Ask HN: Does anyone else pronounce CLI as "clee"?

[codazoda]

I often pronounce CLI as "clee". Many of my co-workers chuckle and repeat "cee el eye". They aren't being disrespectful, they've just never heard it.

Some style guides treat CLI as an initialism, which just means that people tend to pronounce the letters individually.

How do you pronounce CLI?

[ggm]

Initialism.

I have a theory that the french, and americans share a love of taking acronyms/initialisms and finding a way to "pronounce" them. French company/organisational names appear to be chosen to be "pronouncable initialisms" such as IRCAM or INRIA. Australia has the C-S-I-R-O and you can say SI-Rho and some do. But french and americans definitely do this more. There's an ICANN (pronounced I-Can) body called the RSSAC which is AR-SACK. and SSAC which is SEC-SAC. Some initialisms defeat this. the I-E-T-F and the I-E-S-G and the I-A-B for instance. But I-ana is definitely pronounced as an I-word.

It's Jif btw.

Nobody says "sea, but bigger" for C++ and it wasn't called Cplus.

[3np]

In the other direction, in East Asia they go "A-P-P" for app(lication) (:

I think I've even overheard M-O-D for mod(ification).

[al_borland]

Never in my life have I heard it pronounced “clee”.

[vascocosta]

I pronounce as CLI as well, at least mentally whenever I read it. I don't often, if ever get the chance to say it out loud, so I wouldn't know. English is not my native language so I guess "cee el eye" would not be how I'd say it.

[jefurii]

Brevity is for the weak. It is pronounced "command line".

[treetalker]

Is this what we're posting now on "Ask hnnnnng"? (That's how we pronounce the abbreviation for Hacker News, right?)

[walpurginacht]

I pronounce it as cee ell eye but from now on it's clee I guess

[dalmo3]

Yes, but I prefer command line interface terminal.

[MongooseStudios]

No, you monster.

[dakiol]

As “clee”. But i’m not a native speaker.

[aalhour]

No,

[ThrowawayR2]

If GUI is /ɡo͞oē/, not /gwi/, I would think CLI would be /kəlē/, not /kli/ but, meh, what do I know? I stick with the initialism.

[sunscream89]

Never.

Like the new kid renaming the fork the bork, just being cute and all.

Cut it out.