Why say ''an SQL''
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Hello,
Just a quick question. Why do people write 'an SQL' when the are talking about SQL server? I thought the rule of thumb was that you use the modifier (for an Acronym) that you would use if you spelled it out. I've never heard anyone say 'an Structured Query Language' or 'an SEQUEL,' and to me 'an SQL...' sounds just as odd, but I see it all of the time.
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its sounds more important than ....script.... or batch file...
and I think T-SQL is closer to accurate...
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"an esquel"
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The only time anyone - at least I - say "an SQL" is when I'm enunciating each letter - "an ess-q-el statement" or "an ess-q-el server"....
**ASCII stupid question, get a stupid ANSI !!!** -
Hehe
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What I was getting at is why 'an SQL...' instead of 'a SQL...'?
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Chris - that's exactly what I explained - it would be "an ess-q-el" and "a sequel" - just depends on how you say it!
**ASCII stupid question, get a stupid ANSI !!!** -
Sushila, I was talking about GPF2^192's post.
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I always find it funny when americans complain about the structure of the 'English' language. It's like when the Quebecers complain about the use of the 'French' language.
its a moot point really, though with the rise, of G33K sp3@k, urbanisms, etc....
The sad fact is we all live and die with SAN SERIF and sadly find joy when type1s and true type, clear type or whatever, become public domain.
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Who's complaining? 🙂
I was just wondering because I see and hear both. I kinda like the way English is 'malleable.' i took French in High School and I always thought it was funny that they had a board to approve changes in the languages (new words, etc.). I took Japanese in College and it was so strutured that it was like putting a puzzle together.
Thanks,
Chris
Eschew Obfuscation
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I had heard both about SQL vs. SEQUEL (IBM's original name, IIRC), Joe, and I thought the pronouncing it Ess-Que_El was more correct. I tend to say Ess-Que_El myself. I thought that the rule of thumb (for English in general) is that you chose 'a' vs. 'an' (as in a SQL vs an SQL) based on the first word of the Acronym. I.E. A Structured... vs. An Structured... That was the basis for my original question.
I may (come to think of it, I probably am not ) not be remembering correctly, but i was just asking a question, not criticizing (like it appears some may have thought).
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Oh, BTW. tell the pronouncing acronym thing to the SAP people. They get uptight when you pronounce SAP like what you call the stuff that seeps out of trees. Unless you're saying something like SAPR3 (which is OK to pronounce SAPeR_three), you're supossed to say each letter.
And the U.S. military is a different thing as well. Some Acronyms are pronounced, some are spelled out (FUBAR vs. TDY, etc.)
Interesting industry we work in.
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WADR, Es Que EL always sounds wrong to me, and is too hard to pronounce. 20+ years ago, I thought it was standard to say "sequel." Nowadays, I think people who aren't familiar with the earliest IBM "Sequel" software history pronounce it as letters. It's just not right (IMHO). It is simply an anomaly that the original software name "Sequel" was changed to SQL. Here are the facts:
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From http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/SQL
"A seminal paper, "A Relational Model of Data for Large Shared Data Banks" (http://www.acm.org/classics/nov95/toc.html), by Dr. Edgar T. Codd, was published in June, 1970 in the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) journal, Communications of the ACM. Codd's model became widely accepted as the definitive model for relational database management systems (RDBMS). June is the sixth month of the year in the Gregorian Calendar and one of four with the length of 30 days. ... 1970 was a common year starting on Thursday. ... The Association for Computing Machinery, or ACM, was founded in 1947 as the worlds first scientific and educational computing society. ... Communications of the ACM (CACM) is the flagship monthly magazine of the Association for Computing Machinery. ... A relational database management system (RDBMS) is a database management system (DBMS) that is based on the relational model as introduced by Edgar F. Codd. ...
"During the 1970s, a group at IBM's San Jose research center developed a database system "System R" based upon Codd's model. Structured English Query Language ("SEQUEL") was designed to manipulate and retrieve data stored in System R. The acronym SEQUEL was later condensed to SQL due to a trademark dispute (the word 'SEQUEL' was held as a trade mark by the Hawker-Siddeley aircraft company of the UK). International Business Machines Corporation (IBM, or colloquially, Big Blue) (NYSE: IBM) (incorporated June 15, 1911, in operation since 1888) is headquartered in Armonk, New York, USA. The company manufactures and sells computer hardware, software, and services. ... System R is a database system built as a research project at IBM San Jose Research (now IBM Almaden Research Center) in the 1970s. ... Hawker-Siddeley was a British aircraft manufacturing company. ... "
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BTW, ANSI may try, but they can't dictate how to pronounce things; ANSI pronunciations guidelines are utterly irrelevant. Humans will pronounce however they please, and the traditional and popular usages will eventually be called "correct." That's the nature of language. Not everything that ANSI publishes is completely accepted, and some ANSI things are just rejected by the masses for good reasons.
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Except when you're saying - "Ess-q-el" - begins with an E sound...
Similar to the French addition of a "T" on inversion...eg: a-t-il instead of a-il (almost impossible to say...)
**ASCII stupid question, get a stupid ANSI !!!** -
Easy to say... but nobody will understand what you're saying
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