Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!mailrus!accuvax.nwu.edu!anaxagoras!ils.nwu.edu!edelson From: edelson@ils.nwu.edu (Daniel Choy Edelson) Newsgroups: comp.lang.lisp Subject: Re: CLOS--How to pronounce it--summary Keywords: CLOS, X3J13 Message-ID: <1575@anaxagoras.ils.nwu.edu> Date: 31 Aug 90 20:34:32 GMT References: <1459@anaxagoras.ils.nwu.edu> <324@puma.ge.com> <4522@turquoise.UUCP> Sender: news@anaxagoras.ils.nwu.edu Reply-To: edelson@ils.nwu.edu (Daniel Choy Edelson) Organization: The Institute for the Learning Sciences Lines: 35 I got quite a number of responses to my query and quickly realized that despite the fact that CLOS is now a standard, its pronunciation is not. The word on the street is: "the predominant pronunciation during the X3J13 debates about CLOS was "see loss"" (Larry Masinter, ). However, the historical perspective seems to be: "Most of the original west-coast users say "floss"" (Gregor Kiczales ). and: "Kent Pitman of the X3J13 committee pronounces it "see-loss" and claims that it is the East coast way to spell (sic) it." (Eric Peterson ) Apparently, there was a tradition that if you wanted a bug fixed you pronounced it the West-coast way otherwise you could say it however you wanted. There were several allusions to "see-loss" as being a pun about C's loss. Not the best piece of computer humor I've ever heard. My conclusion is that the community is slowly drifting towards "see-loss" but that "closs" is still quite common. "rhymes with 'dose'" is very rare. --------- Danny Edelson Institute for the Learning Sciences edelson@ils.nwu.edu Northwestern University