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Comment by andrewmcwatters | Hacker News Reader

Was this supposed to be pronounced "search?" Or literally, "sear-ecks?" Was SearXNG supposed to be pronounced "sear-ecks-en-gee?"

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I always thought that a capital X in the middle or end of word would be the greek letter Chi, which is pronounced like ch. So just "search". Problem with that of course is that nobody knows what you are talking about, because it looses all uniqueness from its name, which is why I never actually do it.

Interesting. Always thought it was meant to be "serks". That makes sense though.

I think the intent is /sɝks/, rhymes with "lurks" /lɝrks/, with the r-colored vowel in General American, but perhaps the author speaks with a non-rhotic dialect.

But that makes it sound like something between "sex" "sacks" and "sucks", which is less flattering.

The IPA in the readme (sɜːks) suggests it’s pronounced like “sex”, but not sure if that’s a joke.

https://github.com/searx/searx

That's a different vowel (flipped the other way). the vowel they indicate is the nonrhotic realisation of the vowel in "search".

So to an American, somewhere between "sex" and "sucks"?

more like "surks" (to rhyme with "lurks").

It rhymes with “lurks”

I've always pronounced it as "serks." I never knew if I was saying it right.

To this day people are either saying SQL or sequel.

The point being.. prescribing language is pointless. People will say what they will.

If people had direction or inkling they might go along with it and not wonder if they’re going to be understood or not.

But I get your point. I say ‘kwebek’ and not ‘kebek’ and ‘MAdrid’ not maDRID.

Hmm those ar least have locals who ostensibly have a bit more authority on the matter that can be leaned on for backup than just your average layman’s pronunciation. Not so with “Ess cue ell” and “sequel” which feels like more of a free for all and cultural battle

When was the last time you visited Türkiye?

(You're right though, even if some people are being silly about that one)

Yep! I don’t actually know how to pronounce that but I would figure it out when I went there. I feel like if people from Germany want me to call it Doytschlond when I am there that is their prerogative and I should respect that ;)

Oftentimes though locals are like “just call it Sweden, we know you will butcher Sverige” or “just call it Finland, we know you will mess up Suomi”

It actually often confuses people when you are speaking in English and use the appropriate pronunciation for that language. Like it would throw someone off if I was in Sweden speaking English and said the Swedish way of saying Gothenburg instead (which, depending on where you are from in Sweden, can sound something like “YOT eh boy” with a silent or very soft G at the end)

Why willingly pronounce it the wrong way? You must be American, I've never heard any European saying MAdrid. Ew. Especially none proud to pronounce it the wrong way for no discernible reason.

I say Rome and Cologne, I don’t say Koln or Roma. Do you get upset when foreigners say ‘nweva jor’ or ‘nweva d3or’ and don’t say ‘nju jork’.

There's a difference between using the name in its original language, or pronouncing it right in your own. Madrid is pronounced only one way, and guess what, the word is the same in English and Spanish.

In your case, it's like pronouncing Rome as Rom-EH, because it sounds cool to you.

Or you can justify your ignorance and inability to literally shift the stress one syllable over with any story you like, if you prefer.

I'm pretty sure people in New York calling it Neuva York soon get corrected, and soon correct themselves. You'd have a hard time living in Britain by being so stubbornly reluctant at learning the correct pronunciation of places.

Fortunately English is not prescriptive and people can pronounce things however we like. There’s a Salina ‘sulaina’ KS, yet there is Salinas ‘sulinuz’ CA.

In any case I’m not in Madrid and the people saying ‘nweva joR’ may not be in New York either.

And despite Erdogan’s pronouncements I’ll keep on saying Turkey.

This is the most American, "I have never left my country and I don't really care about other cultures because mine's more important" thing I've ever heard. Enjoy your bubble, dude.

When I go overseas, places where English is rare, people also don't pronounce American cities or towns in a very English way --some sound foreign-- ask a Chinese to give you the name of any major city in your country/province/state. It's going to be quote different. Why should I feel any different?

Exactly, just like the clown that invented gifs trying to tell everyone it's pronounced with a J.

<https://xkcd.com/2819/>

That is another one that was tougher a decade ago, but I have not heard anyone say “jiff” in a long time. I think the hard g has successfully won, at least in my world

I will say that the amount of people who I’ve met that say “ess cue ell” vs “sequel” has really declined in the last decade. I anecdotally feel like sequel is winning in a big way

It was SEQUEL before it became SQL.

I must be one of the anomalies that say SQL and GUI verbatim, rather than saying sequel or gooey.

Postgres-QL rolls off the tongue better than PostgreSequel.

Now its unmaintained, I guess who cares XD

Sirksh?

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