How Do You Pronounce "char"? A Poll

[szupie 0]

I've been learning programming on my own on the internet and by books for the last few years, and I've always pronounced the word "char" as in the first syllable of "character". It seemed the most logical. But a few months ago I began a programming class in school, and the instructor says it as in the first syllable of "charcoal". It just seems so weird for me to hear her say that every time! She doesn't seem to be very good at programming, so I don't know if her pronunciation is the same as the most professionals' pronunciation.So how do you guys say char?

[pyost 0]

I pronounce it "charr" as in "charge" If you look at it as a separate word, it seems OK - how else would you say it? Car? Not if you ask me But I'm not an English speaker, so my opinion doesn't really count

[szupie 0]

Yeah, if I had learned "char" without knowing what it stood for, I would have pronounced it as charr. It's like the href attribute in HTML. I didn't know what it stood for when I first learned it, so I was saying it like "hu-reff". I'm not a native English speaker either.

[Aka_Bar 0]

Huh, I pronounce it like "Car" it came from Charecter pronounces like "Carakter" its parametr (4) consisting of 4bayts ! if u want i can find u article where it shows that is true

[Kubi 0]

I also pronounce it "Car", "Charr" to me sounds like we're talking about some distant non-existant planet. I used to pronouce it "Car" in real life. When we'd say "Charr" it'd just sound...rather dumb.

[vujsa 0]

Well, I'm a caring person so I pronounce it care. But that is how I pronounce character as well. Since I knew that char was an abbreviation of the word character, that is how I have always pronounced it. I guess people not living in the Midwestern U.S. might pronounce character wit a car sound instead of a care sound. I would use the phontic alphabet to explain the difference but I don't remember all of the special characters needed to do so.Charcoal should be left at the Bar-B-Que. Fire and computers don't really mix well.vujsa

[austiniskoge 0]

Okay, obviously guys. It comes from the word "character", in which the first syllable is pronounced "care". So, you pronounce the abbreviation "char" as "care" also.Come on, now.

[FirefoxRocks 0]

I pronounce it as "charr". If you have Opera, select the word and press "V". Opera says "charr". My first thought was "charr" also.But it does come from the word character, which the sound is "care". I'm not that sure now. :?

[kgd2006 0]

I pronounce that as Charr, but I believe before I heard the actual pronounciation from my professors back in college, I was honestly pronouncing it as "Care." Because I always thought that it was a cut off of "Character" haha, but yeah, it wasnt until my teacher pronounced it that I started to pronounce the word as CHARR...odd everytime I say it though...

[Jeigh1405241495 0]

I've never heard someone pronounce it 'care', I've heard charr and car alot, but I usually say charr since the actual letters would be prnounced like that regardless of what they sound like when in the full form. If it was indeed an acronym or something I would think more about it, but since it's jsut a masacred version of a word, it isn't actually that word anymore so I pronounce it how it reads, charr (plus, any word that is easily translated into pirate-ese is awesome, chARRRRRRR!...haha..ha,..ha?)

[toby 0]

I pronounce it as "charr". If you have Opera, select the word and press "V". Opera says "charr". My first thought was "charr" also.
But it does come from the word character, which the sound is "care". I'm not that sure now. :?

Anyone else see the nonsensicalness of this?

I say it like Charcoal.

Href is Heh-ref to me.

[seec77 0]

Well, it seems as if the majority of the people in this forum, myself included, are not native english speakers. I have never programmed in an English speaking environment, and if I'm not mistaken I never even touched the subject with someone else speaking to me in person (as opposed to writing to me on IRC or a forum). In conclusion to all my nonsense rambling (), I pronounce it "kar," and always had, because it seems the most logical to me. After all, "character" is pronounced with a hard C!

[iGuest 3]

There is a fish whose name is spelled that way and is pronounced as a combination of "ch-air" and "c-ar", co I vote for "char".

Edited November 7, 2006 by jlhaslip (see edit history)

[DrK3055A 0]

This sometimes happens a curious fact, when i pronounce some acronysms or abbreviations, i tend to mix the pronunciation of both english and my native language. Then i pronounce "char" as "car" because the pronunciation of "character" in both languages is similar, but in mine it's written as "caracter" hence i assume "car".So what for "int"? it seems there is no doubt, because i know many words that begin with "int" and are pronounced the same fashion, for instance: integer, interrupt, internal..., but none that sounds like "pint".What are your pronunciations for:Linux vs Lie-nuxSCSII vs SCASI/SEESIGNOME vs Gee-NOMEemule vs e-mulemore?

[SP Rao 0]

As somebody already pointed out, char stands for character. Hence, for obvious reasons I pronounce it as "care" with a C stressed...

 

Well, my native tongue isn't English either. But I've learned all programming languages in English. (That means instructor explained things in English.) Also, I always spean in English at my work place or during any discussion about programming.

 

Everyone I know pronounce it as "care" with C stressed... (Some people plainly say "care")