nginx (“engine x”) is an HTTP web server, reverse proxy, content cache, load balancer, TCP/UDP proxy server, and mail proxy server. […] [1]
I still pronounce it as “n-jinx” in my head.
References
- Title (website): “nginx”. Publisher: NGINX. Accessed: 2025-02-26T23:25Z. URI: https://nginx.org/en/.
- §“nginx”. ¶1.
I laughed out loud when I first learned that imgur is supposed to be pronounced as "imager’… well you fuckin chose the wrong combination of letters for that didn’t ya
1000% I say gif too, like gift. If you wanted it pronounced like “jiff” then you should have spelled it with a J.
I flew from Jermany to Tanzania and saw some jeriatric jiraffes.
I say it “Jif” because:
- That’s what the format’s creator named it.
- It’s weird, but “soft G” is a thing and acronyms and the only “rule” for pronouncing acronyms is “it’s easy to say”.
- It annoys people that are way too invested in it. Sure, it’s immature – but it’s low stakes and not particularly “shitty”. I enjoy it and you only YOLO once.
Or with a Đ.
Choosy moms choose Dzhif.
jif was copyrighted. gif was literally named after the peanut butter. it came with a jingle “choosy developers choose gif”. How many different forms of proof do you need.
Am I missing something? I’ve always pronounced it “imager”. How else would you pronounce it?
as it’s spelled: im gur.
It’s one thing to name it imgr, but putting a fucking u after the g makes it a hard g in literally every instance. the letter u is the reason the g is pronounced as a hard g in words that otherwise wouldn’t need a u: fragile / guile, digest / guest, etc.
as it’s spelled: im gur.
“I’m gur”?
Tony… Is that you?
it’s spelled img - ur, as in
imgor the shortening ofimagein every context. You can’t shortenimageany other way.it’s spelled img - ur
no, it’s spelled imgur. I know what img stands for which is why I said it would be one thing to call it imgr. the u doesn’t make sense and it hardens the g. it’s funny that you talk about how it’s customary that img stands for image but you act like ‘ur’ is also a thing by itself.
well it is, just not in that way. if your img-ur breakup made any sense for pronouncing img as if it’s independent then why not consider what ur stands for? it’s a shortening of your or you’re. so why not pronounce it image your? because it’s bullshit and the spelling is ridiculous.
And I will always pronounce SQL as “squeal”
I say PSQL as Pee Sequel
I say FAQ as fuck you.
Some people pronounce it like “fack”, and the official way to pronounce GameFAQs is “game facks”
Yes, I have hear this much
My brain first interpreted SQL as ‘squirrel’ and that now refuses to relinquish its claim as default pronunciation in my mind.
genius
I still say it this way in my head…
That’s great actually!
TIL some people pronounced it n-jinx
I mean every time I hear about the damn thing it’s because it’s been misconfigured and is causing some fucking ruckus. The whole thing is cursed so jinx really feels appropriate where I’m standing from.
I’ve never heard it pronounced any other way than “engine x”.
I’ve never heard it pronounced. Which is why I also thought it was “n-jinx”
When I first encountered it, it was by hearing it. It took longer than it probably should have to recognize that when people talked about “engine x”, they meant “in-jinks”
I heard it spoken first as well, but I ended up seeing it in text form not long after. I think it would have been more confusing if that hadn’t been the era of internet companies thinking they were clever if they dropped a letter (usually a vowel).
I started using it around 2006, and even back then it listed the pronunciation on the site.
nyuh-inks
As always, first impressions count. There is no way I’m starting to call it engine x now, except for fun.
I’ve done a semi-exception in the case of Xitter. I like this new name Elon chose because it brings the possiblity of playful sounds. Same goes to Xitler.
In Chinese, “X” makes a “sh” sound.
Take from that what you will.
That’s the point…
Not everyone knows that though.
I think software name pronunciation discussions are so hilariously absurd that I sometimes purposefully vocalise nginx as “Nuhh Ginks” just to put a hat on it
En Guh Inks
I pronounce k8s as k-eights sometimes on purpose to gauge the reactions
Wait do you mean “kates” or “Kay-Eights”? I think either makes sense and I wouldn’t raise an eyebrow
If you said it like “Kuhh-Eights” I would probably laugh
I thought it was pronounced N-G-N-X
NGNX, the other tetragrammaton.
Although I’m Jewish, so I should probably write it N-NX.
I’m OOTL.
That is the protagonist from the (IMHO excellent) movie Equilibrium. He describes himself as a “tetragrammaton cleric.” Prior to your comment, I didn’t know the first word had any actual real world meaning, so that’s where my mind went when I saw you use it. (Apologies if this is disrespectful to the intent of the word.)
As an interesting side note, supposedly that movie is what got Christian Bale cast as Batman.
Sounds cool, will add to the watch list.
(Apologies if this is disrespectful to the intent of the word.)
I’m hella atheist, for the record, so no worries. Any actual Jewish practice was a few mothers ago, but mentioning it added both humour and another hint for people who know the concept but not the word.
Equilibrium is a really boring movie. Imagine if The Matrix’s fight scenes were centered around a gunfighter whose primary strategy is to stand in one spot and that doing so was a plot point and all the neat plot points of The Matrix were replaced with a plot about not feeling emotions.
Feel nothing, stand in one spot. Movie done.
Well, you’re wrong.
Yeah, actually looks like it was critically panned, too. I do love a good dystopian speculative fiction, but maybe not the top of the watch list.
Ha! There’s probably some other layer of theology there when you consider that that G stands for “Gine” pronounced like “Djinn.”
Where did the I go?
To be or not to be, that is the question
Where did I come from?
Make me
I always pronounced it engine-x (fluent as one word) but never thought of it meaning engine lol
n gin x -> en gin ex -> “enginex” spoken, nginx thought
Putting the gin in Nginx.
This surprised me too. But that was in 2012 😂
https://kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/SillySounds/english.ogg (from back when many english speakers were still insistent that the i in Linux should be pronounced “eye”)
My lead dev used to pronounce it njinx and I always needed some time to realize what he’s talking about.
similar problem with kubectl
It’s obviously kubecontrol! I will die on this hill.
Also, Containerd … Not helped by the cli nerdctl.
Hm, my guess would be either “cube control” or “cube C-T-L”.
EDIT (2025-02-28T09:02Z): Hm, actually, given that it’s for Kubernetes [1], maybe it’s “koob control” or “koob C-T-L”… [2]?
References
- Type: Documentation. Title: “Command line tool (kubectl)”. Publisher: Kubernetes. Published: 2024-01-01T21:15-08:00. Accessed: 2025-02-28T11:01Z. URI: https://kubernetes.io/docs/reference/kubectl/.
- Type: Article. Title: “How to pronounce Kubernetes so you don’t get laughed at”. Author: “Blue Matador”. Publisher: “Blue Matador, Inc.”. Published: 2020-06-03. Accessed: 2025-02-28T11:07Z. URI: https://www.bluematador.com/blog/how-to-pronounce-kubernetes.
- §“So, how do you pronounce Kubernetes?”.
Kubernetes is pronounced coo-ber-net-ees […]
- §“So, how do you pronounce Kubernetes?”.
We refer to it as kew-bee-cuttle
If you want people to pronounce your project name correctly you should spell it that way. Having a FAQ on pronunciation means you’ve messed up and lost already. Want it to be called “Engine X”? Call it “Engine X”.
My favourite is SAP not wanting people to call it Sap but to spell it out S.A.P. Well sorry, but it’s a CVC word, literally the first kind of word everyone learns.
even a dash, ngin-x, would do it really
And is even worse sign if you need a document to describe how to pronounce its name. It is a sign you should pick another name.
Do our USAian overlords now require us to submit names to ensure those won’t be mispronounced on purpose? You people are insufferable.
Who do you think I am?
Oh boy - finally a modern internet nerd argument equivalent to the pronunciation of GIF!
