Path: csiph.com!fu-berlin.de!uni-berlin.de!individual.net!not-for-mail From: rbowman Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.misc Subject: Re: GNU Date: 4 Mar 2026 02:56:40 GMT Lines: 21 Message-ID: References: <10o629v$1qssb$1@dont-email.me> <10o6emj$1uql3$5@dont-email.me> <20260303111343.00000572@gmail.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-Trace: individual.net WzFCM069eCG//Hy/DIiLOAIDRbLhrJZ8LUOIXBSgrqd6v0xrjU Cancel-Lock: sha1:/D6qIJufzP5E0VNTWmfnZR++TO4= sha256:Y+uS7w819D9V8xs6ezkp5rmgu0v4FLB4LYxZgxiF3fc= User-Agent: Pan/0.162 (Pokrosvk) Xref: csiph.com comp.os.linux.misc:82365 On Tue, 3 Mar 2026 11:13:43 -0800, John Ames wrote: > On 3 Mar 2026 18:50:56 GMT rbowman wrote: > >> We had a programmer who would talk about passing pair o' meters to a >> function. He was self-taught and may have hit on the pronunciation but >> I think he also did it to upset another programmer. > > Oh, that's an interesting one. "Para-meter" makes perfect sense from an > etymological standpoint, but I've never heard anyone say that IRL vs. > "pa-RAM-eter." Wiktionary suggests that it might be a known pronunciat- > ion in Indian/South Asian English, though. No, the programmer is question is Montana born and bred. I imagine the first time he encountered it he went through parachute, paracord, paraplegic, paradox, and paradise before hitting on para meter. I suppose the real question is how it became pah ram iter. At least according to the all-knowing net it isn't one of those UK vs US shifts of the emphasized syllable.