4 ms·

I thought it was "Lah tech" too: It's named for its creator, Leslie Lamport. "Lay tech" wouldn't fit that.

jimhefferon 14y ago
The creator says you can pronounce it any of the canonical ways; he's good with them all. One of the hardest things about LaTeX is deciding how to pronounce it.This is also one of the few things I'm not going to tell you about LaTeX, since pronunciation is best determined by usage, not fiat. TeX is usually pronounced teck, making lah-teck, and lay-teck the logical choices; but language is not always logical, so lay-tecks is also possible.
- pbhjpbhj 14y ago
  Weird, how does "x" not make a "ks" (or "eks") sound, both pronunciations there appear to end in a hard "k" sound; did they misspell LaTeK? Do people here pronounce sex as "sek"? /incomprehension
  - gjm11 14y ago
    The "X" is, despite appearance, not an X but a capital Greek letter chi, pronounced like the "ch" in "loch". As Knuth puts it, when you pronounce it correctly your monitor may become slightly moist. Lamport isn't as fussy about such things as Knuth, and the "X" in "LaTeX" is commonly pronounced more like a "k".
    - pbhjpbhj 14y ago
      But no-one suggested "lay-tech" or whatever. Interesting that they gave it a nonsense string of characters(mixed alphabets) as a place-holder rather than choosing a word. Wonder if this is what inspired the performer [the artist formerly known as] Prince. To me it's like Knuth thought - I know what's missing from my type-setting program .. some crappy nonsense marketingese, I'll give it a Greek name because well, to belittle people, then I'll render the characters offset so it's not even Greek, but we won't use an English transliteration because that's not awkward enough. Bah. >Lamport isn't as fussy about such things as Knuth, and the "X" in "LaTeX" is commonly pronounced more like a "k". // See that sentence is entirely wrong, based on Wikipedia (!). It should instead say the \chi symbol in the \latex logo is commonly given an utterance akin to "k". Something like that. Perhaps we should just optimise, give the system an English name rather than referring to it as \logo. Right it's called Laytext. I mean clothing manufacturer Kappa don't get everyone fawning over them rendering their name with an actual kappa. Don't know why but this annoys me intensely, can you tell. /rant \bye
  - saraid216 14y ago
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chi_(letter) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chi_(letter)
    - pbhjpbhj 14y ago
      FWIW I'm quite cognisant with the Greek alphabet. However LATEX isn't a word in Greek as it uses L which is roman script.
- vacri 14y ago
  but language is not always logical, so lay-tecks is also possible 'not logical'? They've recreated a pre-existing word. The logical way to pronounce it would be the same as the pre-existing word. Cue Monty Python's Mr Luxury Yacht, whose name is properly pronounced Throatwobbler Mangrove...
- shocks 14y ago
  Well, LaTeX is a child of TeX. Knuth himself says TeX is pronounced tech, where the "ch" sounds the same as from the the word "Bach" (the composer). He also says "tech" (as in technology) is fine, but "tecks" is utterly wrong. So, LaTeX is pronounced "Lay-tech" with the ch from "Bach". "Lay-teck" is also correct, but "Lay-tecks" is completely wrong.
  - ntumlin 14y ago
    Is the ch in technology different from the ch in Bach? I thought both were pronounced as a k.
    - shocks 14y ago
      Yes. The 'ch' in Bach is difficult to pronounce. There is no English word that even contains this sound. My suggestion is to look for a YouTube/similar video of someone saying the word! :) Maybe this could help. https://stanzebla.wordpress.com/2008/09/17/how-to-pronounce-bach-the-composer/ https://stanzebla.wordpress.com/2008/09/17/how-to-pronounce-... >> When you say a “ck” or “k” you lift a part of your tongue up to your palatine and tongue and palatine get contact. Then the tongue goes down fast and clicks. You don’t do that with a “ch” in german. To pronounce a german “ch” the tongue must not get contact with the palatine. Instead, let your tongue lie behind your teeth, drag it a bit to the back and try to narrow the larynx, now exhale. That’s a german “ch”. It sounds like the wheezing of Darth Vader in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope (the original trilogy).

The creator says you can pronounce it any of the canonical ways; he's good with them all. One of the hardest things about LaTeX is deciding how to pronounce it.This is also one of the few things I'm not going to tell you about LaTeX, since pronunciation is best determined by usage, not fiat. TeX is usually pronounced teck, making lah-teck, and lay-teck the logical choices; but language is not always logical, so lay-tecks is also possible.

pbhjpbhj 14y ago
Weird, how does "x" not make a "ks" (or "eks") sound, both pronunciations there appear to end in a hard "k" sound; did they misspell LaTeK? Do people here pronounce sex as "sek"? /incomprehension
- gjm11 14y ago
  The "X" is, despite appearance, not an X but a capital Greek letter chi, pronounced like the "ch" in "loch". As Knuth puts it, when you pronounce it correctly your monitor may become slightly moist. Lamport isn't as fussy about such things as Knuth, and the "X" in "LaTeX" is commonly pronounced more like a "k".
  - pbhjpbhj 14y ago
    But no-one suggested "lay-tech" or whatever. Interesting that they gave it a nonsense string of characters(mixed alphabets) as a place-holder rather than choosing a word. Wonder if this is what inspired the performer [the artist formerly known as] Prince. To me it's like Knuth thought - I know what's missing from my type-setting program .. some crappy nonsense marketingese, I'll give it a Greek name because well, to belittle people, then I'll render the characters offset so it's not even Greek, but we won't use an English transliteration because that's not awkward enough. Bah. >Lamport isn't as fussy about such things as Knuth, and the "X" in "LaTeX" is commonly pronounced more like a "k". // See that sentence is entirely wrong, based on Wikipedia (!). It should instead say the \chi symbol in the \latex logo is commonly given an utterance akin to "k". Something like that. Perhaps we should just optimise, give the system an English name rather than referring to it as \logo. Right it's called Laytext. I mean clothing manufacturer Kappa don't get everyone fawning over them rendering their name with an actual kappa. Don't know why but this annoys me intensely, can you tell. /rant \bye
- saraid216 14y ago
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chi_(letter) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chi_(letter)
  - pbhjpbhj 14y ago
    FWIW I'm quite cognisant with the Greek alphabet. However LATEX isn't a word in Greek as it uses L which is roman script.
vacri 14y ago
but language is not always logical, so lay-tecks is also possible 'not logical'? They've recreated a pre-existing word. The logical way to pronounce it would be the same as the pre-existing word. Cue Monty Python's Mr Luxury Yacht, whose name is properly pronounced Throatwobbler Mangrove...
shocks 14y ago
Well, LaTeX is a child of TeX. Knuth himself says TeX is pronounced tech, where the "ch" sounds the same as from the the word "Bach" (the composer). He also says "tech" (as in technology) is fine, but "tecks" is utterly wrong. So, LaTeX is pronounced "Lay-tech" with the ch from "Bach". "Lay-teck" is also correct, but "Lay-tecks" is completely wrong.
- ntumlin 14y ago
  Is the ch in technology different from the ch in Bach? I thought both were pronounced as a k.
  - shocks 14y ago
    Yes. The 'ch' in Bach is difficult to pronounce. There is no English word that even contains this sound. My suggestion is to look for a YouTube/similar video of someone saying the word! :) Maybe this could help. https://stanzebla.wordpress.com/2008/09/17/how-to-pronounce-bach-the-composer/ https://stanzebla.wordpress.com/2008/09/17/how-to-pronounce-... >> When you say a “ck” or “k” you lift a part of your tongue up to your palatine and tongue and palatine get contact. Then the tongue goes down fast and clicks. You don’t do that with a “ch” in german. To pronounce a german “ch” the tongue must not get contact with the palatine. Instead, let your tongue lie behind your teeth, drag it a bit to the back and try to narrow the larynx, now exhale. That’s a german “ch”. It sounds like the wheezing of Darth Vader in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope (the original trilogy).