How do you pronounce XYplorer?

[admin]

Okay, XY is clearly pronounced ex-wai, but how do you pronounce XYplorer? Users keep on asking me this and/or come up with suggestions -- time is ripe for some official pronounciation guidelines... ... and I want to take the populistic grass-roots approach to it. The winner of this poll will become the official pronounciation!

BTW, allthough I give "ex-wai-plorer" as pronounciation on the homepage I found myself saying "zaiplorer" more often recently because it's faster and smoother in the mouth.

[serendipity]

I have been calling it "ex-wai-plorer", but xai-plorer (as in sci) also sounds good.

[admin]

I have been calling it "ex-wai-plorer", but xai-plorer (as in sci) also sounds good.

Ah yes, with a "sharp s" -- I'll add that option.

[graham]

Welcome back!

Change the name to XY.

[jacky]

I can't really spell the pronunciation, but lazy me usually says the French equivalent of ex-wai
Otherwise I do actually say ex-wai. Only on rare occasions do I add a "-plorer" at the end of it...

[serendipity]

btw, XY stands for many things.
1) XY coordinate
2) XY refers to male gender in biological terms. I hope people dont think its only a guy thing.

Googling XY gives lots of varied and interesting results. I hope the name XY doesnt send the wrong message across.

Just wondering.

[admin]

Welcome back!

Change the name to XY.

One name change is enough! Going from TrackerV3 to XYplorer already has cost me a lot.

[graham]

OK then try this

change name to

XYPplorer

pronounced

ex-wai-pee .....er

Joking apart - does it matter how its pronounced the key logo is the XY or XYP

[admin]

OK then try this

change name to

XYPplorer

pronounced

ex-wai-pee .....er

Joking apart - does it matter how its pronounced the key logo is the XY or XYP

As an English man, what do you do when you hit the word XYplorer in a text you are reading aloud? What's the default pronounciation?

If people have difficulties to talk about the program it does matter...

[graham]

admin wrote:

As an English man, what do you do when you hit the word XYplorer in a text you are reading aloud? What's the default pronounciation?

If people have difficulties to talk about the program it does matter...

For me it would be ex-wai-plorer first time and XYP thereafter.

However when working, if International Computers Limited was to be read in text I would say ICL. Same appies to IBM, most notable names are abbreviated in the spoken text which to a large degree implies they are important and recognised. Like Don is perceived as less formal than Donald.

I personally don't like the XYPlorer name but as you rightly said a change can be a disaster however now that it is notable XYP sounds good.

[j_c_hallgren]

It may be a bit unusual to pronounce, but having a very unique name like XYplorer helps make it easily findable on net...given the problems we're had getting publicity, this is certainly not a time to consider any changes!

When I talk about it to people, I first emphasize or make sure they know the full name and thereafter just say "XY" as we do here.

[gdv]

Totally brand-Newbie here (first post).

FWIW, until I saw on the website the pronunciation, "ex-wai-plorer," in my mind (never spoken aloud) I was pronouncing it, "zai-plorer" (z as in zen), because I associated it with the English pronunciation of "xylophone."

I don't really have a strong preference (and as a Newbie, it might not count for much anyway ), but I wondered if there is a conceptual history behind the "XY" part of the name? I.e., does "XY" stand for something [such as the xy coordinates on a graph (which I doubt)], or was it just a way to set it apart from names like "Explorer" or "XPlorer"?

If there is a conceptual basis for the "XY," I might lean toward "ex-wai-plorer" to preserve that connotation. And if there is a widespread convention of abbreviating the name in speech/writing to simply "XY" ("ex-wai") as implied in the previous post by j_c_hallgren, that's perhaps another reason to retain the "ex-wai-plorer" pronunciation.

Otherwise, I might lean toward "zai-plorer," as in the English pronunciation of "xylophone" (although I don't know if that parallel fits for non-English languages), as I agree with Don that "it's faster and smoother in the mouth."

In any case (and slightly off-topic), I'm enjoying getting familiar with the program, and have especially appreciated what appears to be a very active collegial interaction in the forum between users and a very responsive programmer (Don) (with this topic being a good example ). Undoubtedly, I'll have a few questions to post, but maybe eventually an idea or suggestion to contribute as well.

[admin]

Welcome to the club!

I don't really have a strong preference (and as a Newbie, it might not count for much anyway ), but I wondered if there is a conceptual history behind the "XY" part of the name? I.e., does "XY" stand for something [such as the xy coordinates on a graph (which I doubt)], or was it just a way to set it apart from names like "Explorer" or "XPlorer"?

No, there is no conceptual history behind the "XY". I originally looked for a name that would imply "file manager" for most people, hence the "x" and the "plorer", as many other alternative file managers do or had done. My personal favorite actually was "Yxplorer" but then it luckily it came to my mind that it is not possible to talk about Yxplorer without confusing it with Explorer! So I reversed the first letters. To make the intended pronounciation clear I opted for the writing "XYplorer" (instead of "Xyplorer").


BTW, I recently got the following mail from a customer:

We ended up informally calling it “exy-plorer” because it’s a sexy product and the syllables almost ellide into “explorer”...

I like that as well!

[fishgod]

Meanwhile I pronouce it ex-wai-plorer, but in the early beginnung, near after the first use of XYplorer I used to pronouce the "XY" german, so does it sounds like Iks-Üpsilon-plorer

[JustinF]

I now pronounce it ex-wai-plorer, but that's only after forcing myself to "learn" it that way. For the first several months after you switched the name from TrackerV3 I pronounced it zai-plorer because in English xy together is pronounced like zy (zai).