if something isn't really pronouncable I usually "expand it".

While I understand your point, there's a long history of pronouncing abbreviations as they look rather than as their expansions. It's the problem of trying to communicate an exact sequence of letters that isn't a real word.

Say someone comes to me and asks, "this class has a method that returns the error but I can't remember what it is called, what is it?" If I answer "error string" he's likely to try using error_string(); I haven't been very helpful if the function is actually called errstr(). Sure, I might answer "EE-AR-AR-ESS-TEE-AR", but spelling things out makes for tedious communication (and is prone to its own sort of errors.)

Many abbreviations already have some sort of generally accepted pronunciation. Of course, scores of variations exist too; jargon isn't immune to dialect.

So, yes, /usr is usually slash-user, but do you call /etc slash-etcetera? You probably call it slash-et-see like everyone else. And tmp is "temp", not "temporary", right? Do you call var "various" or "var"? Is it "opt" or "optional"? How about "dev" or "devices"? While you probably pronounce "mnt" as "mount", I'd bet that you don't call /proc slash-process or /lib slash-library. And so on.

The same goes for common functions. The str in many standard C function names is, in my experience, generally pronounced "stir" and err as in errno or stderr is often pronounced as "air".¹

Here are some other examples of abbreviations that are often pronounced in their short forms rather than expanded. Of couse, I'm not claiming this list is definitive or authoritative in any way; these are just some examples from my experience:

• csh — seesh (rather than C-shell)
• ksh — koosh, oo like book (rather than korn shell)
• getc — get-sea (not get character)
• malloc — mal-luck (not memory allocate)²
• enum — ee-num (not enumeration)
• int — int (not integer)
• chmod — chuh-mod (not change mode)
• dir — dir (not directory)
• env — env or onv (not environment)
• sync — sink (not synchronize)
• umount — you-mount (not un-mount)
• ord — ord (not ordinal)
• lc — ell-see (not lowercase)
• eof — ee-oh-eff (not end-of-file)

and so on. . .

But, like the saying goes, "I say toe-may-toe; you say toe-mah-toe." It doesn't really matter as long as the right meaning is communicated.

1. I've heard stderr pronounced as "standard error", "standard air", and, infrequently, "stud air". I fall into the second category.
2. Is it just coincidence that the use of malloc() often results in "mal" (or bad) luck? You decide... :-)

-sauoq
"My two cents aren't worth a dime.";