[texhax] What is???

Philip TAYLOR P.Taylor at Rhul.Ac.Uk
Wed Nov 10 12:55:45 CET 2004



Benjamin Deutsch wrote:

[snip]

> Don also compares the sound to the German "ach", if I recall correctly. 
> However, though the German language has both the gutteral ("ach") and the 
> 'soft "ch sound' ("ich"), there are very hard linguistic rules about their 
> use, depending on the preceding vowel:
> 
> A "ch" after an "i" or "e" is always soft ("ich", "Pech"), and a "ch" after an 
> "a", "o" or "u" is always gutteral ("Bach", "Koch", "Tuch") The Umlauts "ä" 
> "ö" and "ü" affect the "ch" like the first group, too ("Bäche", "Köche", 
> "Tücher").
> 
> So despite the "TeX -> ach" ruling, all German users will always pronounce TeX 
> and LaTeX with a soft "ch". 

Ah, at last an explanation : I /could/ not undertsand why I heard
"tesch" so often at my early European TeX meetings; now all is clear!
Many thanks, Benjamin.

Now here's another pronunciation question : what fraction of the readers of
TeXhax pronounce "gigabyte" with a soft "g" (my preference), what fraction
with a hard "g" (the preference of most of my colleagues), and what fraction
with an aspirated "g" (recognising the Greek etymology) ?

** Phil.



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