That's bad logic, obviously if SQL is "sequel" then DNS is "denues."
this post was submitted on 19 Mar 2026
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You know maybe some acronyms just sound good pronounced as words and some just don't, ever think of that?
Now I’m never going to read DNS the same way again 😭
Yehzz
We used to pronounce UPDTE as "upditty" (this is a JCL reference. Be happy if you don't get it)
enjinx
Jurassic Park (InGen) ruined any possibility of me ever pronouncing this the way they want it to be. It'll always be In-Gen-Icks out of my lips, like it's a pharmaceutical company.
In Gen X we trust
Somewhere I heard that it should be pronounced as "Engine X"
On their own homepage? still won't stop me tho
that's how i pronounce it from the very first time i saw it
That's better than me, I was saying en-ginks
I like to pronounce them like squeal and dunes.
denise
SQL is pronounced 'Sequel' because it was originaly SEQUEL.
SQL was initially developed at IBM by Donald D. Chamberlin and Raymond F. Boyce after learning about the relational model from Edgar F. Codd[12] in the early 1970s.[13] This version, initially called SEQUEL (Structured English Query Language), was designed to manipulate and retrieve data stored in IBM's original quasirelational database management system, System R, which a group at IBM San Jose Research Laboratory had developed during the 1970s.[13]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SQL
It then later evolved, and changed from being an acronym into an initialism, kind of, sort of, mostly for people who are unaware of the etymology.
'Sequel' is quite literally the tradtional way to pronounce it.
DNS is pronounced 'hosts' because it was originally one big text file.
Yeah except this name was already taken and then it became SQL, dropping the English.
Even the start of your wiki says:
Structured Query Language (SQL) (pronounced /ˌɛsˌkjuˈɛl/ S-Q-L; or alternatively as /ˈsiːkwəl/ ⓘ
Thanks for making the comment I came to make. I imagine being older and remembering SQL as a new-ish thing really helped cement this, but when I started programming professionally for an enterprise, literally everyone pronounced it like this. I can see how and why it makes little sense to younger people.
The wild thing is I'm only in my 30s, I'm probably a youngin', compared to you, I just was around a good deal of old timers, real fuckin' wizard types.
That would explain why it's only American to I've ever heard referred to it like that. Every European developer I've ever heard referred to it as always called it SQL as would I.
Other DNS is definitely Dennis from now on.
I too am going to call DNS 'Dennis' from now on, lol.
Yeah I've had some discussions over time with the whole SQL vs Sequel thing, and what I realized was that...
Well basically, I learned 'Sequel' from a bunch of old timers in the Seattle area.
The kind of people who had been writing COBOL since they got back from Vietnam, people who'd actually worked at IBM, still acted like Microsoft was an 'upstart', people who'd just offhand tell me about the one time they got 'deployed' to Saudi Arabia to flash a compromised BIOS onto hardware destined to be used in Saddam's air defense network, prior to the Gulf War.
So, they actually literally were there back when SEQUEL was invented.
I too am going to call DNS 'Dennis' from now on, lol.
I want to do this because I'm sure it's going to tick someone off.
Did you update the Dennis records?
Have you checked if it can reach the Dennis server?
I love it!
Whole internet running on the Dennis system, go figure.
Because of the implication
Well... the .gov domains are currently run by an orange god emperor... so... pretty close.
Also, just a plethora of potential Dennis the Menace jokes.
TIL, thank you. Still not gonna say it like that.
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HTML: hatemail
HTTP: hat-top
MSDN: Mastodon
SSH: shhhhh
PHP: fffffffp
Pehp.
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JSON is pronounced Jason
It isn't Jason, it's Jayson. But yeah, basically indistinguishable.
And the only sane choice, as opposed to Sequel.
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