Allan Rae wrote:
>
> On Fri, 31 Aug 2001, John O'Gorman wrote:
>
>
> > eXceed is not an example of X at the end of the word.
>
> It's also not at the start. It's in the middle!
>
> > The x in Applix is the x of Unix not the X of X Window.
>
> So some other applications can use the X from X-Windows at the beginning
> or the middle
I think the X in eXceed is at the beginning rather than the middle (Can
you have
a middle of a 2 syllable word?).
> but not at the end like LyX? But they can use the x from
> the end of Unix at the end? Seems a bit restricted.
Why? Lots of Unix derivates and associated software have a final x:
Uniplex, Xenix, HPUX, Ultrix, Linux, Applix and obviously the x is
there to suggest the connection with Unix (and not X window). In all
such instances the x is lowercase.
> Russell (Allan's secret weapon):
> With made up words English conventions can be flouted because the
> structures no longer represent the written equivalent of the
> spoken language but rather code words for new constructs.
> The pronunciation however still has to obey the conventions.
> Words in -X must be pronounced -ks.
Where did your linguist get the above rule (not from Chonsky or Pink, I
imagine).
The secret weapon is a blunt sword.
TeX is pronounced tek (probably with a bit of gargle and aspiration) but
definitely
not tex as in Texas. Knuth spelt the X in uppercase and said that it
was tau, epsilon,
chi. So the X is just like the XP you see in Catholic churches. Were it
to pronounced x
it would be Tex not TeX. He chose this rendering (rather than ch ) so
that it LOOKED LIKE
the Greek letter CHI using a Latin alphabet.
The pronunciation of a letter or combination like ch depends on the
word's history
Witness the pronunciation of chant, loch, character, chianti, fiche,
technique, school,
schedule, ...
Even Don Quixote attracts various renderings of the x. There are
probably no
examples of a letter that is always uniformly pronounced in English.
Basically it is not worth persuing this debate much further. The nub of
the dispute
is, I believe:
Either The X in LyX indicates LyX's association with LaTeX where the
X is a pretend CHI
or The X in LyX is the only known instance of a final X suggesting a
connection with X-Window.
Which is more plausible?
John O'Gorman
