Date: Mon, 15 May 2000 12:00:19 +0930 From: Greg Lehey <grog@lemis.com> To: freebsd-chat@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: How is "TeX" typically pronounced? Message-ID: <20000515120019.A541@freebie.lemis.com> In-Reply-To: <200005141603.SAA97395@dorifer.heim3.tu-clausthal.de> References: <8fkslb$105l$1@atlantis.rz.tu-clausthal.de> <200005141603.SAA97395@dorifer.heim3.tu-clausthal.de>
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On Sunday, 14 May 2000 at 18:03:11 +0200, Oliver Fromme wrote:
> In list.freebsd-chat Greg Lehey <grog@lemis.com> wrote:
>> On Saturday, 13 May 2000 at 15:16:19 +0200, Oliver Fromme wrote:
>>> Just for the record, me and most of my friends pronounce TeX
>>> like the German "Technik" (sorry, I don't know an English word
>>> that has that sound).
>>> I know it's not correct, but it's much easier for my German
>>> tongue. :-)
>>
>> Based on the TeXbook, that would be correct.
>
> It isn't. According to the TeXbook, it's pronounced like the
> Greek letter "chi". Germans usually don't pronounce "chi"
> correctly either.
>
>> "It's the 'ch' sound in ... German words like ach". What's the
>> problem?
>
> The "ch" sound in the German words "Technik" ("ich", "echt",
> ...) and "ach" ("suchen", "Krach", ...) is different. I think
> it depends on the vowel preceding the "ch".
Indeed. But this is a detail which probably escaped Knuth's
attention.
> In the first case, the sound is produced by the middle part of the
> tongue (between tongue and palate), in the second case it is
> produced by the back part of the tongue (it comes from the throat).
> The latter is the correct pronunciation for "chi" and "TeX".
What vowel is in TeX? What you're effectively saying is that you'd
pronounce "TeX" and "TeXnik" with different sounds.
Greg
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