4 ms·
I’m 31 years old and have been using Linux most of my life. A few of my friends and people at work do too, but this is the first time I’ve heard /etc pronounced
by ajdude 6y ago
I’m 31 years old and have been using Linux most of my life. A few of my friends and people at work do too, but this is the first time I’ve heard /etc pronounced as etsy. It’s always been “etcetera” for me. This led me to look up the history of that directory:
“ But people encountered a situation to keep some files which can be a config file or a data file or a socket file or some other files. So they implemented a folder to keep all these files in it and they named it as /etc(As said earlier etcetera). As time passed the meaning of this folder has changed but not the name “etc”. Now /etc folder means a central location for all your configuration files are located and this can be treated as nerve centre of your Linux/Unix machine.”
(from https://www.linuxnix.com/linux-directory-structure-explainedetc-folder/ https://www.linuxnix.com/linux-directory-structure-explained... )
If that’s truly the case, I’m curious how it got from “etcetera” to “etsy”
- majewsky 6y agoI pronounce it "etsy". "et cetera" was never an option for me because I learned that it's short for "editable text configuration". (Also "et cetera" just doesn't make much sense. If anything, /usr is "et cetera".)
- zerocrates 6y ago"editable text configuration" has to be a backronym, right? Not that it really matters, of course. "Etsy" has the value of brevity when speaking, but I can't bring myself to feel natural saying it. None of the other options sound great either.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]