Answer to "what does POSIX stand for?"

[John S. Quarterman]

From: jsq at longway.tic.com (John S. Quarterman)

In article <663 at longway.TIC.COM> From: hlj at posix.COM (Hal Jespersen)
>>
>>>"... The term POSIX is expected to be pronounced pahz-icks, as in positive,
>>>not poh-six, or other variations."
>>
>>Note that this assertion appears only in the rationale and the foreword,
>>not in the body of the standard.  This is because the committee could not
>>standardize a pronunciation, and in fact had no consensus on what it might be.
>>Nonetheless, there is a small clique that considers it their duty to enforce
>>what they regard as the correct pronunciation, even though they don't all
>>pronounce it the same way themselves.

>As the author of that footnote, I can say I know of only one person
>involved in the development of the POSIX standards who disagrees with
>the "Positive about POSIX" pronunciation.  Since that person is also
>in the clique referred to above, I guess you can say that last sentence
>is actually correct, John.  :-)

Well, I guess there must be at least two such people, since I don't agree
with the pronunciation the footnote attempts (inaccurately) to render,
and I'm not a member of the clique:  I find attempts to standardize
pronunciations silly and a waste of time.

I note that you don't attempt to claim that there was a consensus
of the committee about your pronunciation.  This is because there
never was any such consensus.

>  I would be interested to see your reaction if people started
> pronouncing UNIX or USENIX differently than their originators intended.

Started?  Evidently you haven't been listening....

>Hal Jespersen

>==========================================================================
>The opinions expressed in this message are my own and do not necessarily
>reflect those of the POSIX Working Groups or the IEEE.  To receive an
>official interpretation concerning an approved IEEE standard, contact the
>Secretary, IEEE Standards Board, P.O. Box 1331, 445 Hoes Lane, Piscataway,
>NJ 08855-1331.

Too bad you didn't put that disclaimer on your footnote.

John Quarterman

Volume-Number: Volume 19, Number 113