svklimkin (CC BY-SA 2.0) Some commands are basically pronounced as if we are spelling them out loud — like “el es” for ls and “pee double-u dee” for pwd, while others are read like “chown” (rhyming with “clown”) as if they are words. And since many Linux users might first be exposed to the Linx command line on some old PC that they decided to put to better use, they may never hear other people saying Linux commands out loud. So, in today’s post, I’m going to explain how I pronounce Linux commands and how I’ve heard some others going in different directions. We’ll start with the easy stuff. Several Linux commands are simply words and, at least for English speakers, just get pronounced like the words when people use them in conversation. These Unix/Linux commands are also common words and should be pronounced as expected. A number of other commands are pronounced as if they were words: In my experience, all of these commands are simply spelled out. People say “see dee” for cd and “pee es” for ps, etc. Related 22 essential Linux security commands Linux: To recurse or not Copying and renaming files on Linux Video
Anyone who says “piss” for ps or “turr” for tr is bound to get some funny looks. Other commands include words but also contain some extra letters that are generally spelled out. It gets more interesting in some cases when, like my old coworker with her “vie” pronunciation for vi, people vary from these general pronunciations. I can only imagine what the commands sound like when pronounced in languages that have very different pronunciation rules. Probably the command with the most variations in how it’s pronounced is the fsck command. Part of the reason may be its similarity to a common English curse word. I’ve always pronounced it as if I were spelling it — “ef es see kay.” Others, however, say “ef es check,” “fiss check,” or even “ef suck.” There many directories and files on Unix and Linux systems that also get pronounced in multiple ways. One that comes to mind is /etc. While I’ve always said “etsy,” some say “etcetera” or “ee tee see.” In addition, I’ve referred to the fstab file as “ef es tab” though I’ve heard it called “ef stab.” Some say “lib” (first syllable of “liberty”) for the lib directory while others insist it should be “libe” (first syllable in “library”). One reader said he once heard someone call CLI “cly” (first syllable in “climate”). And, of course, we’ve probably all heard an occasional person referring to a router as a “rooter” — the old “rowt” vs “root” argument that comes into play when we try to drive across the country. There are probably many others, and I’d love to hear some of your favorite mispronunciation stories.
Linux commands that are words
alias apropos apt cat echo eval exec expect export find
for gawk less locate man more ping shutdown snort sort
tar top touch while who zip
Linux commands pronounced as if they are words
awk beginning of “awkward”
chmod sh+mod or ch+mod (one syllable)
chown ch+own (rhymes with "clown") or ch+own (rhymes with "own")
cron beginning of “chronology”
grep similar to “grope”, but with a soft “e” (as in “end”)
ifconfig if+config (beginning of “configure”) but some say "eye eff config"
ifdown if+down
ifup if+up
netstat net+stat
passwd pronounced as if spelled “password”
perl pronounced like “pearl”
sed pronounced like "said"
sudo pronounced like "pseudo” (doesn’t rhyme with “voodoo”) or "soo doo"
(rhyming with "voodoo")
traceroute pronounced like the word “trace” followed by the word “route”
uniq pronounced like "unique”
vim rhymes with “gym” (I’ve never heard it pronounced “vee eye em”
whoami pronounced like the question “Who am I?”
Linux commands that are spelled out
2-Minute Linux Tip: How to use the top commandcd cp cpio dd df du env ln
ls ps pwd ssh tr ufw w wc
Linux commands that are both read and spelled out
emacs pronounced “ee max”
gzip pronounced “gee zip” (not "gee zee ipp")
mysql pronounced “my es queue el”
nslookup pronounced “en es lookup”
rsync pronounced “are sync”
sdiff pronounced “es diff”
slocate pronounced “es locate”
xtop pronounced “ex top”
uname pronounced “you name”
vmstat pronounced “vee em stat”
wget pronounced “double you get”
xargs pronounced “ex args”
Breaking the rules
And it’s not just commands
