[asagoo]

Pedantic observation: Although in the pre-Mac-OS-X-10.0 days, Apple often stressed that "X" is pronounced "ten", they seem to have stopped making that effort (apart from Steve pronouncing it correctly during Keynotes).

Consequently, a lot of people, particularly non-Mac-users and newcomers to the platform, pronounce it "Oh es ex", which makes me cringe every time I hear it.

I guess it's not surprising because operating systems are written about more than spoken about, but I remember predicting exactly this when they originally came up with the roman numeral.

Nothing world-changing, just wanted to see if it bothers anyone else

Actually, why not have a poll to see which pronunciation is more common.

Amar

[Superchicken]

The worst one I've heard is Mac Osex, that just makes me want to beat them to death. That said, most people who know me pronounce it OS Ten after I correct them, though some people still irritatingly pronounce it phonetically. But Most of the people I know know me so they say it right.

[xi_hyperon]

A couple of my friends have switched to Macs in the last year or so, and they tend to say "ex". I don't correct them, as I know what they mean and it isn't all that important to me.

[bmedina]

It's not a big deal, I agree. However, it would be silly to pronouce SuperBowl XXX as "SuperBowl Ex Ex Ex."

[fisherKing]

well, officially it's

oh es ex 10 point 4....

[GORDYmac]

While I pronounce it properly, when I read it or think of it I think "ex".

[Angus_D]

Originally posted by fisherKing:
well, officially it's

oh es ex 10 point 4....

No, it isn't.

[E's Lil Theorem]

Originally posted by xi_hyperon:
A couple of my friends have switched to Macs in the last year or so, and they tend to say "ex". I don't correct them, as I know what they mean and it isn't all that important to me.

Same here, se�or. If they pick up the correct way of pronouncing it from me, fine, if not, okay as well. In the end, not at all important to me.

[tooki]

Originally posted by fisherKing:
well, officially it's

oh es ex 10 point 4....

No, it's not. It's "Mac Oh Ess Ten, Ten Point Four".

tooki

[Geobunny]

You missed two out - "Mac oss ten" and "Mac oss ex". It's quite weird though, I tend to chop and change. If I'm just talking about it I'll say Mac oss ten, however, if I'm reading it (either aloud or in my head) I think/say ex.

Just to confound things even more, I've got a friend down south (in the UK) who insists on pronouncing it Mac O Essex. Guess where he's from!

[Mojo-ike]

what i find even more annoying than the "ten" versus "ex" thing is the usage of the horrifically stupid revision names: "jaguar", "panther", "tiger", etc. those arent even the code-names for the revisions (or, if they once were they arent any more)!

"mac oh es 10.2", "mac oh es 10.3", "mac oh es 10.4" are clear enough, thanks.

[rmongold]

I was finally able to get my wife pronouncing it correctly, so I consider my work to be done.

[sideus]

I say it both ways.

[JHromadka]

Originally posted by sideus:
I say it both ways.

Ditto. Depends on who I'm talking to.

[LaGow]

Guys, it's not Oh ess ex, it's OS sex.

And, as you know, sex sells!

[IFLY2HIGH]

I say it both ways too, but generally if it's a pc person, I say it OSX 10.3.8 or soon it will be OSX 10.4.x

Mac people I just refer to it as it's "name" ie Panther or soon to be Tiger. <drool>

[fisherKing]

Originally posted by tooki:
No, it's not. It's "Mac Oh Ess Ten, Ten Point Four".

tooki

(oops)

[rjenkinson]

Originally posted by LaGow:
Guys, it's not Oh ess ex, it's OS sex.

And, as you know, sex sells!

so why did they get rid of the "sexy" SCSI ports then?

-r.

[Big Mac]

You know, saying "OS Ten Ten Point 4" is pretty kludgey, even though it is the official designation. When speaking about it, I think I usually say 10.4 or Tiger. And technically, it should be proper to write it as OS X.4. That is, unless Mac OS X overrode Mac OS as the official name of the OS. The X is merely version 10, so if we were to write Mac OS X.4 we would be saying Mac OS 10.4.

[fisherKing]

Originally posted by Big Mac:
You know, saying "OS Ten Ten Point 4" is pretty kludgey, even though it is the official designation. When speaking about it, I think I usually say 10.4 or Tiger. And technically, it should be proper to write it as OS X.4. That is, unless Mac OS X overrode Mac OS as the official name of the OS. The X is merely version 10, so if we were to write Mac OS X.4 we would be saying Mac OS 10.4.

but no one is gonna call it that.

okay, it's not official,
but i'm sticking with "oh os ex 10 point 4"

[JHromadka]

Most of my PC friends know it by the codename only anyways. A friend knew that it was Tiger but had to ask the version number. He hasn't used a Mac since 7.5.

[tooki]

Originally posted by Big Mac:
You know, saying "OS Ten Ten Point 4" is pretty kludgey, even though it is the official designation. When speaking about it, I think I usually say 10.4 or Tiger. And technically, it should be proper to write it as OS X.4. That is, unless Mac OS X overrode Mac OS as the official name of the OS. The X is merely version 10, so if we were to write Mac OS X.4 we would be saying Mac OS 10.4.

Indeed, the name of the product is not "Mac OS", it is "Mac OS X" -- the X does not belong to the version number, which is the dotted numerals. So no, Mac OS X.4 is not correct.

tooki

[dru]

Originally posted by Superchicken:
The worst one I've heard is Mac Osex, that just makes me want to beat them to death.

I know exactly what you mean!

[Superchicken]

Come to think of it it's easier with the Code Names, it helps the new Mac users in dorm a lot....

[JMII]

At first I called it OS eX because that's how it was written (X the letter vs #10 the digit), but saying OS eX point three dot eight sounds downright stupid. After years of running OS Seven, OS Eight and OS Nine it seems logical to call it OS Ten. However since 10.3 I've switched to using the code name for generic conversations (IE: Are you running Panther on that PowerBook?) but revert back to calling it Ten dot whatever when dealing with a specific problem (IE: I upgraded to ten point three point eight and my USB camera starting working fine). Here at work we just refer it as Ten... as it rolls off the tongue better then OS eX. Calling something "eX" makes it sound like ex-wife which can't be good

[msuper69]

Say OS X as "OS ex" and you will be thought of as an idiot to anyone who follows the Mac scene.

Someone show me proof of anybody from Apple every saying OS ex (other than saying don't say it that way). Steve Jobs says "OS TEN" and there is no better official guidance than from the man who saved Apple.

[chris v]

Originally Posted by rjenkinson

so why did they get rid of the "sexy" SCSI ports then?

-r.

I used to love saying "Mount my SCSI probe, baybay."

I tend to say it both ways, depending on whether I remember the "prefferred" pronounciation is "ten" or not.

Oh, sex!

[kcmac]

I have to think before saying ten. X just rolls off the tongue. Either way, Mac people know what I am talking about. I don't correct others on this either.

[Lew]

Type "Mac OS X" into TextEdit, highlight it and then select "Edit->Speech->Start Speaking".

[P]

Originally Posted by Lew

Type "Mac OS X" into TextEdit, highlight it and then select "Edit->Speech->Start Speaking".

Heh. Never noticed that one before. Just "OS X" works as well.

[madmacgames]

Some people who say "Mac OS Ex" probably do so because you often see it written as "Mac OS X 10.3". That there is a redundant "Ten" is not that obvious or apparent.

I've also heard someone call it "Mac OS Ex" but his basis was because he thought it represented the unix roots of OS X.

I just drop one of the tens off and read it as "Mac OS Ten Point Three" and more often just say "Ten Point Three" or "OS Ten Point Three"... because to be quite frank, saying "Mac OS Ten Ten Point Three" is rather redundant, silly, and retarded... Just because it is literally written like that doesn't mean you have to -or should- read it like that... If I heard someone saying that out loud, I would be suspect that they had a speech impediment, and if I knew they did not have one, after hearing them say it enough times, I'd be likely to punch them in the face or something

[Moose]

Originally Posted by Big Mac

You know, saying "OS Ten Ten Point 4" is pretty kludgey, even though it is the official designation. When speaking about it, I think I usually say 10.4 or Tiger. And technically, it should be proper to write it as OS X.4. That is, unless Mac OS X overrode Mac OS as the official name of the OS. The X is merely version 10, so if we were to write Mac OS X.4 we would be saying Mac OS 10.4.

Go to About This Mac. Look at the first two lines of text under the Apple logo.

The proper phonemes:

_m1AEk _OW1EHs _t1EHn _v1AXrZIXn _t1EHn _pOYnt _f1AOr.

[SpaceMonkey]

I say "Mac OS ex," not because I pretend that it's the official way to pronounce it, but because it sounds so much cooler than "Mac OS 10."

When I use it that way, though, I'm usually referring to OS 10 as a whole, and not any specific point release. I feel that this is in keeping with the spirit behind Apple's decision to switch to Roman numerals in their marketing in the first place. The whole reason Apple switched to using a Roman numeral was to demonstrate how much of a break OS 10 was with the past. When I talk about specific point releases, I'll say 10.1, 10.2, 10.3, 10.4, etc.

[tooki]

Originally Posted by JMII

After years of running OS Seven, OS Eight and OS Nine it seems logical to call it OS Ten.

Except that it was "System 7" until Mac OS 7.6, which really only came at the very end of the System 7 line. And it took forever to get people to stop calling it "System 8" and "System 9". And of course, the name was always supposed to be "Mac OS [version number]", not "OS [version]". There exists an "OS-9", but it wasn't from Apple!!

tooki

[Moose]

Originally Posted by tooki

Except that it was "System 7" until Mac OS 7.6, which really only came at the very end of the System 7 line. And it took forever to get people to stop calling it "System 8" and "System 9". And of course, the name was always supposed to be "Mac OS [version number]", not "OS [version]". There exists an "OS-9", but it wasn't from Apple!!

tooki

There are still people who call it "System Ecks."

They're stuck using Quark 3.3.2 on their Quadra 950s, though.

[Weyland-Yutani]

Usually I say OS 10. Occationally I say OS X.

I write Mac OS X, not Mac OS 10.

[Hugi]

Who cares. I use both.

[analogika]

Originally Posted by rjenkinson

so why did they get rid of the "sexy" SCSI ports then?

-r.

because "scuzzy" is not an erotic term

[analogika]

Originally Posted by Lew

Type "Mac OS X" into TextEdit, highlight it and then select "Edit->Speech->Start Speaking".

Actually, just highlighting it above and then going into "Safari->Services->speech->Start Speaking" will work fine.

[analogika]

Originally Posted by msuper69

Steve Jobs says "OS TEN" and there is no better official guidance than from the man who says "JAG-WIRE".

Fixed�

[CharlesS]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macintosh_SE/30

[chris v]

Obviously, we really need to agree on convention here. I suggest:

Apple System Ossex, Ex-dot Four.

[wtmcgee]

Originally Posted by Lew

Type "Mac OS X" into TextEdit, highlight it and then select "Edit->Speech->Start Speaking".

And that should settle it, if every other piece of evidence pointing towards the "OS 10" v. "OS X" debate didn't help.

[P]

Originally Posted by tooki

Except that it was "System 7" until Mac OS 7.6, which really only came at the very end of the System 7 line. And it took forever to get people to stop calling it "System 8" and "System 9". And of course, the name was always supposed to be "Mac OS [version number]", not "OS [version]". There exists an "OS-9", but it wasn't from Apple!!

tooki

Same thing with DOS - you're supposed to say MS-DOS, because there were a lot other DOSes. Anyway, there was a backwards trend there at some point, to deempahisize "Mac OS" and emphasize just "Mac". Noone ever called "System 9" officially, but if the full name is "Macintosh Operating System, version 9", "System 9" isn't too bad.

[Anubis IV]

Well, when I want to say "Mac OSX", I think and say Mac oh-ess-ex. And yes, I know that's incorrect...it's kinda like when I say "mayn-ga" instead of "mawn-ga" for the word "manga". I know it's wrong, but I still say it just out of habit. When I want to refer to a specific release (e.g. 10.3, 10.4), I'll refer to it by its codename (Jaguar, Panther, Tiger), since it's more universally known that, but if not, I'll refer to it as Mac oh-ess Ten-point-three or whatever. If I want to refer to a specific version (e.g. 10.2.4, 10.3.8), I'll refer to it as Ten-point-three-point-eight and the like.

[LaGow]

Originally Posted by analogika

because "scuzzy" is not an erotic term

That, my friend, depends entirely upon your point of view.