nginx (“engine x”) is an HTTP web server, reverse proxy, content cache, load balancer, TCP/UDP proxy server, and mail proxy server. […] [1]
I still pronounce it as “n-jinx” in my head.
References
- Title (website): “nginx”. Publisher: NGINX. Accessed: 2025-02-26T23:25Z. URI: https://nginx.org/en/.
- §“nginx”. ¶1.
I’ve never heard it pronounced any other way than “engine x”.
I started using it around 2006, and even back then it listed the pronunciation on the site.
nyuh-inks
I’ve never heard it pronounced. Which is why I also thought it was “n-jinx”
When I first encountered it, it was by hearing it. It took longer than it probably should have to recognize that when people talked about “engine x”, they meant “in-jinks”
I heard it spoken first as well, but I ended up seeing it in text form not long after. I think it would have been more confusing if that hadn’t been the era of internet companies thinking they were clever if they dropped a letter (usually a vowel).
I always pronounced it engine-x (fluent as one word) but never thought of it meaning engine lol
n gin x -> en gin ex -> “enginex” spoken, nginx thought
Putting the gin in Nginx.
I’ve been pronouncing it N-gin-X, which is probably close enough once slurred together
I always called it “in-gen-ix”, which doesn’t even make sense now that I think about it.
Unless you’re from New Zealand
Uhn-jun-uhks in NZ TYVM.
Wow, I pronounced it N-G-X. Don’t know why.
It’s short enough I just spell it out
Who cares? Pronounce it whichever way you want as long as it’s clear/understandable. It would take longer for me to understand what piece of software engine-x is, but it takes a second at most.
When I first heard someone say SCSI out loud describing the drives in a server, I responded with, “No, they’re actually high-end drives.”
I always think of this guy.
I’m glad there’s pronunciations provided, because to me it looks like it should sound like a slur.
And JSON is pronounced “javascripton“
Oh my god it’s Javascripton Bourne!
Wtf?
It’s Jason. If they wanted it pronounced that way, they should’ve spelled it differently…
Like GIF
Sorry, no, at least one could argue GIF. JSON is a single freakin’ vowel short of a common male name.
Morons.
They’re joking. js doesn’t even officially stand for JavaScript due to Oracle’s IP claim over the JavaScript name.
And even more annoying, JavaScript is not correctly uppercased for common styles
Oracle probably makes more money from the dmca than their actual products tbh.
Oracle actually making products and services is only their side hustle
Jason = jay-sun
JSON = jay-sawnNo, it’s pronounced Jason. Douglas Crockford was just too laissez-faire to correct anyone on it probably because he didn’t give a fuck.
If you really just say Jason instead of jaysawn/J-sohn you’re nuts and probably drive everyone crazy with that
You & your buddies can keep pronouncing it jaysawn & sounding like complete dorks if it makes you feel better. However, it was clearly intended to be pronounced naturally as Jason like its inventor pronounces it.
Believing otherwise is almost as bad as the plebs who think the symbol ∅ is inspired by Greek letter φ instead of Danish/Norwegian letter Ø.
Didn’t realize I was buddies with 99% of everyone that’s interacted with JSON!
Also didn’t know people used the term ‘plebs’ unironically, you sound like an absolute joy to be around
You seem in irrational need for validation of your pronunciation despite clear justification against it. Cool ad populum. Fly that insecurity flag high.
GIF like Geoffrey the giraffe, if you get my gist. Always has been.
I always thought the G stood for graphics, but now I know it stands for giraffics.
It doesn’t matter what it stands for. That’s not how acronyms work.
You don’t say “yolwa” for “YOLO”
You don’t say “Ah-ih-dees” for “AIDS”
You don’t say “britches” for “BRICS”
You don’t say “sue-knee” for “CUNY” (City University of New York) Etc.And if you want to argue specifically about G:
You don’t say “Jad” for “GAD” (generalized anxiety disorder)
You don’t say “joes” for “GOES” (Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite)It’s not a hill I’m going to die on, I use both pronunciations, but the only argument I’ve ever believed for the proper one is that the creator pronounced it “jif”. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/GIF#Pronunciation
Now let’s talk about “gibs” you heathens.
I use both pronunciations, but the only argument I’ve ever believed for the proper one is that the creator pronounced it “jif”
Yeah, but they’re wrong, so it’s hard G
You don’t say “sue-knee” for “CUNY” (City University of New York) Etc.
Of course not, then it would conflict with SUNY (State University of New York)
I thought we were having a bit of a joke, but then you really went and gave me a gift of paragraphs.
I think the creator was keeping the joke running by saying that. The word gift is why people prefer to say gif over jif, it’s how we were taught to pronounce “gif”. The rest of the g words are irrelevant to be honest.
SCUBA and NASA are always the ones I use against that argument. It would be Skuh-baa instead of scooba, and neh-sa instead of nah-suh.
And no matter what way it was spelled, it’s the only word we’re still arguing about that literally has a song to go with it to make sure everyone pronounced it correctly. It’s pretty clearly a soft g, because it was a marketing trick, not a dictionary word. It doesn’t have to follow any rules of English, just like all those companies just removing random letters and changing ck for x, etc. Flickr, tumblr, Grindr, scribd, Lyft, Kwik, Cheez, etc etc etc. Twitter was originally even twttr.
People forget in the 90s/00s both GIF and JIF were relatively common image file types. It was only logical to use the hard G for GIF. So that’s how we used it. This overrules all arguments of how acronyms work or what the creator originally called it.
Bah, I was there. .jif was barely used and came 5 years after. They should have used a different name!
nobody was using jif as a file type in the 90s, and no it wasn’t “only logical to use the hard G”. There are plenty of sources stating that no one pronounced it with a soft g up until it got popular as an image format on social media. It was universally understood to be a play on the peanut butter name. There are plenty of sources on this, I’m sorry but you’re either just making shit up or you were the only person to call it with a hard g in the 90s.
JPEG = “jay-feg”
Jrafics.
Occasionally i feel myself longing back to the good ol’ JSOFF times.
It’s a real book 💀
It’s fantastic too!
That is the lamest decepticon transformer I’ve ever heard of
JavaScript is actually pronounced with a g.
Gagascript. One is soft, one is hard.
I look forward to the day when all these lame-ass, insider naming conventions are looked down upon as the stupid things they are.
Wtf does “en jinx” or “engine X” have to do with it’s functionality?
I hate looking for an app on my phone that does a particular thing but hell if I can recall what the idiot developed called it.
N. Gin X
It’s this guy in powered up Boss form
Things like that are called “jargon” and are perfectly normal and acceptable in a given field, always been that way.
If you don’t know how to pronounce, or even spell, NGINX, you probably have no use for it.
Nginx is atrocious. I about have a stroke every time I have to work with it. Caddy is 1000x easier to set up.
like how
curlin my head is “curl” and not “c-url”It is pronounced like “curl” though!
We pronounce curl with an initial k sound. It rhymes with words like girl and earl. This is a short WAV file to help you:
This is “jif” levels of upsetting me
I pronounce gif like zyhfe to annoy both jif and gif pronouncers equally. I also advocate for the initial array index to be .5 to be equally annoying to programmers and mathematicians alike.
C-url, like “sea earl”?
…it’s not “curl”?
And GIF is pronounced GIF
careful there buddy
PNG is pronounced “PING!”
The fuck?!
Lo and behold,
P[i]NG
CMYK is pronounced smück.
No no, we won’t be having any of that. It’s not GIF it’s GIF!
They can pry my /ɡɪf/ from my cold dead hands.
/dʒɪf/ heretics can burn
Wait till you find out about quay
