4 ms·

It's just the way I chose to style them. Any of them could be written with a space, Mac OS X was for a while. The point is that in the US, as you mentioned, the

by memsom 9y ago

It's just the way I chose to style them. Any of them could be written with a space, Mac OS X was for a while. The point is that in the US, as you mentioned, they would be pronounced as "Oh Ess", but in the UK, it wouldn't. Just to ram home the point, people will frequently write "OS" as a stand alone, and 99% of my work colleagues here (we are all hardware engineers and programmers, UK based) would say "OSS" not "Oh Ess". I promise you. "What OS do you run on your computer?" the "OS" would be "OSS" not "Oh Ess". I would literally only say "Oh Ess" is it was written with full stops ("periods" in US usage.) So, "O.S.", as an example. The only exception I can think of is OS/2. But that is because it was heavily marketed on TV here in the 90's circa OS/2 Warp.

zimpenfish 9y ago
> Any of them could be written with a space And then "Amiga OS" would be "Amiga O S". As a lifelong British UKian, I don't know many people who would say "OSS" instead of "Oh Ess" for standalone "OS". > "What OS do you run on your computer?" Literally do not know a single person who would say "What OSS" in that sentence - they'd all say "What Oh Ess". But now we've devolved into Gladwell-style anecdating and neither of us want that on our conscience, I think.
- memsom 9y ago
  It's unfortunate that my 13 year old step son insists "beta" is "beyta", not "beeta". British English traditional pronunciation has been eroded.
- mathw 9y ago
  It's normal where I am in the UK to ask someone "What oss do you run on your computer?" We also understand "oh ess" of course, but I think most of us are too lazy to say it. So I guess the conclusion we can draw is that we Brits don't agree on how this should be pronounced.
  - zimpenfish 9y ago
    > "What oss do you run on your computer?" See, I'd always say "Oh Ess" there. Maybe it's a generational / regional thing? > we Brits don't agree on how [anything] should be pronounced

by memsom 9y ago

zimpenfish 9y ago

> Any of them could be written with a space And then "Amiga OS" would be "Amiga O S". As a lifelong British UKian, I don't know many people who would say "OSS" instead of "Oh Ess" for standalone "OS". > "What OS do you run on your computer?" Literally do not know a single person who would say "What OSS" in that sentence - they'd all say "What Oh Ess". But now we've devolved into Gladwell-style anecdating and neither of us want that on our conscience, I think.

memsom 9y ago
It's unfortunate that my 13 year old step son insists "beta" is "beyta", not "beeta". British English traditional pronunciation has been eroded.
mathw 9y ago
It's normal where I am in the UK to ask someone "What oss do you run on your computer?" We also understand "oh ess" of course, but I think most of us are too lazy to say it. So I guess the conclusion we can draw is that we Brits don't agree on how this should be pronounced.
- zimpenfish 9y ago
  > "What oss do you run on your computer?" See, I'd always say "Oh Ess" there. Maybe it's a generational / regional thing? > we Brits don't agree on how [anything] should be pronounced