I wish people would stop naming products like this (nginx and imgur are other examples that spring to mind) because it's a complete nightmare for dyslexics like myself.
We have problems enough with spelling and pronunciation due to the vast and contradicting rules in the English language, but at least acronyms stand for something meaningful (eg I can remember KVM because it's a Kernel-based Virtual Machine). But names like SPDY are a nightmare because I have to remember which letters are dropped; and an even bigger nightmare to read as I need to memorize how it's intended to be pronounced rather than simply sounding out the letters like any other sane word would.
What's more, I'm an English native. So I can't imagine how much harder names like this are non-English speakers too (and let's be honest, most of the worlds populous didn't learn English as their first language).
So please, if you're in charge of naming a new product, think about the fact that not everyone in the world is as gifted at English as yourself; and that not everyone wants to learn a separate additional verbal and written rule for each and every proper-noun just because it's seemingly now 'cool' to use TXT SPK in names.
I just mispronounce them in my head. Then I mispronounce them in person. Then I don't care when people get their knickers in a twist. Because to me, I'm the one pronouncing them correctly and they should just deal with it. At least the "sql is pronounced sequel" people have died out.
Odd, nearly everyone I know pronounces it "sequel" (including "my sequel" and "sequel server". The only people I interact with who spell it out are people who don't really know what it is, so it's kind of a warning flag when someone says it that way.
Is this wishful thinking on your part or a regional (Boston) thing?
Spelling SQL as an acronym is very common here in Brazil (and I guess other non-english speaking countries). Saying sequel would be very weird because the closest sounding word for that means "trauma"
Here in France, I've never heard anyone say "sequel". Or "engine-x" for nginx (which we usually pronunce as "n-ginx").
SPDY is a bit of a problem because saying "speedy" sounds silly, and the name of "Y" is really awkward in an acronym in French (it's two syllables, "i grec"). Not that it's really a problem since nobody uses it.
I wish people would stop using Y in acronyms or pseudo-acronyms. And W too. I don't even know how English-speaking people say "www".
On behalf of people that are more interested in the communication than in the pronunciation, thank you. You could pronounce SPDY as "super dimension fortress" and SQL and "purple monkey dishwasher" and I wouldn't care as long as I knew what you were talking about.
The process (for SPDY and nginx) is called disemvowelment[1], and I always thought it mostly had to do with securing short domain names. Scvngr comes to mind as an example of this. S-C-A-V-E-N-G-E-R.
It is mostly about securing short domain names. If I'm honest, I started getting sidetracked with my rant at that point.
Though, to be fair, even the domain name argument is increasingly becoming moot as more and more TLD's are become available (eg .io). And personally I'd rather not have product names dictated by what URL looks prettier in someone's tweet (if they're that bothered, then why not have speedy.io and a Twitter friendly one that redirects)
Slightly off topic observation: do we really care about domain names anymore? I mean, is it so important for a web start-up called "yourbooks" to own "yourbooks.com"?
It seems to me that decisions as important as selecting a product name are often being made on the availability of domain names. I think this doesn't make sense - most people will use Google if they're looking you up on the web, and apps are the dominate delivery channel, so who cares?
Focus on your business idea, not some arbitrary domain name issue... the world does not need another urbkly.com or another $100k ransom for a domain name.
Interesting point, and eventually things may move that way. It may become as transparent to the users as changing channels on the radio. But for now we're still at the stage where there isn't enough device cross-talk to afford us the luxury to do away with meaningful / memorable domain names (much like how many new radios still need to be tuned in to our preferred stations). We print website addresses and place a great significant on the address bar - so it makes sense that a domain name should fit the product.
While QR codes, mobile apps and search engines are mitigating the need for domain names - I don't think we're quite there yet.
I'm wasn't talking about second level domains (though you're right that -where available- second level domains do widen the scope for TLD usage). But what I meant was that ICANN periodically releases new gTLDs for public use and even offers a program for companies to sponsor new gTLDs.
With regards to .io, technically that's a country code (ccTLD) that's been re-purposed as a gTLD by many organisations in recent years.
I'm not sure it's so much about short domain names as it is available domain names. Think of securing scvngr.com vs scavenger.com. Plus, is a short domain really that valuable if so many people have trouble spelling it?
I first heard this called "vowel decimation" which IMO sounds better :) but I've only seen it called this in one product: Zoom Player[1]. It is used to shorten the length of media file tags (song titles etc) to fit available UI space while keeping them readable. It is very effective and I haven't seen any other media player use this.
This is a valid point and earned my upvote, but soon being guilty of this naming trick myself, I have to name one advantage that speaks against the minority of dyslexics: the limited pool of available names.
SPDY and nginx are short and memorable and carry a notion its authors wanted them to associate with (either speed or "being an engine".)
As an anecdotal data point, I must say I'm not a native English speaker but understood both names the first time.
From an accessibility standpoint though, I wish we could do better.
I am a native English speaker and had no idea that nginx was supposed to be a cutesy spelling of "engine-x" until now. I've always imagined it pronounced like the speaker had a mouthful of pebbles, something like 'n-g'n-ecks.
Until about three weeks ago I had no idea one of the engineers on our team was even talking about the web server/engine component when he was talking about "Engine X" and as far as I could tell we were using something called "N Jinx".
A lot of cross-purpose conversations were had. I assumed he had written some component of his own called engine X.
Likewise. I've always just spelled it out when I read it in my head.
Now I need to figure out imgur, since it's apparently more clever than "image-ur". im-gur? image-ur... imager? Is it supposed to be "imager"? I'm clueless.
I always though nginx was some variant of Vogon. It /never/ occured to me to pronounce it "Engine X". I've heard other people mention Engine X and never made the connection.
I just looked up Imgur on Wikipedia because of your comment, and found out that it's supposed to be pronounced "imager"!
Not only did I not know this all this while, I've also been referring to it as "im-goor" in all my conversations. Partly because I really really couldn't care less, and partly because said conversations have flowed just well even with my so-called mispronunciation, I'm just going to continue calling it "im-goor".
I wish people would stop naming products like this (nginx and imgur are other examples that spring to mind) because it's a complete nightmare for dyslexics like myself.
We have problems enough with spelling and pronunciation due to the vast and contradicting rules in the English language, but at least acronyms stand for something meaningful (eg I can remember KVM because it's a Kernel-based Virtual Machine). But names like SPDY are a nightmare because I have to remember which letters are dropped; and an even bigger nightmare to read as I need to memorize how it's intended to be pronounced rather than simply sounding out the letters like any other sane word would.
What's more, I'm an English native. So I can't imagine how much harder names like this are non-English speakers too (and let's be honest, most of the worlds populous didn't learn English as their first language).
So please, if you're in charge of naming a new product, think about the fact that not everyone in the world is as gifted at English as yourself; and that not everyone wants to learn a separate additional verbal and written rule for each and every proper-noun just because it's seemingly now 'cool' to use TXT SPK in names.
</rant>