Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!steinmetz!iraq!halvers
From: halvers@iraq.steinmetz (Pete Halverson)
Newsgroups: comp.text
Subject: Re: TeX pronounciation
Summary: It's techhhh
Message-ID: <12101@steinmetz.ge.com>
Date: 8 Sep 88 19:50:02 GMT
References: <374@polyof.UUCP>
Sender: news@steinmetz.ge.com
Reply-To: halvers@iraq.steinmetz.ge.com (Pete Halverson)
Lines: 40

In article <374@polyof.UUCP> paul@polyof.UUCP (A1 Mr. Curran) writes:
>
>	How does one pronounce the term "TeX."  There seem to be two
>factions, one that says it's like TEK and another that says it's TEX
>as in TEXas or TEXt.  If it's TEK howcome it's pronounced that way; I
>can't think of any english words that sound X that way.  Also it would
>seem more reasonable to say LATEX than LATEK.  Just curious.

From "The TeXbook" (Don Knuth, Addison-Wesley), p. 1:

  "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 uppercase form of [this].

  Insiders pronounce the [<Chi>] of TeX as a Greek chi, not as an
  `x', so that TeX rhymes with the word 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 correctly
  to your computer, the terminal may become slightly moist.

  ...In fact, TEX (pronounced "tecks") is the admirable "Text EXecutive"
  processor developed by Honeywell INformation Systems."

And from the "LaTeX User's Guide and Reference Manual" (Les Lamport,
Addison-Wesley), p. 5:

  "TeX is usually pronounced "teck", making "*lah*-teck",
  "lah-*teck*", and "*lay*-teck" the logical choices; but language
  is not always logical, so "*lay*-tecks" is also possible.

Quotes included without permission.

>-Pablos

~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~
Pete Halverson                       ARPA: halverson@ge-crd.ARPA
GE Corporate R&D Center	             UUCP: uunet!steinmetz!iraq!halvers
Schenectady, NY				   halvers@iraq.steinmetz.UUCP
"IBM supports UNIX like a rope supports a hanged man" -- net quote