comdisco@cae780.TEK.COM (Comdisco) (10/09/87)
We are having an intense debate in our company which is costing
us an enormous amount of time and money. The debate concerns the proper
pronunciation of the C language variable type "char".
1. One group claims it is pronounced like first syllable of "charcoal".
2. Another group says it is pronounced like the word "car".
3. Still another group says it is pronounced "care".
We would greatly appreciate any opinions on the subject.
- Mark "Ban Hippies" Kaplan
rich@devvax.JPL.NASA.GOV (Richard Pettit) (10/09/87)
In article <4575@cae780.TEK.COM> comdisco@cae780.UUCP (Comdisco) writes: > We are having an intense debate in our company which is costing I vote for "care", as in the first syllable of "character", because that's what it is, a "care"acter.
tel@moby.UUCP (Tom Lowe) (10/09/87)
> We are having an intense debate in our company which is costing > us an enormous amount of time and money. The debate concerns the proper > pronunciation of the C language variable type "char". > > 1. One group claims it is pronounced like first syllable of "charcoal". > 2. Another group says it is pronounced like the word "car". > 3. Still another group says it is pronounced "care". > We would greatly appreciate any opinions on the subject. Who really chars?!?!?! But really, I've heard it pronounced all those ways, but most often it has been pronounced 'care'. -- Tom Lowe {rutgers,gatech,huscb,burdvax,ihnp4,cbosgd}!psuvax1!moby!tel AT&T National Systems Support Center, S. Plainfield, NJ (1-800-922-0354) Please call all only if you have an AT&T computer under Warranty or if you have an AT&T Maintenance Contract on your equipment.
bright@dataio.Data-IO.COM (Walter Bright) (10/09/87)
In article <4575@cae780.TEK.COM> comdisco@cae780.UUCP (Comdisco) writes: > We are having an intense debate in our company which is costing >us an enormous amount of time and money. The debate concerns the proper >pronunciation of the C language variable type "char". char is short for character, therefore it is pronounced 'care'. Here's to another worthless topic of discussion!
schung@cory.Berkeley.EDU (Stephen the Greatest) (10/09/87)
In article <516@devvax.JPL.NASA.GOV> rich@devvax.JPL.NASA.GOV (Richard Pettit) writes: >I vote for "care", as in the first syllable of "character", because Here's my vote for "care". - Stephen
daveb@laidbak.UUCP (Dave Burton) (10/09/87)
In article <4575@cae780.TEK.COM> comdisco@cae780.UUCP (Comdisco) writes: > > We are having an intense debate in our company which is costing >us an enormous amount of time and money. The debate concerns the proper >pronunciation of the C language variable type "char". > > 1. One group claims it is pronounced like first syllable of "charcoal". > > 2. Another group says it is pronounced like the word "car". > > 3. Still another group says it is pronounced "care". > > We would greatly appreciate any opinions on the subject. > > > - Mark "Ban Hippies" Kaplan > It is unfortunate that such a trivial concern can cause an 'enormous' amount of money to be wasted. What IS important is that when communicating a code fragment, the receiving party totally comprehends that communication. I doubt that anyone will be confused if I said "car star variable" vs. "care asterisk variable" vs. "care star varaible". As long as the grammatical mapping is one-to-one, leave well enough alone. P.S. Netlanders: I is with great difficulty that I refrained from expressing my opinion of 'proper' pronounciation. Please, show similar restraint and let's not waste the time or space on subjects of trivial usefulness. -- --------------------"Well, it looked good when I wrote it"--------------------- Verbal: Dave Burton Net: ...!ihnp4!laidbak!daveb V-MAIL: (312) 505-9100 x325 USSnail: 1901 N. Naper Blvd. #include <disclaimer.h> Naperville, IL 60540
ljz@fxgrp.UUCP (Lloyd Zusman ) (10/09/87)
In article <4575@cae780.TEK.COM> comdisco@cae780.UUCP (Comdisco) writes: > > We are having an intense debate in our company which is costing >us an enormous amount of time and money. The debate concerns the proper >pronunciation of the C language variable type "char". > > 1. One group claims it is pronounced like first syllable of "charcoal". > > 2. Another group says it is pronounced like the word "car". > > 3. Still another group says it is pronounced "care". > > We would greatly appreciate any opinions on the subject. > Well, you asked for it ... It is my totally biased and totally correct opinion that it should be pronounced like the first syllable of "charcoal". Those people who prefer to pronounce it like "car" should give up on C and go over to Lisp. Those who pronounce it like "care" are, according to the illustrious Bob Johnsen (of Saratoga, California) "wimps and Pascal users". So there! Lloyd Zusman ...!ames!fxgrp!ljz
robert@sri-spam.istc.sri.com (Robert Allen) (10/09/87)
In article <4220@zen.berkeley.edu> schung@cory.Berkeley.EDU.UUCP (Stephen the Greatest) writes: >In article <516@devvax.JPL.NASA.GOV> rich@devvax.JPL.NASA.GOV (Richard Pettit) writes: >>I vote for "care", as in the first syllable of "character", because > > Here's my vote for "care". I vote for "char" as in "charcoal". Just because it means something doesn't mean that you have to call it after that; otherwise UNIX people would call "vi" "vi" as in visual instead of "v i", the '*' "times" instead of "splat", etc. A few such nifty acronyms are listed below :^). "!*" - say "bang splat" "!!" - say "bang bang" "!$" - say "bang ding" Seriously, is this *really* costing some company vast amounts of money? -- --------------------------------------------------------- Robert Allen, robert@spam.istc.sri.com 415-859-2143 (work phone, days) ---------------------------------------------------------
robert@sri-spam.istc.sri.com (Robert Allen) (10/10/87)
In article <1384@dataio.Data-IO.COM>, bright@dataio.Data-IO.COM (Walter Bright) writes: > In article <4575@cae780.TEK.COM> comdisco@cae780.UUCP (Comdisco) writes: > > We are having an intense debate in our company which is costing > >us an enormous amount of time and money. The debate concerns the proper > >pronunciation of the C language variable type "char". > > char is short for character, therefore it is pronounced 'care'. > > Here's to another worthless topic of discussion! So, by the same chain of logic a "char *fred" is "care pointer fred" instead of "char star fred"? :-) -- --------------------------------------------------------- Robert Allen, robert@spam.istc.sri.com 415-859-2143 (work phone, days) ---------------------------------------------------------
daryl@hpcldko.HP.COM (Daryl Odnert) (10/10/87)
It seems to me that "char" as in "charcoal" makes sense because the word
looks like it might be pronounced that way...
...and It also seems to me that "care" as in "character" makes sense because
this kind of data type is usually used to represent a character...
...but I don't understand how anyone can justify pronouncing "car" as
in "motor car".
Good luck on getting a consensus... I don't think it will happen.
Daryl Odnert
Hewlett-Packard Computer Language Lab | uucp: {hplabs,hpda}!hpcllcm!daryl
19447 Pruneridge Ave. Bldg 47LE | Phone: (408) 447-6240
Cupertino, CA 95014 | HP Telnet: 447-6240ken@cs.rochester.edu (Ken Yap) (10/10/87)
| We are having an intense debate in our company which is costing |us an enormous amount of time and money. The debate concerns the proper |pronunciation of the C language variable type "char". Who cares?! Don't you guys have better things to argue about? Shades of Gulliver's Travels! No, I'm not going to say how I pronounce "char". If the person I am talking to doesn't grok my pronunciation I switch, then we are in sync again. Can't we discuss something more useful on this newsgroup? Ken
gwyn@brl-smoke.ARPA (Doug Gwyn ) (10/10/87)
In article <4575@cae780.TEK.COM> comdisco@cae780.UUCP (Comdisco) writes: > We are having an intense debate in our company which is costing >us an enormous amount of time and money. The debate concerns the proper >pronunciation of the C language variable type "char". All three are equally "correct" (or equally silly). I feel sorry for your company..
chris@mimsy.UUCP (Chris Torek) (10/10/87)
>In article <4575@cae780.TEK.COM> comdisco@cae780.UUCP (Comdisco) writes: >>We are having an intense debate in our company which is costing In article <516@devvax.JPL.NASA.GOV> rich@devvax.JPL.NASA.GOV (Richard Pettit) answers: >I vote for "care", as in the first syllable of "character", because >that's what it is, a "care"acter. `He says po-tay-to, and she says po-tah-to, . . .' Might I suggest that as long as it does not noticeably hamper understanding, that you might as well ignore it? (I say the first syllable of `character' myself; but sometimes I say `user lihb' and sometimes I say `user libe'. And sometimes I have to spell it out, and it does not matter which way I pronounced it. `Slash uniform echo romeo slash lima india bravo slash uniform uniform charlie papa' can help when all else fails.) -- In-Real-Life: Chris Torek, Univ of MD Comp Sci Dept (+1 301 454 7690) Domain: chris@mimsy.umd.edu Path: uunet!mimsy!chris
grimlok@hubcap.UUCP (Mike Percy) (10/10/87)
in article <10732@sri-spam.istc.sri.com>, robert@sri-spam.istc.sri.com (Robert Allen) says: >> >us an enormous amount of time and money. The debate concerns the proper >> >pronunciation of the C language variable type "char". >> >> char is short for character, therefore it is pronounced 'care'. >> >> Here's to another worthless topic of discussion! > > So, by the same chain of logic a "char *fred" is "care pointer > fred" instead of "char star fred"? :-) > -- Ah ha! Although I usually say care I know what someone means when they say char(cole). BUt it just dawned on me after reading the above "char star fred"...char and star --- rhyme. Since char *var is probably the most used combination of char and the *, it appeals to people to have it flow when spoken. Incedently I was glad to know that I am not the only lost soul who says ! (bang), everyone here laughs at me when I say that (wimper) I also say vi as in vi-tality becuse it is one syllable as opposed to v i. vi-sual sounds like a caveman asking for food. I thought I was wrong once, but I was mistaken. "Be careful out there" Grimlok (aka Mike Percy)
cjl@iucs.cs.indiana.edu (10/10/87)
> 1. One group claims it is pronounced like first syllable of "charcoal". > 2. Another group says it is pronounced like the word "car". > 3. Still another group says it is pronounced "care". In daily English, we don't always pronounce the abbreviation exactly, e.g. viz, etc. Since we already had a lot of strange user defined names, why don't we pronounce the keywords and predefined names by their full names ? Professional people know the corresponding abbreviation anyway. If the program is presented along with the speech like in classrooms, I even recommend to pronounce the strange abbreviated user defined names by their full names so your audience's ears won't suffer. C.J.Lo Dept. of CIS, IUPUI cjl@iucs.cs.indiana.edu UUCP : {ihnp4, ...}!inuxc!iucs!cjl {ihnp4, ...}!iuvax!cjl
richardh@killer.UUCP (Richard Hargrove) (10/11/87)
In article <103@fxgrp.UUCP>, ljz@fxgrp.UUCP (Lloyd Zusman ) writes: > It is my totally biased and totally correct opinion that it should be > pronounced like the first syllable of "charcoal". Those people who > ... > Lisp. Those who pronounce it like "care" are, according to the illustrious > Bob Johnsen (of Saratoga, California) "wimps and Pascal users". > You are correct that the pronunciation should be the same as the first syllable of "charcoal". That's also the way it should be pronounced in Pascal as well, the "wimps" to the contrary. ;-) What an incredibly trivial topic of discussion!
ron@topaz.rutgers.edu (Ron Natalie) (10/11/87)
Probably the most correct is "char" as in "Char-acter" which is different at least in mid-atlantic dialect than "car" (like you drive in, or the left part of a Lisp diad). -Ron I've been know to use "char" as in charcoal, but I try to avoid it.
ron@topaz.rutgers.edu (Ron Natalie) (10/11/87)
You Californians talk funny. We say Character with the A sounding like "hat" more than "hate."
grimlok@hubcap.UUCP (Mike Percy) (10/11/87)
in article <1781@killer.UUCP>, richardh@killer.UUCP (Richard Hargrove) says: > Xref: hubcap comp.lang.c:4224 comp.lang.misc:650 > > You are correct that the pronunciation should be the same as the first > syllable of "charcoal". That's also the way it should be pronounced in > Pascal as well, the "wimps" to the contrary. ;-) > > What an incredibly trivial topic of discussion! Where did you "look up" the "correct" pronounciation? My dictionary lists two pronounciations of char 1) (Brit.) a chore or job 2) to burn or scorch. Both of these ARE pronounced as in charcoal, granted. But char in this case is short for character, just as int is short for integer, float is for floating point, and struct is for structure. Since there is (as yet) no definitive guide to pronounciation, why bother? You know what someone means whether they say char(coal) or char(acter), so just substitute whtever you like. Its not much harder than walking and chewing gum...trust me. Although I have posted this and other notes about char, this is such a stupid, stupid, stupid thing to be wasting time on, espaecially when one is supposed to be working (note that I posted this on a SUNDAY my day off!) Grimlok aka Mike Percy "Hmm. Hadn't thought of that"
gvcormack@watdragon.UUCP (10/12/87)
In article <516@devvax.JPL.NASA.GOV>, rich@devvax.JPL.NASA.GOV (Richard Pettit) writes: > > I vote for "care", as in the first syllable of "character", because > that's what it is, a "care"acter. I missed the smiley face on this. At least in my country, the "a" sound in "character" is like the a in "hat", which is significantly different from the "a" in "care". Of course, I haven't made an exhaustive study of all U.S. dialects, but my American dictionary agrees with me. "Char" is already a perfectly good word, and I think the pronunciation should be taken from that word. It is extremely rare to have words that are spelled the same that aren't homonyms (examples of such words might be an interesting spinoff discussion). -- Gordon V. Cormack CS Dept, University of Waterloo, Canada N2L 3G1 gvcormack@waterloo { .CSNET or .CDN or .EDU or .NETNORTH } gvcormac@water { UUCP or BITNET }
chip@ateng.UUCP (Chip Salzenberg) (10/12/87)
In article <4575@cae780.TEK.COM> comdisco@cae780.UUCP (Comdisco) writes: }The [company] debate concerns the proper pronunciation of "char". }[...] } 3. Still another group says it is pronounced "care". Most of the civilized world says, "Who cares?" -- Chip Salzenberg "chip@ateng.UUCP" or "{uunet,usfvax2}!ateng!chip" A.T. Engineering My employer's opinions are not mine, but these are. "Gentlemen, your work today has been outstanding. I intend to recommend you all for promotion -- in whatever fleet we end up serving." - JTK
rmgtkro@cs.vu.nl (Rob ten Kroode) (10/12/87)
>In article <4575@cae780.TEK.COM> comdisco@cae780.UUCP (Comdisco) writes: > > We are having an intense debate in our company which is costing >us an enormous amount of time and money. The debate concerns the proper >pronunciation of the C language variable type "char". > > 1. One group claims it is pronounced like first syllable of "charcoal". > > 2. Another group says it is pronounced like the word "car". > > 3. Still another group says it is pronounced "care". > > We would greatly appreciate any opinions on the subject. It is obvious that "char" should be pronounced as "car", because in our country (The Netherlands !) it is the first syllable of the dutch word "karakter" which means "character" in English (and that's what a "char" is) !! Yet another useless opinion in a useless discussion :-) Rob ten Kroode (rmgtkro@cs.vu.nl) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- I'm sorry for the following lines, but... I hate it when inews does not accept my posting !!!!!
jholbach@wright.EDU (Jim Holbach) (10/13/87)
in article <4575@cae780.TEK.COM>, comdisco@cae780.TEK.COM (Comdisco) says: > Xref: wright comp.lang.c:3722 comp.lang.misc:572 > .......... The debate concerns the proper > pronunciation of the C language variable type "char". Why not pronounce it "character"? Who *cares* how K&R mis-spelled things? :-) :-) Jim Holbach
Terry_L_Parker@cup.portal.com (10/13/87)
Since 'char' is short for 'character' it would seem logical to me that it be pronounced as in 'care'. Unless, of course, you pronounced 'character' as 'charr-actor'.
amir@cnt.MN.ORG (amir vafaei) (10/13/87)
In article <103@fxgrp.UUCP> ljz@fxgrp.UUCP (Lloyd Zusman) writes: >In article <4575@cae780.TEK.COM> comdisco@cae780.UUCP (Comdisco) writes: >> >> We are having an intense debate in our company which is costing >>us an enormous amount of time and money. The debate concerns the proper >>pronunciation of the C language variable type "char". >> >> 1. One group claims it is pronounced like first syllable of "charcoal". >> >> 2. Another group says it is pronounced like the word "car". >> >> 3. Still another group says it is pronounced "care". >> >> We would greatly appreciate any opinions on the subject. >> > >Well, you asked for it ... > >It is my totally biased and totally correct opinion that it should be >pronounced like the first syllable of "charcoal". Those people who >prefer to pronounce it like "car" should give up on C and go over to >Lisp. Those who pronounce it like "care" are, according to the illustrious >Bob Johnsen (of Saratoga, California) "wimps and Pascal users". > >So there! > >Lloyd Zusman Right on Lloyd. -- -Amir meccts!cnt!amir quest!cnt!amir
gudeman@arizona.edu (David Gudeman) (10/13/87)
In article <4575@cae780.TEK.COM> comdisco@cae780.TEK.COM (Comdisco) writes:
We are having an intense debate in our company which is costing
us an enormous amount of time and money. The debate concerns the proper
pronunciation of the C language variable type "char".
Oh oh. You have just inflicted your internal war on two innocent
newsgroups. As a sometimes student of linguistics, maybe I can dampen
the hostilities by pointing out that there is no such thing as a
"proper" pronunciation. A natural language is defined by the speakers
of the language, and where there is a consensus on a pronunciation,
that pronunciation may be called "normal" or "standard" within the
dialect in question.
This is not to say that it is impossible to define standards, or that
standards are not important, but you are never going convince people
by argument that the way they pronounce a word is wrong. Do the net
a favor and don't try. I have a suggestion to offer the poster: take
a vote and declare the majority preference the standard. _Before_ you
take the vote, make sure everyone agrees to give up his personal
preference if he is outvoted.shefter@baboon..arpa (Bret A. Shefter) (10/13/87)
Followup-To: Distribution: *** REPLACE THIS LINE WITH YOUR MEmunch, munch, smack gulp <burp> In article <3753@watdragon.waterloo.edu> gvcormack@watdragon.UUCP writes: >"Char" is already a perfectly good word, and I think the pronunciation >should be taken from that word. It is extremely rare to have words >that are spelled the same that aren't homonyms (examples of such >words might be an interesting spinoff discussion). >-- >Gordon V. Cormack CS Dept, University of Waterloo, Canada N2L 3G1 > gvcormack@waterloo { .CSNET or .CDN or .EDU or .NETNORTH } > gvcormac@water { UUCP or BITNET } Lead and lead Read and read Record and record Tomato and tomato Ictheopilyphinoustricite and ictheopilyphinoustricite Spectre (Hmm, I used to have a :-) around here somewhere...) From the only slightly twisted mind of... shefter-bret@yale.ARPA * DISCLAIMER * shefter@yalecs.BITNET It's not my fault! ...!ihnp4!hsi!yale!shefter ...!decvax!yale!shefter "Everybody remember where we parked."
ram@elmgate.UUCP (Randy Martens) (10/14/87)
It is pronounced "kare" because <char> is short for <character> which is pronounced "kare-ac-tur". That should end this silly argument ... O.K., it's not that silly. ********************************************************************* Randy Martens ||| "Reality - What a Concept!" - R.Williams ********************************************************************* >-(decvax)---(ucbvax)-+--(sun)---------(sunrock)-V >-(ihnp4)-------------A--(tropix)----+-(ritcv)---V >-(lll-crg)--(rutgers)-+-(rochester)-A-(kodak)---+-(elmgate)--(ram) >-(hplabs)---(ames)----A ********************************************************************* disclaimer : The preceeding represents only my random babbling, and certainly reflects no one else's opinions. Fnord. *********************************************************************
michael@orcisi.UUCP (10/14/87)
I really didn't want to see this discussion propogate but ... In Microsoft C, this is the type "char far *"; pronounced "char far star". It is easier to wrap your tongue around this if char rhymes with far and star.
michael@orcisi.UUCP (10/14/87)
I really didn't want to see this discussion propogate but ... In Microsoft C, there is the type "char far *"; sometimes pronounced "char far star". It is easier to wrap your tongue around this if char rhymes with far and star.
brianc@cognos.uucp (Brian Campbell) (10/14/87)
In article <10730@sri-spam.istc.sri.com> robert@sri-spam.UUCP (Robert Allen) writes: > I vote for "char" as in "charcoal". I, too, vote for CHARcoal... > ... A few such nifty acronyms are listed below :^). > > "!*" - say "bang splat" > "!!" - say "bang bang" > "!$" - say "bang ding" And what about: "\!*" - say "bash bang splat" Holy sound effects, Batman! -- Brian Campbell uucp: decvax!utzoo!dciem!nrcaer!cognos!brianc Cognos Incorporated mail: POB 9707, 3755 Riverside Drive, Ottawa, K1G 3Z4 (613) 738-1440 fido: sysop@163/8
jpp@slxsys.UUCP (John Pettitt) (10/14/87)
Behind the debate about how to pronounce 'char' is a real
problem that does cost money. We have to support customers
in 20 countries, often the standard of english at the other
end is poor or is a dialect (e.g. american :-) and software
support is a real pain ! The char's that cause the most problems
are:
! (bang or pling)
: (colon or doublepoint)
; (semicolon)
{ } [ ] # @ (these are often not on non english keyboards)
P.S.
In english 'Char' = tea (usually hot with milk and sugar) !
Maybe we should move this one to sci.lang or /dev/null ?
--
John Pettitt G6KCQ, CIX jpettitt, Voice +44 1 398 9422
UUCP: ...uunet!mcvax!ukc!pyrltd!slxsys!jpp (jpp@slxsys.co.uk)
Disclaimer: I don't even own a cat to share my views !gold@trane.UUCP (Michael Gold) (10/15/87)
In article <4575@cae780.TEK.COM>, comdisco@cae780.TEK.COM (Comdisco) writes: > > We are having an intense debate ... concern[ing] the proper > pronunciation of the C language variable type "char". > > 1. One group claims it is pronounced like first syllable of "charcoal". > 2. Another group says it is pronounced like the word "car". > 3. Still another group says it is pronounced "care". I'd suggest a fourth option, somewhere between 2) and 3), that is: pronounce it like the first syllable of "character". Isn't this the most natural choice? -------------- Michael Gold Aurora Systems 311 Penobscot Drive Redwood City, CA UUCP: {ucbvax,sun}!ptsfa!trane!gold The options expressed above represent those of the author alone, and not those of the Aurora management, investors, or collegues.
lewisd@homxc.UUCP (David Lewis) (10/15/87)
In article <4575@cae780.TEK.COM>, comdisco@cae780.TEK.COM (Comdisco) writes: > > We are having an intense debate in our company which is costing > us an enormous amount of time and money. The debate concerns the proper > pronunciation of the C language variable type "char". > > 1. One group claims it is pronounced like first syllable of "charcoal". > > 2. Another group says it is pronounced like the word "car". > > 3. Still another group says it is pronounced "care". > > We would greatly appreciate any opinions on the subject. I don't know how you pronounce the latter two in your part of the country, but at my school in NYS we usually used your (1) or 4. Still another group says it is pronounced like the first syllable of "character." This is not quite (2) or (3). -- David B. Lewis {ihnp4,allegra,ulysses}!homxc!lewisd 201-615-5306 EDT
rick@men2a.ORI-CAL.COM (Rick Wise) (10/16/87)
It's been entertaining watching this discussion. About 90% of the
replies say, essentially, "This is ridiculous, who cares, get off the
net. By the way, the right pronunciation is. . . ."
Of course we all care how to pronounce these things. Only by doing
so can we show people that we *really* know UNIX. We are among the
elite. I am semi-serious.
Will comdisco@cae780.UUCP volunteer to act as a clearinghouse for
votes? We can all send our favorite pronunciations of char, *, !,
{ (open, or bracket), $, vi, and #.
By the way, the right pronunciation is [ fill in your favorite ].
Rick Wise
CALCULON Corp
uunet!rlgvax!men1a!rickjwabik@shamash.UUCP (Jeff Wabik) (10/16/87)
In article <4220@zen.berkeley.edu>, schung@cory.Berkeley.EDU (Stephen the Greatest) writes: > In article <516@devvax.JPL.NASA.GOV> rich@devvax.JPL.NASA.GOV (Richard Pettit) writes: > >I vote for "care", as in the first syllable of "character", because > Here's my vote for "care". Negative. Methinks it is important to use ENGLISH here rather than just saying, "Its the first part of character, therefore 'care'.".. If it was a standalone word, which it is (?!), it would be pronounced "char", as in "charcoal." Anything else might knock you out of you CHAIR. Besides.. When explaining casting to someone, you could then say "char star" (for (char *)).. -Jeff
bts@sas.UUCP (Brian T. Schellenberger) (10/17/87)
"char" is an abbreviation for "character", so it should of course be
pronounced the way you pronounce the first syllable of that word.
But: Does your company also waste a great deal of time arguing over
whether "either" is pronounced EYEther or EEther, too? This debate is
very much the same sort of thing.
--
--Brian.
(Brian T. Schellenberger) ...!mcnc!rti!sas!bts
DISCLAIMER: Whereas Brian Schellenberger (hereinafter "the party of the first flee@gondor.psu.edu (Felix Lee) (10/18/87)
How do you pronounce "char"?
Does your "ch" sound like "chin", "kin", or "shin"?
Does your "a" sound like "fault", "fought", "fete", "fat", or "fate"?
And do you use an American, English, French, Spanish, or Italian "r"?
Or does it sound completely different (/ahkteht/)?
Don't answer this question. I don't care how you talk. (as long as
you don't mumble:-)
--
Felix Lee flee@gondor.psu.edu {cbosgd,cmcl2}!psuvax1!gondor!flee
What's bred in the bone will not out of the flesh. [English proverb]levy@ttrdc.UUCP (Daniel R. Levy) (10/19/87)
In article <1746@homxc.UUCP>, lewisd@homxc.UUCP (David Lewis) writes: #> In article <4575@cae780.TEK.COM>, comdisco@cae780.TEK.COM (Comdisco) writes: #> > The debate concerns the proper #> > pronunciation of the C language variable type "char". #> > 1. One group claims it is pronounced like first syllable of "charcoal". #> > 2. Another group says it is pronounced like the word "car". #> > 3. Still another group says it is pronounced "care". #> > We would greatly appreciate any opinions on the subject. #> I don't know how you pronounce the latter two in your part of the country, #> but at my school in NYS we usually used your (1) or #> 4. Still another group says it is pronounced like the first syllable #> of "character." This is not quite (2) or (3). Suggestion (4) is basically the same thing as (3) at least in my neckuvda woods. (If for you it's not: how do you say "care" and how do you say "CHARacter"?) Yet another possible way is to say "character" even though that's not how it looks in the text. A related issue is "bin"(ary) and "lib"(rary) : do you say "bin" (like what you put potatoes in) or "bine"? "Lib" (as in women's lib) or "libe"? Are there any linguistic precedents here? :-) -- |------------Dan Levy------------| Path: ..!{akgua,homxb,ihnp4,ltuxa,mvuxa, | an Engihacker @ | vax135}!ttrdc!ttrda!levy | AT&T Computer Systems Division | Disclaimer? Huh? What disclaimer??? |--------Skokie, Illinois--------|
mitchell@gargoyle.UChicago.EDU (Mitchell Marks) (10/19/87)
My vote is for None of the above. Rather:
4. Like the first syllable of the word 'character'.
(This is NOT the same as the word 'care').
--
-- Mitch Marks @ UChicago
...ihnp4!gargoyle!anubis!mitchell
mitchell@anubis.UChicago.EDUkelley@dartvax.UUCP (Kelley Coyne) (10/21/87)
In article <929@men2a.ORI-CAL.COM> rick@men2a.ORI-CAL.COM (Rick Wise) writes: > >About 90% of the replies say, essentially, "This is ridiculous, who cares, >get off the net. By the way, the right pronunciation is. . . ." > >We can all send our favorite pronunciations of char, *, !, >{ (open, or bracket), $, vi, and #. >Rick Wise >CALCULON Corp >uunet!rlgvax!men1a!rick char - kar (not unlike an automobile) * - star (rhymes with char) ! - bang { - open squig (short for open squiggly line) $ - dollars vi - vee-eye # - pound @ - at & - and ~ - not | - or ? - what? -- Phoenix lives! James Todd Price Burlington Coat Factory Warehouse Corporation P.O. Box B-1161 {somewhere}!dartvax!kelley Hanover, NH 03755 {somewhere}!dartvax!burlcoat!jtp
barmar@think.COM (Barry Margolin) (10/21/87)
In article <1938@ttrdc.UUCP> levy@ttrdc.UUCP (Daniel R. Levy) writes: >In article <1746@homxc.UUCP>, lewisd@homxc.UUCP (David Lewis) writes: >#> In article <4575@cae780.TEK.COM>, comdisco@cae780.TEK.COM (Comdisco) writes: >#> > 1. One group claims it is pronounced like first syllable of "charcoal". That's what I use. >#> > 2. Another group says it is pronounced like the word "car". >#> > 3. Still another group says it is pronounced "care". >#> 4. Still another group says it is pronounced like the first syllable >#> of "character." This is not quite (2) or (3). > >Suggestion (4) is basically the same thing as (3) at least in my neckuvda >woods. (If for you it's not: how do you say "care" and how do you say >"CHARacter"?) "care" rhymes with "air". The first "a" in "character" is like the "a" in "cat". I recognize the existence of people who pronounce the first syllable of "character" almost like "care", though; I have a cousin in Phoenix who pronounces the first syllable of my name like the word "bare", and to my Long Island ears it sounds like she says "beery". >A related issue is "bin"(ary) and "lib"(rary)? I pronounce all these things as if the expansions didn't exist, so I say "bin" and "lib" rather than "bine" and "libe". --- Barry Margolin Thinking Machines Corp. barmar@think.com seismo!think!barmar
kludge@pyr.gatech.EDU (Scott Dorsey) (10/25/87)
In article <227@slxsys.UUCP> jpp@slxsys.UUCP (John Pettitt) writes: >Behind the debate about how to pronounce 'char' is a real >problem that does cost money. Pronounciation Guide: char "CHar" * "Star" | "Bar" , "Commar" $ "Dollar" & "Ampar" @ "Avoir" % "Centus par" ^ "uparrar" ( "opar" ) "clopar" _ "nopar" {or} "curlar" I hope this helps. Make sure you don't get any of these confused with Mopar, Slopar, NoCar, GoKart, or any similar variants. -- Scott Dorsey Kaptain_Kludge SnailMail: ICS Programming Lab, Georgia Tech, Box 36681, Atlanta, Georgia 30332 Internet: kludge@pyr.gatech.edu uucp: ...!{decvax,hplabs,ihnp4,linus,rutgers,seismo}!gatech!gitpyr!kludge
dietz@zhmti.UUCP (10/28/87)
As quoted from: The Hacker's Dictionary, *THE* definitive last word in these matters, (Who else would tell you that the lisp "cdr" is pronounced "ku'd:r?) HACKERS CHARACTER NAMING CONVENTIONS (SLANG) ! EXCL, exclam, BANG, SHRIEK, WOW. # Hash mark, MESH, SPLAT, CRUNCH, pig-pen. $ Dollar. & Ampersand. (This one is already so silly that no slang term is needed!) ' Single quote, forward quote. ( ) Parens (seperatly called just OPEN and CLOSE). * Star, SPLAT. (sometime "gear" because it looks like a little cogwheel) . Period, dot, point. / Slash, forward slash. ; SEMI. < Less than, left ANGLE BRACKET, left BROKET. = Equals. > Greater than, right ANGLE BRACKET, right BROKET. ? QUES, query. @ At-sign, at. \ Backslash. ^ Caret. ("uparrow" obsolete). _ Backarrow, Underbar. ` Backquote. { } Curly braces, curly brackets, SQUIGGLE BRACKETS. | Vertical bar, pipe. ~ TWIDDLE, SQUIGGLE, SQIGGLE. INTERCAL NAMING CONVENTIONS . Spot. : Two-spot. , Tail. # Mesh. = Half-mesh. ' Spark. ` Backspark. " Rabbit ears. ! WOW. ? What. | Spike. - Worm. < Angle. (The two character arrow "<-" or "->" is called "angleworm") > Right angle. ( Wax. ) Wane. [ U turn. ] U turn back. { Embrace. } Bracelet. * SPLAT. & Ampersand. (INTERCAL couldn't make this any sillier, either. _ Flatworm. + Intersection. / Slat. \\ Backslat. ^ Shark. (or simply "shark fin") @ Whirlpool. % Double-oh-seven. ---- Dieter H. Zebbedies ('dee-ter ayech 'zeb-ed-eez) Zebb-Hoff Mach. Tool's Automated Manufacturing Project Cleveland, OH (USnail): 9535 Clinton Rd, Cleveland, OH 44144 (+216 631 6100) (+216 741-5994) (UUCP): ...{decvax,sun,cbosgd}!mandrill!zhmti!dieter (CSNET/ARPA/BITNET): dieter@mandrill.CWRU.EDU