this post was submitted on 18 Feb 2026
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Demon? Damon? Or something more exotic?

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[–] beeng@discuss.tchncs.de 2 points 7 hours ago
[–] Lettuceeatlettuce@lemmy.ml 7 points 17 hours ago* (last edited 17 hours ago) (1 children)

Day-mon, every Linux admin I've worked with, old and young, pronounces it that way too, so that's where I picked it up.

I've never heard of people deliberately pronouncing it like that to avoid offending Christians though, seems like an American take lol.

I thought that it was just an archaic spelling of the modern demon and an alternative pronunciation to clairify that the speaker is referring to a technical part of an OS, not making a joke about the spiritual nature of the machine lol.

It sounds cooler to say day-mon anyways IMO.

[–] Chakravanti@monero.town 1 points 7 hours ago

Wait til you figure out that your missing that there is no such thing as a meaningless coincidence.

[–] enbiousenvy@lemmy.blahaj.zone 4 points 18 hours ago
[–] Nioxic@lemmy.dbzer0.com 92 points 1 day ago (4 children)
[–] RickyRigatoni@piefed.zip 39 points 1 day ago

Daymon. Fighter of the nightmon. Champion of the sun.

[–] panda_abyss@lemmy.ca 48 points 1 day ago

What do you want, Picard?

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[–] msokiovt@lemmy.today 25 points 1 day ago

I say at day-mon.

[–] neidu3@sh.itjust.works 31 points 1 day ago

Same as demon. Because my research indicates that this usage was originally a reference to Maxwell's demon.

https://www.takeourword.com/TOW146/page4.html

[–] copyscam@lemmy.ml 1 points 18 hours ago

I'm wrong but in my head it's always been Damien

[–] NigelFrobisher@aussie.zone 21 points 1 day ago (1 children)

It’s just an old spelling of demon. So that.

[–] BetterDev@programming.dev 1 points 18 hours ago (1 children)

Languages change over time, and we get to vote on which words we'd like changed by preferring cool ones over just "the way it has always been"

[–] NigelFrobisher@aussie.zone 2 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

Yeah, but also sometimes people are just thick.

[–] BetterDev@programming.dev 1 points 7 hours ago

Can't argue there!

[–] MantisToboggon@lemmy.world 41 points 1 day ago (2 children)
[–] wesker@lemmy.sdf.org 44 points 1 day ago (1 children)
[–] _haha_oh_wow_@sh.itjust.works 12 points 1 day ago

He's a master of command lines and shell scripts for everyone!

[–] Delta_V@lemmy.world 22 points 1 day ago
[–] Quibblekrust@thelemmy.club 22 points 1 day ago* (last edited 13 hours ago) (4 children)

"Demon"

It was always "demon" (spelled daemon or dæmon), as in a spiritual attendant. Christian mythology has poisoned the word, and anyone who says "daymon" to not offend them is a coward.

See here:

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/demon

Edit: When I say it was always pronounced "demon", I mean the nerds who started calling a small background program daemon pronounced it "demon".

[–] Chakravanti@monero.town 0 points 7 hours ago

You're wrong. I say them both day-mon. Because they are the fucking same. That's not a pun. It's just one of the things they handle delivering to those who want that stuff.

Xtians are fucking evil. Evil was never and will never be real even though Daemons are. They're imagining evil and going fucking Tenet.

Yeah. Tgat movie. That's them. They did that. Go cry, Stan. You fucking CIA cartoon.

It's still not and never will be real beyond their imagination.

[–] lambalicious@lemmy.sdf.org 5 points 19 hours ago

While offending Christians is welcome in this day and age, the marked Latin and Greek history of the word, originating as "daímōn" with an 'a', and the fact that 'æ' exists, both make "dæmon" a cool enough spelling that I'm keeping it, and the fancier spelling helps keeping safe and separate from the christofascist corruption of the word for when I am more in mind of the mechanics and purposes rather than having to be a soldier in someone else's cultural war.

[–] spartanatreyu@programming.dev 19 points 1 day ago

I say daymon not to avoid offence, but since it sounds cooler than demon.

A demon sounds like a fiend that has only been around for at most a few hundred years, but a daemon sounds like it has been around for a few thousand so it is much more dangerous.

[–] BetterDev@programming.dev 25 points 1 day ago

Calm your tits (meaning your birds), I say "daymon", and I relish any opportunity to offend the overly devout.

My reason is simple: I learned the word by reading it and sounding it out, and that's more badass than "haha I say demon because I'm edgy"

[–] teft@piefed.social 24 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Same way that I say Matt Damon.

Matt Daemon

[–] imsufferableninja@sh.itjust.works 24 points 1 day ago (3 children)

The 'ae' in daemon is the same as the æ in encyclopædia.

[–] entwine@programming.dev 20 points 1 day ago (2 children)

How do you pronounce encyclopædia?

[–] breadsmasher@lemmy.world 37 points 1 day ago (3 children)
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[–] Eldritch@piefed.world 9 points 1 day ago

Just as it reads. You smash that E into the A's ass. Starting the E before the A finishes.

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[–] HubertManne@piefed.social 10 points 1 day ago

both honestly. I think when I see it I think damon mostly but I might say that and I might say demon.

[–] numbermess@fedia.io 14 points 1 day ago

D ayyyyy mon

[–] tiny_hedgehog@piefed.social 16 points 1 day ago

I usually go for J̵̧̢̢̢̡̩͎̙͙̹͇̞̯̯͇̞̭̯̙̻̲͖̻̗̫̙̲̪̫̥̦͇̭͇͍̤̳̫̖̪̗̈ö̸͓̱̭͔͓̼͔́̄̆̑̅͛̈̉̆̓̿̾̓̒̑͂̃̃͑̏̄̈͛̄̈̂̌̑̂̆͛̅͘̚̚͘͝r̶̡̢͉̤͎̲̥̮̻̟͉̩̗̠̝̖̬͈̹͓͈̱̹͖͕̩͎̉̑̋̂̀̍̇͋́̐͆̇͋́m̶̢̢̨̢̨̭̪̹͓̜̱̼̬̘͖̬̝̩̤̘̰̮͕͎͈̭͖͕͎̳͓̺̟͒͑̈́͊̓̾̆͂͂͒̕͘͜͠ͅü̵̢̢̧̢̢̞̹̼̱̲̯̟͕̞̖̞̖̪͙͓̈́̓́̈́̎̓͐̂͆̏̍̍͒̾̀͒̍̎̐̊̀͊̓̋̀̀̋͑͊͑̚͘͝͠͝͝͝ņ̴̡̢̛̛̪̺̻̺͎̪̯͎̪̦͔̱͕̱̫̬̞̦̝̃̽͊̆͌̈́͂̈́̈́̾̋̐͋̋̐͋̏͆̄̄̽͗̒͋̌͒͂͘͜͠͝͝͝͠g̸̛̰̱̣̺͇̒̈́͐̓̿͑́̂̂̔̏̈́͊̔̅̌̈́̍̿͆̄͒͑̀̊͘͘͜͝a̶̦̯̦̹̘̪̞̗̟͇̲̣̳̩̔́́͗̈́͛̀͋͛̌̉̐̾͋́̇̄̍̈́̾̏̿̐̔̔͘̚n̶̡̻͎͔̬̣̲͋̽͒̒̏͋̈́́́d̵̨̧̢̢̡̗̱̼̙͔̤̤̣͓̖̼͍̻̰̭̗̬̟̙̗̿̿̒̎̌̓̆̋̈́͂̊͊̿͊͗̐̿͜r̷̡̦̱̖͖̙̥̫͙̞̲̬̫̼̞̫̖̜̦̰̙̗̯̠̹̗̲̪̯̻̖͇͚̳̿͂͆͒̂̎̇͛͂̈̐͒̄͊͘͠͝ but some purists find that too much so I tone it down to “baddie”.

[–] frongt@lemmy.zip 12 points 1 day ago
[–] smuuthbrane@sh.itjust.works 14 points 1 day ago

Samy way as the actor, Matt.

[–] nomecks@lemmy.wtf 10 points 1 day ago

Demon, because it offends purists, and FreeBSD's mascot is a demon.

[–] hendrik@palaver.p3x.de 12 points 1 day ago (2 children)

ˈdiː.mən

And don't ever ask random people how to pronounce 'router'.

[–] Maestro@fedia.io 5 points 1 day ago (4 children)

So, what is it? Rooter? Or rauter?

[–] lambalicious@lemmy.sdf.org 3 points 19 hours ago

It's a rauter, from the Ínglich raut, a paþ.

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[–] who@feddit.org 6 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Pronunciation

  • (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA(key): /ˈdiː.mən/
  • Rhymes: -iːmən
  • Hyphenation: dae‧mon

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/daemon

Rhymes

  • daemon, demon
  • freeman
  • seaman
  • Seaman (surname - see especially David Seaman)
  • semen

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Rhymes:English/i%CB%90m%C9%99n

[–] CallMeAl@piefed.zip 7 points 1 day ago (1 children)
[–] tatterdemalion@programming.dev 4 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I thought it was a reference to Maxwell's demon.

Daemons in computing, generally processes that run on servers to respond to users, are named for Maxwell's demon.

[–] CallMeAl@piefed.zip 2 points 1 day ago

Yes the CTSS crew were reportedly thinking of Maxewell's demon but also chose to change it to the "daemon" spelling to make it sound more like a "friendly garden spirit than a monster" and the pronounced it "deemon".

[–] Telorand@reddthat.com 4 points 1 day ago

"DAH-ay-mon," I choose you! Use your exec ~/thunder_sma.sh!

[–] Olap@lemmy.world 5 points 1 day ago

Demon, so I can kill them, spawn them, or send them signals to die!

[–] owenfromcanada@lemmy.ca 5 points 1 day ago

I would pronounce it "DEEmon" but that gets some religious folks all freaked out, so I usually go with "DAYman".

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