Pronouncing Linux

It’s always been a point of discussion, how to pronounce Linux. Lee-nix, Lie-nux, Lee-nux - I’ve heard some pronunciations that made absolutely no sense to me at all. So, I thought I’d get it straight from the mouth of the creator. And, believe it or not, so can you.

Linus himself tells us how he pronounces Linux in the sample.au file used in sndconfig. To play the file:

     cat /usr/share/sndconfig/sample.au > /dev/audio

You’ll remember that the cat command reads a file. In this case, it’s /usr/share/sndconfig/sample.au. While cat may read the file, it really has no use without a way to play it - it’s an audio file, remember. That’s the second half of the command; sending the output resulting from the cat command to the audio device. And, what do you know? It’s Linus telling us how he pronounces Linux.

The next time one of your Linux buddies insists that the pronunciation is “Lie-nix,” send him this command. How could anyone argue the pronunciation with the creator himself?