Re: silly question

[Duncan Anderson <duncangareth@yahoo.co.uk>]

Paul Johnson wrote:

> On Sunday 13 March 2005 10:49 pm, Duncan Anderson wrote:
>
>  
>
> > I say "Debian" (rhyming with "ebb") you say "Debian" (rhyming with 
> > "dweeb") and who's to say who's correct?
> >    
>
> How about Ian Murdoch, who named the distro after his girlfriend, 
> Deborah, and himself, Ian.  Once you know the origin, you realize only 
> people who think Debian is pronounced deebeean are the same people who 
> think Oregon is pronounced Aragone and Missouri rhymes with Stephen 
> King title involving a woman with a dementedly fannish obsession for an 
> author.
>
>  
That's interesting. I didn't know that. I was speaking generally, of 
course, when I spoke about pronunciation. If Mr.Murdoch were to state 
categorically that the name is to pronounced is such a way, and a bunch 
of people pronounce it differently, and agree to do so, then they are 
not "wrong" per se, because they are free to mutilate language anyway 
they choose. For an example see how lots of people pronounce Linux "Line 
- ux" as opposed to Linus Thorvalds who pronounces it "Leenux".

cheers
Duncan