A while back I was puzzled when a cousin of mine talked about "earls"
in an inappropriate context, and it took me a while to realise she was
treating "URL" as an acronym.

I ran a poll on Twitter to see if anyone else did that, and 100% said
they pronounced URL as "you are ell".

So I wonder if anyone else has ever heard the "earl" pronunciation, or
if it was just my cousin's idiolect.

Another instance was a man I met who pronounced "UFOs" as "you foes".

I'm running a poll in Twitter and Mastodon on that too, but I wonder
if anyone here has heard that pronounciation.

--
Steve Hayes from Tshwane, South Africa
Web: http://www.khanya.org.za/stevesig.htm
Blog: http://khanya.wordpress.com
E-mail - see web page, or parse: shayes at dunelm full stop org full stop uk

On 2024-04-03 12:05:03 +0000, Steve Hayes said:

> A while back I was puzzled when a cousin of mine talked about "earls"
> in an inappropriate context, and it took me a while to realise she was
> treating "URL" as an acronym.
>
> I ran a poll on Twitter to see if anyone else did that, and 100% said
> they pronounced URL as "you are ell".

I'm part of the 100%.
>
> So I wonder if anyone else has ever heard the "earl" pronunciation, or
> if it was just my cousin's idiolect.
>
> Another instance was a man I met who pronounced "UFOs" as "you foes".

That I've certainly, and may have said (though I prefer "flying saucers").
>
> I'm running a poll in Twitter and Mastodon on that too, but I wonder
> if anyone here has heard that pronounciation.

--
Athel -- French and British, living in Marseilles for 37 years; mainly
in England until 1987.

On 2024-04-03, Steve Hayes wrote:

> A while back I was puzzled when a cousin of mine talked about "earls"
> in an inappropriate context, and it took me a while to realise she was
> treating "URL" as an acronym.
>
> I ran a poll on Twitter to see if anyone else did that, and 100% said
> they pronounced URL as "you are ell".
>
> So I wonder if anyone else has ever heard the "earl" pronunciation, or
> if it was just my cousin's idiolect.

I've only heard that used facetiously.

> Another instance was a man I met who pronounced "UFOs" as "you foes".

I haven't heard that, but I have heard "ufology" as "youfology".

> I'm running a poll in Twitter and Mastodon on that too, but I wonder
> if anyone here has heard that pronounciation.
>
>

--
It would be unfair to detect an element of logic in the siting of the
Pentagon alongside the National Cemetery, but the subject seems at
least worthy of investigation. ---C Northcote Parkinson

On 03 Apr 2024, Steve Hayes wrote

> A while back I was puzzled when a cousin of mine talked about
> "earls" in an inappropriate context, and it took me a while to
> realise she was treating "URL" as an acronym.
>
> I ran a poll on Twitter to see if anyone else did that, and 100%
> said they pronounced URL as "you are ell".
>
> So I wonder if anyone else has ever heard the "earl"
> pronunciation, or if it was just my cousin's idiolect.

The "earl" pronunciation is what I defaulted to when I first saw it,
and it was quite a while -- probably a year or more -- before I heard
it spoken and discovered that "you are ell" was the accepted
pronunciation.

I switched to "you are ell" for the very few times I have to
pronounce it in public, but my mind's ear still hears it as "earl"
when I see it.
> Another instance was a man I met who pronounced "UFOs" as "you
> foes".

I think I stumbled upon "you-foes" when people started to talk about
"ufology" and "ufologist" as field of interest[1], but again, my
mind's ear still hears "you eff oh" when I see it.

[1] I find it very difficult to talk about "ufologists" without
saying that it's pronounced "nutters".

--
Cheers, Harvey

On 2024-04-03 15:02:00 +0000, HVS said:

> On 03 Apr 2024, Steve Hayes wrote
>
>> A while back I was puzzled when a cousin of mine talked about
>> "earls" in an inappropriate context, and it took me a while to
>> realise she was treating "URL" as an acronym.
>>
>> I ran a poll on Twitter to see if anyone else did that, and 100%
>> said they pronounced URL as "you are ell".
>>
>> So I wonder if anyone else has ever heard the "earl"
>> pronunciation, or if it was just my cousin's idiolect.
>
> The "earl" pronunciation is what I defaulted to when I first saw it,
> and it was quite a while -- probably a year or more -- before I heard
> it spoken and discovered that "you are ell" was the accepted
> pronunciation.
>
> I switched to "you are ell" for the very few times I have to
> pronounce it in public, but my mind's ear still hears it as "earl"
> when I see it.
>
>> Another instance was a man I met who pronounced "UFOs" as "you
>> foes".
>
> I think I stumbled upon "you-foes" when people started to talk about
> "ufology" and "ufologist" as field of interest[1], but again, my
> mind's ear still hears "you eff oh" when I see it.
>
>
> [1] I find it very difficult to talk about "ufologists" without
> saying that it's pronounced "nutters".

Well yes. That's why I think "flying saucers" is a better name.

--
Athel -- French and British, living in Marseilles for 37 years; mainly
in England until 1987.

Adam Funk <a24061@ducksburg.com> wrote or quoted:
>I haven't heard that, but I have heard "ufology" as "youfology".

The term "UFO" was coined by Captain Edward J. Ruppelt,
who wrote in 1956 that it's pronounced "yoo-foe".

On 03/04/2024 17:08, Athel Cornish-Bowden wrote:
> On 2024-04-03 15:02:00 +0000, HVS said:
>
>> On 03 Apr 2024, Steve Hayes wrote
>>
>>> A while back I was puzzled when a cousin of mine talked about
>>> "earls" in an inappropriate context, and it took me a while to
>>> realise she was treating "URL" as an acronym.
>>>
>>> I ran a poll on Twitter to see if anyone else did that, and 100%
>>> said they pronounced URL as "you are ell".
>>>
>>> So I wonder if anyone else has ever heard the "earl"
>>> pronunciation, or if it was just my cousin's idiolect.
>>
>> The "earl" pronunciation is what I defaulted to when I first saw it,
>> and it was quite a while -- probably a year or more -- before I heard
>> it spoken and discovered that "you are ell" was the accepted
>> pronunciation.
>>
>> I switched to "you are ell" for the very few times I have to
>> pronounce it in public, but my mind's ear still hears it as "earl"
>> when I see it.
>>
>>> Another instance was a man I met who pronounced "UFOs" as "you
>>> foes".
>>
>> I think I stumbled upon "you-foes" when people started to talk about
>> "ufology" and "ufologist" as field of interest[1], but again, my
>> mind's ear still hears "you eff oh" when I see it.
>>
>>
>> [1] I find it very difficult to talk about "ufologists" without
>> saying that it's pronounced "nutters".
>
> Well yes. That's why I think "flying saucers" is a better name.
>

No, sorry, it is not. UFOs are neither saucers, not are they necessarily
'flying'. This is why the current term used for UFOs is 'UAP'.
Unexplained Aerial Phenomena.

'Phenomena', because it allows for the perceived entities to _not_ be
'objects'. They may be light reflections or merely optical illusions .

https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/57344606

On Wed, 03 Apr 2024 16:02:00 +0100, HVS <office@REMOVETHISwhhvs.co.uk>
wrote:

>On 03 Apr 2024, Steve Hayes wrote

>> Another instance was a man I met who pronounced "UFOs" as "you
>> foes".
>
>I think I stumbled upon "you-foes" when people started to talk about
>"ufology" and "ufologist" as field of interest[1], but again, my
>mind's ear still hears "you eff oh" when I see it.
>
>
>[1] I find it very difficult to talk about "ufologists" without
>saying that it's pronounced "nutters".

Perhaps the "you foes" pronunciation is the mark of a nutter.

--
Steve Hayes from Tshwane, South Africa
Web: http://www.khanya.org.za/stevesig.htm
Blog: http://khanya.wordpress.com
E-mail - see web page, or parse: shayes at dunelm full stop org full stop uk

Steve Hayes <hayesstw@telkomsa.net> wrote in
news:d2hq0jlhph14f2frooe29s9tqalj916mmr@4ax.com:

> A while back I was puzzled when a cousin of mine talked about "earls"
> in an inappropriate context, and it took me a while to realise she was
> treating "URL" as an acronym.
>
> I ran a poll on Twitter to see if anyone else did that, and 100% said
> they pronounced URL as "you are ell".
>
> So I wonder if anyone else has ever heard the "earl" pronunciation, or
> if it was just my cousin's idiolect.
>
> Another instance was a man I met who pronounced "UFOs" as "you foes".
>
> I'm running a poll in Twitter and Mastodon on that too, but I wonder
> if anyone here has heard that pronounciation.

I'm a computer engineer. The few times I've said it and heard it were
"earl". Few people name the letters.

FWIW, I've been a software engineer since before email was standardized and a
little before people knew of ARPAnet as the Internet. I've never used or
trusted anything from a soial media source.

HVS <office@REMOVETHISwhhvs.co.uk> wrote:

[...]

> > So I wonder if anyone else has ever heard the "earl"
> > pronunciation, or if it was just my cousin's idiolect.
>
> The "earl" pronunciation is what I defaulted to when I first saw it,
> and it was quite a while -- probably a year or more -- before I heard
> it spoken and discovered that "you are ell" was the accepted
> pronunciation.

Similarly, in my mind's ear, "http://www" is pronounced "hattipoo wow".

--
^Ï^. Sn!pe, PA, FIBS - Professional Crastinator

My pet rock Gordon just is.

On Wed, 3 Apr 2024 17:08:15 +0200, Athel Cornish-Bowden <me@yahoo.com>
wrote:

>On 2024-04-03 15:02:00 +0000, HVS said:
>> [1] I find it very difficult to talk about "ufologists" without
>> saying that it's pronounced "nutters".
>
>Well yes. That's why I think "flying saucers" is a better name.

But once you've identified it as a flying saucer it's no longer a UFO
(or ufo, if you prefer).

--
Steve Hayes from Tshwane, South Africa
Web: http://www.khanya.org.za/stevesig.htm
Blog: http://khanya.wordpress.com
E-mail - see web page, or parse: shayes at dunelm full stop org full stop uk

David LaRue <huey.dll@tampabay.rr.com> wrote or quoted:
>I'm a computer engineer. The few times I've said it and heard it were
>"earl". Few people name the letters.

Since I'm using "URI", I'm hardly ever tempted to say "earl".

In programming, "str" (short for "string") is often pronounced
like "stir", and "ptr" (short for "pointer") is usually said
like "putter". It can be helpful to not pronounce "str" as
"string" and "ptr" as "pointer", because those distinctions can
sometimes be important. In C++ for example, there's "nullptr",
which you definitely don't want to say as "null pointer"."

Newsgroups: alt.usage.english

On 03 Apr 2024, Stefan Ram wrote

> David LaRue <huey.dll@tampabay.rr.com> wrote or quoted:
>> I'm a computer engineer. The few times I've said it and heard it
>> were "earl". Few people name the letters.
>
> Since I'm using "URI", I'm hardly ever tempted to say "earl".
>
> In programming, "str" (short for "string") is often pronounced
> like "stir", and "ptr" (short for "pointer") is usually said
> like "putter". It can be helpful to not pronounce "str" as
> "string" and "ptr" as "pointer", because those distinctions can
> sometimes be important. In C++ for example, there's "nullptr",
> which you definitely don't want to say as "null pointer"."

Very true, as "null pointer" is reserved for failures at Eurovision.

--
Cheers, Harvey

On Wed, 3 Apr 2024 16:10:00 +0200, Athel Cornish-Bowden <me@yahoo.com>
wrote:

>On 2024-04-03 12:05:03 +0000, Steve Hayes said:
>
>> A while back I was puzzled when a cousin of mine talked about "earls"
>> in an inappropriate context, and it took me a while to realise she was
>> treating "URL" as an acronym.
>>
>> I ran a poll on Twitter to see if anyone else did that, and 100% said
>> they pronounced URL as "you are ell".
>
>I'm part of the 100%.

As am I, but I've known one or two people who said "earl."

On 3 Apr 2024 15:11:44 GMT, ram@zedat.fu-berlin.de (Stefan Ram) wrote:

>Adam Funk <a24061@ducksburg.com> wrote or quoted:
>>I haven't heard that, but I have heard "ufology" as "youfology".
>
> The term "UFO" was coined by Captain Edward J. Ruppelt,
> who wrote in 1956 that it's pronounced "yoo-foe".

In the middle of a discussion, I'm sure I would slur the U-F-O
version into yoo-foe.

I think it would be wise for someone who is starting a
discussion to spell it out, even if they are conscious that
they will always slur it later on.

--
Rich Ulrich

Steve Hayes wrote:

> A while back I was puzzled when a cousin of mine talked about "earls"
> in an inappropriate context, and it took me a while to realise she was
> treating "URL" as an acronym.

Every Dane does that - with Danish pronunciation. The same with "ufo". I
have never heard anything else in Danish. Those pronunciation do not
sound like another word.

--
Bertel, Denmark

On 4/3/2024 2:05 PM, Steve Hayes wrote:
> A while back I was puzzled when a cousin of mine talked about "earls"
> in an inappropriate context, and it took me a while to realise she was
> treating "URL" as an acronym.
>
> I ran a poll on Twitter to see if anyone else did that, and 100% said
> they pronounced URL as "you are ell".
>
> So I wonder if anyone else has ever heard the "earl" pronunciation, or
> if it was just my cousin's idiolect.
>
> Another instance was a man I met who pronounced "UFOs" as "you foes".
>
> I'm running a poll in Twitter and Mastodon on that too, but I wonder
> if anyone here has heard that pronounciation.
>
>

I know it's spelled U-R-L, but I still call them urls (or rather ewwrls)
for myself. It's faster to say.
"You foes" also doesn't sound incorrect, as in German we use that all
the time (albeit as Oo-faw because German spelling and stuff)

On 03-Apr-24 16:45, Steve Hayes wrote:
> On Wed, 3 Apr 2024 17:08:15 +0200, Athel Cornish-Bowden <me@yahoo.com>
> wrote:
>
>> On 2024-04-03 15:02:00 +0000, HVS said:
>>> [1] I find it very difficult to talk about "ufologists" without
>>> saying that it's pronounced "nutters".
>>
>> Well yes. That's why I think "flying saucers" is a better name.
>
> But once you've identified it as a flying saucer it's no longer a UFO
> (or ufo, if you prefer).
>
That would be true only if they choose to self-identify as a flying saucer.

--
Sam Plusnet

On Wed, 3 Apr 2024, at 16:02:00, HVS posted:
>On 03 Apr 2024, Steve Hayes wrote
>
>> A while back I was puzzled when a cousin of mine talked about
>> "earls" in an inappropriate context, and it took me a while to
>> realise she was treating "URL" as an acronym.
>>
>> I ran a poll on Twitter to see if anyone else did that, and 100%
>> said they pronounced URL as "you are ell".
>>
>> So I wonder if anyone else has ever heard the "earl"
>> pronunciation, or if it was just my cousin's idiolect.
>
>The "earl" pronunciation is what I defaulted to when I first saw it,
>and it was quite a while -- probably a year or more -- before I heard
>it spoken and discovered that "you are ell" was the accepted
>pronunciation.
>
>I switched to "you are ell" for the very few times I have to
>pronounce it in public, but my mind's ear still hears it as "earl"
>when I see it.
>
>> Another instance was a man I met who pronounced "UFOs" as "you
>> foes".
>
>I think I stumbled upon "you-foes" when people started to talk about
>"ufology" and "ufologist" as field of interest[1], but again, my
>mind's ear still hears "you eff oh" when I see it.
>
Written out like that, it makes me think "you eff off". Just a small
hint to the aliens, you understand.

--
Paul W

On Wed, 3 Apr 2024, at 17:28:10, occam posted:
>On 03/04/2024 17:08, Athel Cornish-Bowden wrote:
>> On 2024-04-03 15:02:00 +0000, HVS said:
>>
>>> On 03 Apr 2024, Steve Hayes wrote
>>>
>>>> A while back I was puzzled when a cousin of mine talked about
>>>> "earls" in an inappropriate context, and it took me a while to
>>>> realise she was treating "URL" as an acronym.
>>>>
>>>> I ran a poll on Twitter to see if anyone else did that, and 100%
>>>> said they pronounced URL as "you are ell".
>>>>
>>>> So I wonder if anyone else has ever heard the "earl"
>>>> pronunciation, or if it was just my cousin's idiolect.
>>>
>>> The "earl" pronunciation is what I defaulted to when I first saw it,
>>> and it was quite a while -- probably a year or more -- before I heard
>>> it spoken and discovered that "you are ell" was the accepted
>>> pronunciation.
>>>
>>> I switched to "you are ell" for the very few times I have to
>>> pronounce it in public, but my mind's ear still hears it as "earl"
>>> when I see it.
>>>
>>>> Another instance was a man I met who pronounced "UFOs" as "you
>>>> foes".
>>>
>>> I think I stumbled upon "you-foes" when people started to talk about
>>> "ufology" and "ufologist" as field of interest[1], but again, my
>>> mind's ear still hears "you eff oh" when I see it.
>>>
>>> [1] I find it very difficult to talk about "ufologists" without
>>> saying that it's pronounced "nutters".
>>
>> Well yes. That's why I think "flying saucers" is a better name.
>
>No, sorry, it is not. UFOs are neither saucers, not are they necessarily
>'flying'. This is why the current term used for UFOs is 'UAP'.
>Unexplained Aerial Phenomena.

OAP = Old Age Pensioner. Clearly then, UAP = Under Age Pensioner.
--
Paul W

On 04/04/24 08:53, Paul Wolff wrote:
> On Wed, 3 Apr 2024, at 16:02:00, HVS posted:
>> On 03 Apr 2024, Steve Hayes wrote
>>
>>> A while back I was puzzled when a cousin of mine talked about
>>> "earls" in an inappropriate context, and it took me a while to
>>> realise she was treating "URL" as an acronym.
>>>
>>> I ran a poll on Twitter to see if anyone else did that, and 100%
>>> said they pronounced URL as "you are ell".
>>>
>>> So I wonder if anyone else has ever heard the "earl"
>>> pronunciation, or if it was just my cousin's idiolect.
>>
>> The "earl" pronunciation is what I defaulted to when I first saw it,
>> and it was quite a while -- probably a year or more -- before I heard
>> it spoken and discovered that "you are ell" was the accepted
>> pronunciation.
>>
>> I switched to "you are ell" for the very few times I have to
>> pronounce it in public, but my mind's ear still hears it as "earl"
>> when I see it.
>>
>>> Another instance was a man I met who pronounced "UFOs" as "you
>>> foes".
>>
>> I think I stumbled upon "you-foes" when people started to talk about
>> "ufology" and "ufologist" as field of interest[1], but again, my
>> mind's ear still hears "you eff oh" when I see it.
>>
> Written out like that, it makes me think "you eff off". Just a small
> hint to the aliens, you understand.

These days I reserve UFO for unidentifiable frying objects.

--
Peter Moylan http://www.pmoylan.org
Newcastle, NSW

I, too, say URL as "U-R-L", but have occasionally come across "earl".

Stefan Ram:
> In programming, "str" (short for "string") is often pronounced
> like "stir",

In my circles that's "struh", where the "uh" is a neutral vowel.
"strcpy()" is "struh-koopy", with "uh" neutral and "oo" short as
in "book".

> and "ptr" (short for "pointer") is usually said like "putter".

I agree if that's the noun from "put", not the one from "putt".
That is, again, I have a short "oo" sound.

However, I can't think of a case where I'd use that spelling.
If I wanted to abbreviate "pointer" I'd normally just use "p".
--
Mark Brader, Toronto | "Whatever you are, be out and out,
msb@vex.net | not divided or in doubt." -- Brand (Ibsen)

My text in this article is in the public domain.

On 04/04/24 02:39, David LaRue wrote:

> FWIW, I've been a software engineer since before email was
> standardized and a little before people knew of ARPAnet as the
> Internet. I've never used or trusted anything from a soial media
> source.

There are plenty of people who believe that social media are the entire
content of the Internet.

Yesterday I was trying to tell my wife the difference between the
Internet and the world-wide web. I must have done a bad job, because she
still can't see the difference.

There are also people who try to use their phone as a computer. Well,
technically it is one, but who can take seriously a device with such a
tiny screen and a two-thumb keyboard?

--
Peter Moylan http://www.pmoylan.org
Newcastle, NSW

On 03-Apr-24 23:30, Peter Moylan wrote:
> On 04/04/24 02:39, David LaRue wrote:
>
>> FWIW, I've been a software engineer since before email was
>> standardized and a little before people knew of ARPAnet as the
>> Internet.  I've never used or trusted anything from a soial media
>> source.
>
> There are plenty of people who believe that social media are the entire
> content of the Internet.
>
> Yesterday I was trying to tell my wife the difference between the
> Internet and the world-wide web. I must have done a bad job, because she
> still can't see the difference.
>
> There are also people who try to use their phone as a computer. Well,
> technically it is one, but who can take seriously a device with such a
> tiny screen and a two-thumb keyboard?
>
You and I must be wrong.

In order to contact the local Surgery I can now no longer use their
website.
I now have to use 'the App' - available only in iOS & Android flavours
so I can't use this PC, with its proper keyboard & 25 inch display, I
must squint at the tiny display on my phone & attempt that pretence of a
keyboard it offers.

At least I have a 'smart' phone. My wife clings on to her dumb phone,
and cannot see why she should be forced to change to suit a strange fashion.

--
Sam Plusnet

Sam Plusnet <not@home.com> wrote:
[...]
> > There are also people who try to use their phone as a computer. Well,
> > technically it is one, but who can take seriously a device with such a
> > tiny screen and a two-thumb keyboard?
> >
> You and I must be wrong.
>
> In order to contact the local Surgery I can now no longer use their
> website.
> I now have to use 'the App' - available only in iOS & Android flavours
> so I can't use this PC, with its proper keyboard & 25 inch display, I
> must squint at the tiny display on my phone & attempt that pretence of a
> keyboard it offers.
>
> At least I have a 'smart' phone. My wife clings on to her dumb phone,
> and cannot see why she should be forced to change to suit a strange fashion.

[UK specific]
I can contact my doctor's surgery via the NHS website, which works
on my desktop. The NHS smartphone app. is quite slick to use but
I do agree about the horrid 'phone "keyboard".

--
^Ï^. Sn!pe, PA, FIBS - Professional Crastinator

My pet rock Gordon just is.