Subject: Re: Pronunciation of LaTeX
From: mcohen@cpcug.org (Michael Cohen)
Date: 17 Nov 1996 03:10:07 GMT
Patrick Crockett (crockett@Mickey.stat.unc.edu) wrote:
: Hideo Hirose wrote:
: >In Japan, many researchers pronounce LaTeX as "latef." Is it correct? How do you
: >pronounce TeX and LaTeX actually, especially in the united states?
:
: Most of us pronounce it like the paint: "LAY tecks", though I recall
: reading somewhere that Knuth had in mind some arcane pronounciation --
: maybe with a sort of glottal X like a Greek chi.
I vote for "LAY-tecks" too. Leslie Lamport, the originator of LaTeX,
writes (LaTeX: A Document Preparation System, p. 5):
"One of the hardest things about using LaTeX is deciding how to pronounce
it. This is also one of the few things I'm not going to tell you about
LaTeX, since pronunciation is best determined by usage, not fiat. TeX is
usually pronounced TECK, making LAH-teck, lah-TECK, and LAY-teck the
logical choices; but language is not always logical, so LAY-tecks is also
possible."
--
Michael P. Cohen home phone 202-232-4651
1615 Q Street NW #T-1 office phone 202-219-1917
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