Path: csiph.com!eternal-september.org!feeder.eternal-september.org!nntp.eternal-september.org!.POSTED!not-for-mail From: Snidely Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.misc,alt.usage.english Subject: Re: GNU Date: Wed, 25 Mar 2026 21:56:42 -0700 Organization: Dis One Lines: 36 Message-ID: References: <10ojmjv$2ashr$1@dont-email.me> <10q03vf$1o2ev$1@dont-email.me> <10q0c18$1qua9$1@dont-email.me> <10q0f40$1s10c$1@dont-email.me> <10q1etr$9gh8$1@artemis.inf.ed.ac.uk> Reply-To: snidely.too@gmail.com MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-15"; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Injection-Date: Thu, 26 Mar 2026 04:56:48 +0000 (UTC) Injection-Info: dont-email.me; posting-host="0b56d94dba838180cc2f34d3292c967e"; logging-data="2698580"; mail-complaints-to="abuse@eternal-september.org"; posting-account="U2FsdGVkX1/4VMIty0l7FMsxJodNPvPtR0g5YDBtXQo=" Cancel-Lock: sha1:5Em4p11EJlgsy4zsckXYXB6EfYU= X-ICQ: 543516788 X-Newsreader: MesNews/1.08.06.00-gb Xref: csiph.com comp.os.linux.misc:84061 alt.usage.english:1140922 After serious thinking Carlos E.R. wrote : > On 2026-03-25 21:41, Charlie Gibbs wrote: >> On 2026-03-25, Richard Tobin wrote: >> >>> In article <10q0f40$1s10c$1@dont-email.me>, >>> Peter Moylan wrote: >>> >>>> The computer scientist Niklaus Wirth used to say that Europeans called >>>> him by name, and Americans called him by value. >>> >>> For this to make sense, you need to konw that "call by name" and >>> "call by value" are terms in computer science. >> >> And that the American pronounciation is assumed to be "nickel's worth". >> > > Then I need a full translation of the joke. Wirth was Swiss, apparently from the German speaking region, so you can expect his surname to sound more like "Vert" (as an English spelling) and his first name to have 2 syllables. German-speaking Europeans would get this right, and quite probably the other regions would come close. Americans would maybe add a syllable to the first name (we're used to "Nicholas") and would pronounce the surname as "Worth". Combine that with NW being a computer person concerned with how procedures and functions are invoked, and you have his joke. Europeans get his name right, and call him by his name, and Americans make his name sound like a cash equivalent. /dps -- "First thing in the morning, before I have coffee, I read the obits, If I'm not in it, I'll have breakfast." -- Carl Reiner, to CBS News in 2015.