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PronunciationguideforUNIX
HowdoIpronouncevi,or!,or/*,or...?Youcanstartaverylongandpointlessdiscussionby
wonderingaboutthistopiconthenet.Somepeoplesayvye,somesayveeeye(thevimanualsuggeststhis)
andsomeRomannumerologistssaysix.Howyoupronouncevihasnothingtodowithwhetherornotyou
areatrueUnixwizard.
Similarly,you'llfindthatsomepeoplepronouncecharascare,andthattherearelotsofwaystosay#or/*
or!orttyor/etc.Noonepronunciationiscorrectenjoytheregionaldialectsandaccents.
SINGLECHARACTERS
Space

blank

Exclamation
point

exclamation(mark),(ex)clam,excl,wow,hey,boing,bang,shout,yell,shriek,
pling,factorial,ballbat,smash,cuss,store,not(UNIX)(C),dammit(UNIX)

"

Quotation
mark
(double)

(double)quote,dirk,literalmark,rabbitears,doubleping,doubleglitch,
invertedcommas

Octothorpe

hash,crosshatch,pound,poundsign,number,numbersign,octothorpe,
(garden)fence,crunch,mesh,hex,flash,grid,pigpen,tictactoe,scratch
(mark),(garden)gate,hak,oof,rake,unequal,punchmark.(butnotthe
musicalSHARPwhichhasverticallinesandobliquehorizontallines)

DollarSign

dollar,cash,currencysymbol,buck,string,escape,ding,bigmoney,Sonne

PercentSign

percent,mod(C),shift5,doubleohseven,grapes

&

Ampersand

and,amper,address(C),shift7,andpersand,snowman,bitand(C),donald
duck,background(UNIX),pretzel

'

Typewriter
Apostrophe

Quotationmark(single),tick,prime,irk,pop,spark,glitch.(deprecatedin
Unicode)

Asterisk

star,splat,spider,aster,times,wildcard(UNIX),gear,dingle,(Nathan)Hale,
bug,twinkle,funnybutton,pinecone,glob(UNIX)

()

Parentheses

parens,roundbrackets,bananas,ears,bowlegs

Left
Parenthesis

(open)paren,so,wane,parenthesee,open,sad

Right
Parenthesis

already,wax,unparenthesee,close(paren),happy,thesis

PlusSign

plus,add,cross,and,intersection

Comma

tail

Hyphen

minus(sign),dash,dak,option,flag,negative(sign),worm,bithorpe

Period

dot,decimal(point),(radix)point,spot,fullstop,put

Slash

stroke,virgule,solidus,slant,diagonal,over,slat,slak,across,compress,
reduce,replicate,spare,dividedby,forwardslash,shilling

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Colon

twospot,doubledot,dots

Semicolon

semi,hybrid,goon

Angle
Brackets

angles,funnels,brokets,pointybrackets,widgets

<

LessThan

less,readfrom(UNIX),from(UNIX),in(UNIX),comesfrom(UNIX),crunch,sucks,
leftchevron,openpointy(brack[et]),bra,west,(left|open)widget

>

GreaterThan

more,writeto(UNIX),into/toward(UNIX),out(UNIX),gazinta(UNIX),zap,blows,
rightchevron,closingpointy(brack[et]),ket,east,(right|close)widget

EqualSign

equal(s),gets,becomes,quadrathorpe,halfmesh

Question
Mark

question,query,whatmark,what,wildchar(UNIX),huh,ques,kwes,quiz,
quark,hook,interrogationpoint

AtSign

at,each,vortex,whirl,whirlpool,cyclone,snail,ape(tail),cat,snablea,trunk
a,rose,cabbage,Mercantilesymbol,strudel,fetch,commercialat,monkey
(tail)

Brackets

squarebrackets,Uturns,edgedparentheses

LeftBracket

bracket,bra,(left)square(brack[et]),opensquare

Right
Bracket

unbracket,ket,rightsquare(brack[et]),unsquare,close

Backslash

reversedvirgule,bash,(back)slant,backwhack,backslat,escape(UNIX),
backslak,bak,scan,expand,slosh,slope,blash

Circumflex

caret,carrot,(top)hat,cap,uphat,partyhat,housetop,uparrow,control,
boink,chevron,hiccup,power,tothe(power),fang,sharkfin,and,xor(C),
wok,pointer,pipe(UNIX),upperthan

_/th>

Underscore

underline,underbar,under,score,backarrow,flatworm,blank,gets,dash,
sneak

Grave

(grave/acute)accent,backquote,left/openquote,backprime,unapostrophe,
backspark,birk,blugle,backtick,push,backglitch,backping,execute,blip

{}

Braces

curlybraces,squigglybraces,curlybrackets,squigglebrackets,Tuborgs,
ponds,curlychevrons,squirrlybraces,hitchcocks,chippendalebrackets

LeftBrace

brace,curly,leftit,embrace,openbrace,begin(C)

RightBrace

unbrace,uncurly,rytit,bracelet,close,end(C)

VerticalBar

pipe(UNIX),pipeto(UNIX),verticalline,brokenline,bar,or(C),bitor(C),vert,v
bar,spike,to(UNIX),gazinta(UNIX),thru(UNIX),pipesinta(UNIX),tube,mark,
whack,gutter

Tilde

twiddle,tilda,tildee,wave,squiggle,swungdash,approx,wiggle,enyay,
home(UNIX),worm,not(C)

<>

[]

MULTIPLECHARACTERSTRINGS
!?

interrobang(oneoverlappedcharacter)

*/

asterslash(C),timesdiv

/*

slashterix(C),slashaster

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:=

becomes

<

gets

<<

leftshift(C),doublesmaller

<>

unequal

>>

appends(UNIX),catastrophe,rightshift(C),doublegreater

>

arrow(C),pointerto(C),hiccup(C)

#!

shebang,sh'bang,wallop

\!*

bashbangsplat

()

nil

&&

and(C),andand(C),amperamper,succeedsthen(UNIX)

||

or(C),oror(C),failsthen(UNIX)

NOTES

bang

comesfromoldcardpunchphenomenonwherepunching!codemadealoud
noisehowever,thispronunciationisusedinthe(noncomputerized)
publishingandtypesettingindustryintheU.S.too,so...
Alternativelyitcouldhavecomefromcomicbooks,wherethewordseach
characteruttersareshownina"balloon"nearthatcharacter'shead.When
onecharactershootsanother,itiscommontoseeaballoonpointingatthe
barreloftheguntodenotethatthegunhadbeenfired,notmerelyaimed.
Thatballooncontainedtheword"!"hence,"!"=="Bang!"

store

fromFORTH

dammit

asin"quit,dammit!"whileexitingviandhopingonehasn'tclobberedafiletoo
badly

octothorpe

Otherwiseknownasthenumeralsign...Incartography,itisalsoasymbolfor
village:eightfieldsaroundacentralsquare,andthisisthesourceofitsname.
Octothorpmeanseightfields~RobertBringhurst(TheElementsof
TypographicStyle(3rdedition,2004p314)
Arelatedterm(alsoinvolvingOctal/8)isoctalthorpe(BellSystem)

unequal

e.g.Modula2

string

fromBASIC

escape

fromTOPS10

Sonne

Inthesocialistcountries,theyusedandareusingallkindsofIBMclones
(hardware+software).Itwasacommonpracticejusttorenameeverything
(IBM360ESER1040,etc...).
Ofcoursethe"dollar"signhadtoberenameditbecamethe"international
currencysymbol"whichlookslikeacirclewith4raysspreadingfromit:
Becauseitlookslikea(small)shiningsun,intheGermanDemocratic
Republicitwasusuallycalled"Sonne"(sun).

&

donaldduck

fromtheDanish"AndersAnd",whichmeans"DonaldDuck"

splat

fromDEC"spider"glyph

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NathanHale

"Ihavebutoneasteriskformycountry."

funnybutton

atPacificBell,*wasreferredtobyemployeesasthe"funnybutton",whichdid
notpleasemanagementatallwhenitbecamepartofthecorporatelogoof
PacificTelesis,theholdingcompany...

timesdiv

fromFORTH

quadrathorpe

halfanoctothorpe

bithorpe

halfaquadrathorpe(Sowhat'samonothorpe?)

put

VictorBorge'sPhoneticPunctuationwhichdatesbacktothemiddle1950's

across

APL

compress

APL

reduce

APL

replicate

APL

shilling

fromtheoldBritishcurrencysymbol

becomes

e.g.Pascal

goon

Algol68

<

leftchevron

fromthemilitary:wornverticallyonthesleevetosignifyrating

<

bra

fromquantummechanics

unequal

e.g.Pascal

>

rightchevron

see"<leftchevron"

>

ket

fromquantummechanics

snablea

fromDanishmaytranslateas"trunka"

trunka

"trunk"="elephantnose"

strudel

asinAustrianapplecake

fetch

fromFORTH

scan

APL

expand

APL

and

fromformallogic

pointer

fromPASCAL

upperthan

cf.>and<

gets

somealternativerepresentationofunderscoreresemblesabackarrow

dash

asdistinctfrom''==minus

execute

fromshellcommandsubstitution

{}

Tuborgs

fromadvertizingforwellknownDanishbeverage

{}

curlychevr.

see"<leftchevron"

{}

hitchcocks

fromtheoldAlfredHitchcockshow,withthestylizedprofileoftheman

*/

:=

<>

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{}

chippendale
brackets

afterChippendalechairs

brokenline

EBCDIChastwoverticalbars,onesolidandonebroken.

enyay

fromtheSpanishntilde

nil

LISP

()

Version2.8,2014addedshebanglink.
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