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From: jtchew@csa2.lbl.gov (JOSEPH T CHEW)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.next
Subject: Re: TeX = as seen by a reviewer of the NeXT cube
Summary: Thus sprach Knuth
Message-ID: <14274@dog.ee.lbl.gov>
Date: 14 Jun 91 17:10:11 GMT
References: <1991Jun13.004311.27226@zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu> <1991Jun13.063513.3050@math.ucla.edu> <jpl1.676906782@Ra.MsState.Edu>
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>>***************************************************************************
>>TEX.  Probably named after the macho dude who wrote it. This is page layout
>>and document processing for real men. Incredibly rich and capable. Also
>>incredibly difficult.
>>***************************************************************************

>Anyone who thinks it is pronounced "teks" should not be taken too
>seriously. 

Knuth, "TeX and Metafont: New Directions in Typesetting" (American
Mathematical Society and Digital Press, 1979, p. 4):

        <1> The name of the game
        English words like "technology" stem from a Greek
        root beginning with the letters {tau, epsilon, chi}...
        and this same Greek word means art as well as
        technology.  Hence the name TEX, which is an upper-
        case form of {tau, epsilon, chi}.

        Insiders pronounce the {chi} of TEX as a Greek chi,
        not as an "x," so that TEX rimes with blecchhh.
        It's the "ch" sound in Scottish words like loch
        or German words like ach; it's a Spanish "j" and
        a Russian "kh." When you say it properly to your
        computer, the terminal may become slightly moist.

        On the other hand, you might find it more comfortable
        to pronounce TEX as a Texan would and to shrug off
        all this high-falutin' nonsense about beauty and
        quality. Go ahead and do what you want; your
        computer won't mind.

So wrote its inventor on the lone prairie of Palo Alto.  Yippie ki-yo ki-yay.

--Joe
"Just another personal opinion from the People's Republic of Berkeley"