Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!att!osu-cis!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!rutgers!uwvax!oddjob!mimsy!chris
From: chris@mimsy.UUCP (Chris Torek)
Newsgroups: comp.text
Subject: Re: TeX pronounciation
Keywords: How, why?
Message-ID: <13609@mimsy.UUCP>
Date: 18 Sep 88 21:15:59 GMT
References: <374@polyof.UUCP> <3470@phri.UUCP> <29780@bbn.COM>
Organization: U of Maryland, Dept. of Computer Science, Coll. Pk., MD 20742
Lines: 36

>In article <3470@phri.UUCP> roy@phri.UUCP (Roy Smith) writes:
>>	The official line is something along these lines.  The spelling of
>>TeX is not actually Tee-Eee-Eks, but the Greek Tau-Epsilon-Chi and is
>>pronounced Tech which sort of rhymes with bleech.  

In article <29780@bbn.COM> cosell@bbn.com (Bernie Cosell) writes:
>I know this thread is (thankfully) dead,

Not anymore.  :-)

>but let me point out that this whole folk etymology Knuth goes through,
>greek letters and other such nonsense to steer clear of a Honeywell
>product,

Why assume that the purpose is `to steer clear of a Honeywell product'?
It seems to me, having seen other examples of Knuth's humour, that the
reason for the `folk etymology' is because Knuth likes tieing technology
and history and languages and typesetting all together into a Gordian
Knot.  (See if you can spot both Knuth-ism in the previous sentence.)

>is surely a bit suspect around the edges.

Finding the *real* edges will surely keep you on your toes.  But Knuth
obviously likes it that way.

>... in [any] case the "it's all Greek" shaggy dog story is extraneous, no?  

Partly.  Note that TeX is written in WEB, and WEB is translated to TeX
by `weave'.  The Greek `teknologos' (if I have not mangled it too badly),
a computer word if there ever was one, is spelled tau-epsilon-chi-etc.
But the Latin imperative form of `to weave' is spelled `texe'!

See how neatly it all folds in upon itself?  :-)
-- 
In-Real-Life: Chris Torek, Univ of MD Comp Sci Dept (+1 301 454 7163)
Domain:	chris@mimsy.umd.edu	Path:	uunet!mimsy!chris