this post was submitted on 12 Dec 2023
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Showerthoughts

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The "i" in Linux and Linus have different pronunciations even when they shouldn't. (leminal.space)
submitted 10 months ago by josefo@leminal.space to c/showerthoughts@lemmy.world
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[–] Epzillon@lemmy.world 47 points 10 months ago (5 children)

Except it doesn't in Finnish, where Linus Torvald is from. Linus and Linux is pronounced the same except for the final consonant.

[–] echodot@feddit.uk 17 points 10 months ago (3 children)

So his name is really Lin-us and not Line-us?

[–] Heavybell@lemmy.world 6 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I believe I saw a youtube clip of him saying his name and Linux that way, yes.

[–] zero_gravitas@aussie.zone 2 points 10 months ago (1 children)
[–] PipedLinkBot@feddit.rocks 3 points 10 months ago

Here is an alternative Piped link(s):

"Hello, this is Linus Torvalds and I pronounce 'Linux' as 'Linux'."

Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.

I'm open-source; check me out at GitHub.

[–] neidu@feddit.nl 2 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

Yes.

Source: I'm Norwegian but I used to know an irate IT finn named Linus. A separate irate IT finn named Linus, that is.

[–] Sharpiemarker@feddit.de -3 points 10 months ago (2 children)

I think it would be Line-us and Line-ux.

[–] Fisk400@feddit.nu 10 points 10 months ago (1 children)

No. The Li sound is pronounced the same as in Lift or Lint and not Line.

[–] Sharpiemarker@feddit.de 1 points 10 months ago

Interesting! Thanks for explaining. Mine was a guess at best.

[–] Natanael@slrpnk.net 1 points 10 months ago

Finnish definitely does not use that pronunciation

[–] Scrollone@feddit.it 15 points 10 months ago (2 children)

I'm Italian and I pronounce both "i"s in the same way. Why is English so strange?

[–] DragonTypeWyvern@literature.cafe 7 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Blame the French.

[–] ebc@lemmy.ca 10 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Hey, we pronounce both the same, too. Sorry English, that's on you and you alone.

[–] DragonTypeWyvern@literature.cafe 2 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Uh huh

And how would you pronounce it compared to a German?

[–] ebc@lemmy.ca 1 points 10 months ago

The I as in "free", but shorter (not drawn out) and the u as in "urban", maybe? It's hard to find English words where they make the french U sound, but it's pronounced the same pretty much all the time.

[–] samus12345@lemmy.world 6 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

In this particular instance, the Great Vowel Shift is to blame. What caused that is up for debate.

In general, English is so strange because it's a mongrel language, incorporating words from a variety of other different languages.

[–] Tnaeriv@sopuli.xyz 1 points 10 months ago

Correction: Even though he's Finnish, his primary language is Swedish

[–] zero_gravitas@aussie.zone 1 points 10 months ago (1 children)

"Hello, this is Linus Torvalds and I pronounce 'Linux' as 'Linux'."

So yeah, he pronounces 'Linus' like 'LEE-noose', and 'Linux' like 'LEE-nooks'. (Roughly, anyway. It should get the point across for most English speakers, I'm not at a computer to do a more-correct IPA transcription right now.)

[–] PipedLinkBot@feddit.rocks 2 points 10 months ago

Here is an alternative Piped link(s):

"Hello, this is Linus Torvalds and I pronounce 'Linux' as 'Linux'."

Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.

I'm open-source; check me out at GitHub.