Path: utzoo!utgpu!utstat!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!munnari.oz.au!cs.mu.oz.au!ok
From: ok@cs.mu.oz.au (Richard O'Keefe)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.wizards
Subject: Re: Pronunciations (was: And how do you pronounce "csh"?)
Message-ID: <2556@munnari.oz.au>
Date: 28 Oct 89 06:21:15 GMT
References: <929@uakari.primate.wisc.edu> <4305@csd4.csd.uwm.edu> <0400.AA0400@dcpc>
Sender: news@cs.mu.oz.au
Lines: 27

In article <0400.AA0400@dcpc>, dc@dcpc.UUCP (Don Curtis) writes:
> 	The one I want to know is how most folks pronounce "char",
> 	I and most others pronounce it like the first part of
> 	"character" while others pronounce it like the first
> 	part of "charcoal"

If you already know that "most others pronounce ..." then why do you need
to as "how most folks pronounce" it?  It would be extremely surprised if
any significant number of people pronounced "char" like the first syllable
of "character".  It is extremely difficult to pronounce that syllable on
its own.  (The first syllable of "character" does __not__ sound like "care".)

It's worth pointing out that most of the abbreviated keywords in C ('char'
is not a UNIX command, it's a C keyword) are not the first syllables of
their words or not a whole number of syllables of their words.
	cha-rac-ter
	struc-ture
	in-te-ger
  (type)de-fine
	ex-ter-nal
	e-nu-mer-ate
	con-stant
It'd be a bit silly to pronounce "char" like the first syllable of
"character" when it _isn't_ the first syllable of character, wouldn't it?
(To pronounce the first syllable of "character", say "cancel" without
saying "n" or "cel".  Remember to say it _fast_, it's a short stressed
syllable.)