How to pronouncd "Emacs"?

How to pronouncd "Emacs"?

[Jason]

I am a novice.:) I can't found it in my dictionary. Somebody knows it?

                        Jason

Re: How to pronouncd "Emacs"?

[Björn Lindström]

"Jason" <realsong@hotmail.com> writes:

> I am a novice.:) I can't found it in my dictionary. Somebody knows it?

Since it originally is an abbreviation of Extended MACroS, EH-MACKS
seems like a good choice. EE-MACKS is probably just as common, though,
as well as various regional variations. (I usually pronounce it as you
would in Swedish, for example.

-- 
Björn Lindström <bkhl@elektrubadur.se
http://bkhl.elektrubadur.se/

Re: How to pronouncd "Emacs"?

[leo]

i'd go for [ee:macks] -- in english and in german.

"Jason" <realsong@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:bq103c$2ff$1@quimby.gnus.org...
> I am a novice.:) I can't found it in my dictionary. Somebody knows it?
>
>                         Jason

Re: How to pronouncd "Emacs"?

[Pascal Bourguignon]

"Jason" <realsong@hotmail.com> writes:

> I am a novice.:) I can't found it in my dictionary. Somebody knows it?
> 
>                         Jason
> 
> 
Bad dictionary. Change dictionary.

>From Jargon File (4.3.0, 30 APR 2001) [jargon]:

  EMACS /ee'maks/ n. [from Editing MACroS] The ne plus ultra of hacker
     editors, a programmable text editor with an entire LISP system inside
     it. It was originally written by Richard Stallman in TECO under
     {ITS} at the MIT AI lab; AI Memo 554 described it as "an advanced,
     self-documenting, customizable, extensible real-time display editor". It
     has since been reimplemented any number of times, by various hackers,
     and versions exist that run under most major operating systems. Perhaps
     the most widely used version, also written by Stallman and now called
     "GNU EMACS" or GNUMACS, runs principally under Unix. (Its close
     relative XEmacs is the second most popular version.) It includes
     facilities to run compilation subprocesses and send and receive mail or
     news; many hackers spend up to 80% of their tube time inside it. Other
     variants include GOSMACS, CCA EMACS, UniPress EMACS, Montgomery EMACS,
     jove, epsilon, and MicroEMACS. (Though we use the original all-caps
     spelling here, it is nowadays very commonly `Emacs'.)
  
     Some EMACS versions running under window managers iconify as an
     overflowing kitchen sink, perhaps to suggest the one feature the editor
     does not (yet) include. Indeed, some hackers find EMACS too
     heavyweight and baroque for their taste, and expand the name as
     `Escape Meta Alt Control Shift' to spoof its heavy reliance on
     keystrokes decorated with bucky bits. Other spoof expansions include
     `Eight Megabytes And Constantly Swapping' (from when that was a lot of
     core), `Eventually `malloc()'s All Computer Storage', and `EMACS Makes
     A Computer Slow' (see {recursive acronym}). See also vi.
  
  

>From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (27 SEP 03) [foldoc]:

  Emacs
       
          <text, tool> /ee'maks/ (Editing MACroS, or Extensible MACro
          System, GNU Emacs) A popular screen editor for Unix and
          most other operating systems.
       
          Emacs is distributed by the Free Software Foundation and was
          Richard Stallman's first step in the GNU project.  Emacs
          is extensible - it is easy to add new functions; customisable
          - you can rebind keys, and modify the behaviour of existing
          functions; self-documenting - there is extensive on-line,
          context-sensitive help; and has a real-time "what you see is
          what you get" display.  Emacs is writen in C and the higher
          levels are programmed in Emacs Lisp.
       
          Emacs has an entire Lisp system inside it.  It was
          originally written in TECO under ITS at the MIT {AI
          lab}.  AI Memo 554 described it as "an advanced,
          self-documenting, customisable, extensible real-time display
          editor".
       
          It includes facilities to view directories, run compilation
          subprocesses and send and receive electronic mail and
          Usenet news (GNUS).  W3 is a web browser, the
          ange-ftp package provides transparent access to files on
          remote FTP servers.  Calc is a calculator and {symbolic
          mathematics} package.  There are "modes" provided to assist in
          editing most well-known programming languages.  Most of these
          extra functions are configured to load automatically on first
          use, reducing start-up time and memory consumption.  Many
          hackers (including Denis Howe) spend more than 80% of their
          tube time inside Emacs.
       
          GNU Emacs is available for Unix, VMS, GNU/Linux,
          FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD, MS Windows, MS-DOS, and
          other systems.  Emacs has been re-implemented more than 30
          times.  Other variants include GOSMACS, CCA Emacs, UniPress
          Emacs, Montgomery Emacs, and XEmacs.  Jove, epsilon, and
          MicroEmacs are limited look-alikes.
       
          Some Emacs versions running under window managers iconify as
          an overflowing kitchen sink, perhaps to suggest the one
          feature the editor does not (yet) include.  Indeed, some
          hackers find Emacs too heavyweight and baroque for their
          taste, and expand the name as "Escape Meta Alt Control Shift"
          to spoof its heavy reliance on keystrokes decorated with
          bucky bits.  Other spoof expansions include "Eight Megabytes
          And Constantly Swapping", "Eventually "malloc()'s All Computer
          Storage", and "Emacs Makes A Computer Slow" (see {recursive
          acronym}).  See also vi.
       
          Latest version: 20.6, as of 2000-05-11.  21.1 (RSN) adds a
          new redisplay engine with support for proportional text,
          images, tool bars, tool tips, toolkit scroll bars, and a
          mouse-sensitive mode line.
       
          FTP from your nearest GNU archive site.
       
          E-mail: (bug reports only) <bug-gnu-emacs@gnu.org>.
       
          Usenet newsgroups: news:gnu.emacs.help,
          news:gnu.emacs.bug, news:alt.religion.emacs,
          news:gnu.emacs.sources, news:gnu.emacs.announce.
       
          [Jargon File]
       
          (1997-02-04)
       
       

>From Virtual Entity of Relevant Acronyms (Version 1.9, June 2002) [vera]:

  EMACS
       Editing MACroS (GNU)


-- 
__Pascal_Bourguignon__                          http://www.informatimago.com/   
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Living free in Alaska or in Siberia, a grizzli's life expectancy is 35 years,
but no more than 8 years in captivity.           http://www.theadvocates.org/

Re: How to pronouncd "Emacs"?

[Björn Lindström]

Pascal Bourguignon <spam@thalassa.informatimago.com> writes:

> <text, tool> /ee'maks/ (Editing MACroS, or Extensible MACro
> System, GNU Emacs) A popular screen editor for Unix and
> most other operating systems.

Hm, it seems I had the rationale of the abbreviation wrong.

Anyway, I wouldn't say that any of the dictionaries are authorities on
actual usage. (Even if EE-MAKS is probably one of the more common).

-- 
Björn Lindström <bkhl@elektrubadur.se
http://bkhl.elektrubadur.se/

Re: How to pronouncd "Emacs"?

[Galen Boyer]

It is pronounced, "The way the truth the life".
-- 
Galen Boyer

Re: How to pronouncd "Emacs"?

[sebyte]

Jason wrote:

> I am a novice.:) I can't found it in my dictionary. Somebody knows it?
> 
>                         Jason

Has no one thought to ask Saint Ignucius?

sebyte

Re: How to pronouncd "Emacs"?

[Brad Collins]

Pascal Bourguignon <spam@thalassa.informatimago.com> writes:


> [snip] Indeed, some hackers find EMACS too
> heavyweight and baroque for their taste.... 

Baroque? 

Hmmmm. Or perhaps a Greek Tragedy?

You *could* think of Emacs as a sort of labyrinth, with info and help
features acting as Ariadne's thread leading to Richard Stallman at the
center playing the Minotaur!  Except in the Emacs version we never
quite reach the center because Theseus keeps getting sidetracked,
customizing the labyrinth as he goes along, changing the lighting,
adding new passages and creating shortcuts between tunnels....

b/


-------------------------
Brad Collins
Chenla Labs
Bangkok, Thailand

Re: How to pronouncd "Emacs"?

[David Kastrup]

Brad Collins <brad@studiojungle.net> writes:

> Pascal Bourguignon <spam@thalassa.informatimago.com> writes:
> 
> 
> > [snip] Indeed, some hackers find EMACS too
> > heavyweight and baroque for their taste.... 
> 
> Baroque? 
> 
> Hmmmm. Or perhaps a Greek Tragedy?
> 
> You *could* think of Emacs as a sort of labyrinth, with info and help
> features acting as Ariadne's thread leading to Richard Stallman at the
> center playing the Minotaur!

What a load of bull.  Richard Stallman is, of course, playing Stephen
Dedalus.

> Except in the Emacs version we never quite reach the center because
> Theseus keeps getting sidetracked, customizing the labyrinth as he
> goes along, changing the lighting, adding new passages and creating
> shortcuts between tunnels....

Emacs is certainly modernistic.

-- 
David Kastrup, Kriemhildstr. 15, 44793 Bochum

Re: How to pronouncd "Emacs"?

[Barry Margolin]

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In article <s38ptffrxki.fsf@supinum.ling.uu.se>,
 bkhl@elektrubadur.se (Björn Lindström) wrote:

> Anyway, I wouldn't say that any of the dictionaries are authorities on
> actual usage. (Even if EE-MAKS is probably one of the more common).

I've been using Emacs for 24 years, I learned it where it was created, 
and I've heard RMS speak about it.  I've never heard it pronounced 
anything other than EE-MAKS.  In fact, this is the first time I can 
recall anyone questioning the pronunciation.  Perhaps if the name were 
derived from something like EMulator ACtorS, EM-AKS would be a 
reasonable pronunciation.  But since the E and M are from different 
words, it makes most sense for it to be treated like E-Macs.  Even 
though the E is short in the original word, it becomes long when used in 
an abbriviation (like the "i" in many Internet-related services and 
products that are called "i<Something>").

-- 
Barry Margolin, barmar@alum.mit.edu
Woburn, MA