Pigeon wrote:
The thing that makes this question "silly", really, is that there is no single "correct" way of pronouncing certain names and even certain common words. For example, what is the correct English pronunciation for "Linux"? Is the "i" pronounced as a dipthong as in "I am" or is it pronounced as a primary vowel as in "Tina"?There are analogous words with a long e: Ephebian, Armenian, Slovenian. Indeed, "Debian" looks like it refers to an inhabitant of, or something originating from, Debia (with a long e) (and I have known "Deebian Gnu Linux" to be taken for some Tolkienesque language). These more familiar, similar words make it natural to assume that a long e is correct.
What I am trying to say is that if enough people mispronounce something, then the mispronunciation often becomes the norm.
I say "Debian" (rhyming with "ebb") you say "Debian" (rhyming with "dweeb") and who's to say who's correct?
cheers Duncan