Free Software appeal, and most people don't get exposed to the Free Speech side of the coin.
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Re:But Linus is a *ROMAN* name, not Finnish! (Score:2)
it sounds like "lennox" which is my mom's china pattern.