3 ms·

Definitely a tangent, but it's always interesting to see which of {a,an} people use for SQL and derivatives. It never occurred to me until today to pronounce "s

Definitely a tangent, but it's always interesting to see which of {a,an} people use for SQL and derivatives. It never occurred to me until today to pronounce "sqlite" as anything other than "sequelite".

simonw 3y ago
D. Richard Hipp pronounces it Ess-Queue-El Ite.
- quickslowdown 3y ago
  When I have to say SQLite out loud, my brain decides in the moment between "ess-cue-lite" and "see-cue-lite." I have no idea what criteria/heuristics I use in that moment to decide which way to pronounce it, but for whatever reason that's how it works for me. In my head I feel like I say "ess-cue-lite" pretty much every time.
  - chrisweekly 3y ago
    huh, I get the "ess-cue-lite" but not (at all) the "see-cue-lite" -- for me, the "see" sound only makes sense in the context of "sequel" (see-kwell-ite), which is how I instinctively tend to pronounce it.
    - quickslowdown 3y ago
      To confound you further, I say "sequel" and not "ess-cue-ell" for SQL
    - smaudet 3y ago
      I think the former pronunciation is more correct, but... I see the point of the later if you are prone to verbalize acronyms: SQL => Verbalized Acronym: "See-Quell" vs Structured Query Language: "Ess-Queue-Ell" So then See-Cue-lite is a concatenation of the verbalization with the "lite". Whereas Ess-Cue-Lite is a concatenation of the acronym pronunciation with the "lite". This probably solve the former question of why some people say both and don't understand why. If the conversation/person is saying "SeeQuel" and "Sass" or "less" etc. then "See-Cue-Lite" fits that dialect. In a dialog with a lot of acronyms e.g. SQS, VPN, AWS, etc. you are probably more likely to go the acronym route i.e. "Ess-Cue-Lite". The term itself is a bastardization of an acronym and the "lite" term, I'd argue there's no correct pronunciation.
- samatman 3y ago
  "like a mineral"
o11c 3y ago
"Sequel" is explicitly wrong; it was a predecessor of SQL, not a pronunciation of it.
- kwk1 3y ago
  It was a superficial renaming initiated by a trademark conflict, that hardly warrants a "predecessor" designation.
- usrusr 3y ago
  Wouldn't that make SQL a sequel to Sequel? Sorry, I feel like I'm annoying on purpose, I shouldn't do this. Reading up on the history parts in the Wikipedia article, the German language version presents it as if SQL was the Oracle (Relational Software Inc) implementation of IBM's Sequel, the English page says the name was shortened due to trademark issues, before mentioning any implementation outside IBM. That would make Sequel and SQL the same thing, just rebranded early on. It also lists a clever (b)acronym and two other reasons for why they called it sequel before shortening, so it seems like there's a decent amount of mystery around the name. Almost as if it happened before the invention of writing.
  - dotancohen 3y ago
    Interesting that is the case with an Oracle product. Even the name of the company is shrouded in myth. Apparently Larry worked on some government project called Oracle before founding the company, and liked the personalised acronym he could make of the word. But if that is considered by him to be an official acronym is (was) the subject of debate for quite some time.
- paulddraper 3y ago
  https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/homonym https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/homon...
- Karellen 3y ago
  But also, Microsoft's "SQL Server" is officially pronounced "Sequel Server", so a lot of devs who grew up working on Windows systems will pronounce "SQL" as "sequel". For them, it's not entirely wrong.
euroderf 3y ago
Can't it just be pronounced "sclite", rhyming with (e.g.) "sprite" ? And when you apply FUSE (or FUSE-T or NFS or WebDAV) to its archive format "sqlar", getting a file system called "sqlarfs", then pronounce it as "sclarfs", rhyming with snarfs/scarfs/barfs.

simonw 3y ago

D. Richard Hipp pronounces it Ess-Queue-El Ite.

quickslowdown 3y ago
When I have to say SQLite out loud, my brain decides in the moment between "ess-cue-lite" and "see-cue-lite." I have no idea what criteria/heuristics I use in that moment to decide which way to pronounce it, but for whatever reason that's how it works for me. In my head I feel like I say "ess-cue-lite" pretty much every time.
- chrisweekly 3y ago
  huh, I get the "ess-cue-lite" but not (at all) the "see-cue-lite" -- for me, the "see" sound only makes sense in the context of "sequel" (see-kwell-ite), which is how I instinctively tend to pronounce it.
  - quickslowdown 3y ago
    To confound you further, I say "sequel" and not "ess-cue-ell" for SQL
  - smaudet 3y ago
    I think the former pronunciation is more correct, but... I see the point of the later if you are prone to verbalize acronyms: SQL => Verbalized Acronym: "See-Quell" vs Structured Query Language: "Ess-Queue-Ell" So then See-Cue-lite is a concatenation of the verbalization with the "lite". Whereas Ess-Cue-Lite is a concatenation of the acronym pronunciation with the "lite". This probably solve the former question of why some people say both and don't understand why. If the conversation/person is saying "SeeQuel" and "Sass" or "less" etc. then "See-Cue-Lite" fits that dialect. In a dialog with a lot of acronyms e.g. SQS, VPN, AWS, etc. you are probably more likely to go the acronym route i.e. "Ess-Cue-Lite". The term itself is a bastardization of an acronym and the "lite" term, I'd argue there's no correct pronunciation.
samatman 3y ago
"like a mineral"

o11c 3y ago

"Sequel" is explicitly wrong; it was a predecessor of SQL, not a pronunciation of it.

kwk1 3y ago
It was a superficial renaming initiated by a trademark conflict, that hardly warrants a "predecessor" designation.
usrusr 3y ago
Wouldn't that make SQL a sequel to Sequel? Sorry, I feel like I'm annoying on purpose, I shouldn't do this. Reading up on the history parts in the Wikipedia article, the German language version presents it as if SQL was the Oracle (Relational Software Inc) implementation of IBM's Sequel, the English page says the name was shortened due to trademark issues, before mentioning any implementation outside IBM. That would make Sequel and SQL the same thing, just rebranded early on. It also lists a clever (b)acronym and two other reasons for why they called it sequel before shortening, so it seems like there's a decent amount of mystery around the name. Almost as if it happened before the invention of writing.
- dotancohen 3y ago
  Interesting that is the case with an Oracle product. Even the name of the company is shrouded in myth. Apparently Larry worked on some government project called Oracle before founding the company, and liked the personalised acronym he could make of the word. But if that is considered by him to be an official acronym is (was) the subject of debate for quite some time.
paulddraper 3y ago
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/homonym https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/homon...
Karellen 3y ago
But also, Microsoft's "SQL Server" is officially pronounced "Sequel Server", so a lot of devs who grew up working on Windows systems will pronounce "SQL" as "sequel". For them, it's not entirely wrong.

euroderf 3y ago

Can't it just be pronounced "sclite", rhyming with (e.g.) "sprite" ? And when you apply FUSE (or FUSE-T or NFS or WebDAV) to its archive format "sqlar", getting a file system called "sqlarfs", then pronounce it as "sclarfs", rhyming with snarfs/scarfs/barfs.