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How do you say SUSE?
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this post was submitted on 17 Apr 2024
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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).
Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.
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What is with Linux projects and confusingly pronounceable names? Even the name “Linux” itself has a fair bit of spoken variation.
Then there’s Ubuntu, and GNOME with the hard G to name a few.
SUSE originated in Germany, where it's just the normal pronunciation. "Suse" also pre-existed as a nickname for "Susanne" (of course, the company name was derived from an acronym which isn't used anymore).
The issue comes in when non-Germans, especially English-language natives try to pronounce the word. English pronunciation is incredibly inconsistent. Hence English speakers tend to fail (very confidently) when pronouncing foreign-language words.
(Fwiw, Germans and many others don't know anything about the silent G in "gnome" and will happily pronounce GNOME the way the project intends without being told. Similar things are true for the I in Linux.)
Do they also pronounce the E? “Guh-no-meh?”
That depends but many people will be familiar with the absolute basics of English pronunciation and likely recognize the word as English too, I think.
If I hear a YouTuber pronounce it Lynux it immediately makes me skeptical of whatever they have to say
Unless it's satire of course
I mostly work with people who learned to speak English in India, and most of them say line-ux or lean-ux. I always assumed it was an accent thing. Though there are a million distinct accents in India, and I'm not really well educated on them, so I'm sort of guessing.
I guess Linux projects tend to come from around the world, instead of US boardrooms and marketing desks.
Linux is Finnish, SUSE is German, so is KDE, Ubuntu is South African, GNOME is Mexican (?).
Fun fact, KDE is pronounced "KDE"
Non-acronym initialisms are an exception. I wouldn't pronounce the letters in German.
I pronounce gnome like it should be pronounced, "gnome".
It is dumb to pronounce the g
It depends on your view of history.
The G comes from the GNU Project. While GNU is an acronym ( GNU is Not UNIX ), the accepted pronunciation is a hard G ( GUH-noo ).
When the GNOME project was started ( and named ), it too was an acronym where the G was GNU. So, it seems very reasonable to use a hard G.
GNOME is no longer affiliated with GNU and the project has stated that it is no longer an acronym although it is still capitalized. If the G is not GNU, it makes total sense to pronounce it as the mythical creature of the same name which is pronounced as a soft G.
I have not seen anything official on how to say it from the project itself. So, it may be a matter of personal preference at this point.
I use a hard G because that certainly WAS the proper name and I have not seen anything official saying they wanted to change it. They have kept the capitalization.
Thanks for sharing this bit of history. 👍
Linux variation is simply because it was named after a Finnish person but became mainstream in parts of the world that pronounce those letters differently.
There are recordings from the early days where Linus clearly says “I say Linux as LEE-nuhks”. That is consistent with how you say his name in Finland. So, some people seize on that.
More recently, Linus has said that his name is pronounced differently in different languages but that “Linux is always lin-nuhks”.
Based on that, I thinks his latter guidance is correct. It is also basically the way most people in North America say it by default in my experience. This makes sense as Linus now lives in the US.
Ubuntu is an actual African ( Zulu ) word. It has a proper pronunciation.
Damn foreigners with their weird pronunciations.