How do you pronounce XYplorer?

[TheQwerty]

I've always pronounced it ex-wai-plorer.
I think the capitalization caused me to never think it should be anything else.

[j_c_hallgren]

I pronounced it zai-plorer because in English xy together is pronounced like zy (zai).

I just looked in my old dictionary and found only 12 words that start with XY...most show pronuciation as 'zi' with 'i' marked as in 'pie'....until the zylophone was mentioned, I'd forgotten there were any "normal" words with xy as start

The only problem with this choice is that someone may think it thus may be spelled "ZIeplorer" and then not be able to find it on Net, so making it X-Y-plorer makes it very clear how to spell/find it.

[gdv]

Jumping back up on the fence to ride it a little bit longer.

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!

Yeah, that's really cute! I can see you're having lots of fun with your "baby" and all its admirers.

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").

Yeah, I was guessing the background story was something like that, AND I still think there is validity in what you said earlier:

...I found myself saying "zaiplorer" more often recently because it's faster and smoother in the mouth.

On the other hand, it seems there's some validity to j_c_hallgren's concerns about publicity and finding the product on the net:

The only problem with this choice is that someone may think it thus may be spelled "ZIeplorer" and then not be able to find it on Net, so making it X-Y-plorer makes it very clear how to spell/find it.

...and again:

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!

Given the history and present reality, it seems to me there's a bit of a predicament that may never be totally resolved, no matter which way you pronounce it, because even if the whole XYplorer community comes to a consensus (either way), the person who is new to XYplorer and isn't familiar with the established convention will still have the same question. If someone tells them about the program orally and pronounces it "ex-wai-plorer," it might be pretty clear, but if they first encounter the name in written form (as I did on the web) they'll still not be sure how to pronounce it.

And to some degree, Don's original thinking holds:

To make the intended pronounciation clear I opted for the writing "XYplorer" (instead of "Xyplorer").

...because that spelling with both first letters capitalized was what raised a question in my mind that prompted me to look around on the website to find the correct pronunciation (even though in my mind I automatically pronounced it "zai-plorer," I wondered if it should be "ex-wai-plorer"), and actually drew my attention to this forum topic for my first post.

I'm starting to feel a little bit like Tevye in "The Fiddler On The Roof" ("On the one hand... On the other hand..."), but either way, because of the ambiguity inherent in the spelling/pronunciation, when I tell others about the program, I'll follow the practice of j_c_hallgren:

When I talk about it to people, I first emphasize or make sure they know the full name

...AND the exact spelling, then just use whatever pronunciation or abbreviation [eg, maybe just "XY" (="ex-wai")] eventually seems best.

In any case, it looks like the early voting (15 votes so far) is pretty strongly in favor of "ex-wai-plorer" (73%)...and I can force my tongue to learn that (along with JustinF ).

[admin]

Jumping back up on the fence to ride it a little bit longer. ...

Thanks for the in depth analysis. Not much to add there.

BTW, I already own the domain http://www.sexyplorer.com/ so if I ever change the name again, this will be it.

[bergfex]

BTW, I already own the domain http://www.sexyplorer.com/ so if I ever change the name again, this will be it.

Fudoku and Memorama... Don really wants to train our brains. Will Scripting 2.0 be so difficult that we need this extra training?

[gdv]

BTW, I already own the domain http://www.sexyplorer.com/ so if I ever change the name again, this will be it.

Hope I'm not contributing to the breakdown of the thread here,
but hey, that Memorama is really "exy"

[graham]

I'm not convinced names matter that much as long as the name becomes notable or used well publicised.

The photo software I use is called Bibble (named after the office cat!) but in its field it is an established very successful product yet the name has no link with Photo (shop).

A service I was involved with years ago for a mainframe OS support became ICL Super Service and only because we could not think of a name! Once the publicity got going it became a good name though at the beginning I was dead against it!

XYplorer is now a recognised product but easily confused with the similar named products doing the same thing (well trying to) thus I think to emphasize the XY or XYP in both written and spoken will become a much better differentiator plus it rolls off the tongue. In brochures etc. I would make the XY or XYP large font and a different colour to the rest in black small font. You already have this with the logo and icon.

Maybe a small initial small font 's' comes in (briefly)when scripting is launched - scripting and sexy are the same in file management!

[admin]

BTW, I already own the domain http://www.sexyplorer.com/ so if I ever change the name again, this will be it.

Hope I'm not contributing to the breakdown of the thread here,
but hey, that Memorama is really "exy"

BTW, "Alz" are Alzheimer points: you earn one by making an avoidable mistake.

[gdv]

BTW, I already own the domain http://www.sexyplorer.com/ so if I ever change the name again, this will be it.

Hope I'm not contributing to the breakdown of the thread here,
but hey, that Memorama is really "exy"

BTW, "Alz" are Alzheimer points: you earn one by making an avoidable mistake.

If you mean "contributing to the breakdown of the thread" I am duly chastened --- and I'll accept the Alz point for that.

If you mean "exy" (instead of "sexy"), that was a deliberate attempt [perhaps too obscure???] to link the "“exy-plorer” because it’s a sexy product" remark, the http://www.sexyplorer.com/ domain name, and the XYplorer pronunciation theme --- and I could be persuaded to accept an Alz point for obscure associations.

If you don't mean either of those, I'm too Alzheimer-ish to get it, so I better ask you to clarify the "avoidable mistake" ...because if I'm going to collect Alz points, I dang sure wanna know what I'm gettin' 'em fer.

[bergfex]

If you don't mean either of those, I'm too Alzheimer-ish to get it, so I better ask you to clarify the "avoidable mistake" ...because if I'm going to collect Alz points, I dang sure wanna know what I'm gettin' 'em fer.

Don doesn't refer to your post here, Alz points can be collected by players of Memorama if they make an avoidable mistake.

[admin]

If you don't mean either of those, I'm too Alzheimer-ish to get it, so I better ask you to clarify the "avoidable mistake" ...because if I'm going to collect Alz points, I dang sure wanna know what I'm gettin' 'em fer.

Don doesn't refer to your post here, Alz points can be collected by players of Memorama if they make an avoidable mistake.

Exactly. See "Alz" at the bottom of http://www.sexyplorer.com/ ...

[gdv]

If you don't mean either of those, I'm too Alzheimer-ish to get it, so I better ask you to clarify the "avoidable mistake" ...because if I'm going to collect Alz points, I dang sure wanna know what I'm gettin' 'em fer.

Don doesn't refer to your post here, Alz points can be collected by players of Memorama if they make an avoidable mistake.

Exactly. See "Alz" at the bottom of http://www.sexyplorer.com/ ...

Took me a while to get back and check in on this thread, but I literally LOL'd when I did. Boy, was I on the wrong track in looking for my "avoidable mistake."

But I may have to request a Paranoid point now that I realize you already KNOW I made avoidable Memorama mistakes when I only played ONE TIME!!!

You've got too much time on your hands if you're tracking Memorama players' errors, even if you've just got the software programmed to do it for you!

....unless you're just assuming I made an avoidable error (because surely everyone must) ...but in that case, maybe I did ...and maybe I didn't.

[admin]

If you don't mean either of those, I'm too Alzheimer-ish to get it, so I better ask you to clarify the "avoidable mistake" ...because if I'm going to collect Alz points, I dang sure wanna know what I'm gettin' 'em fer.

Don doesn't refer to your post here, Alz points can be collected by players of Memorama if they make an avoidable mistake.

Exactly. See "Alz" at the bottom of http://www.sexyplorer.com/ ...

Took me a while to get back and check in on this thread, but I literally LOL'd when I did. Boy, was I on the wrong track in looking for my "avoidable mistake."

But I may have to request a Paranoid point now that I realize you already KNOW I made avoidable Memorama mistakes when I only played ONE TIME!!!

You've got too much time on your hands if you're tracking Memorama players' errors, even if you've just got the software programmed to do it for you!

....unless you're just assuming I made an avoidable error (because surely everyone must) ...but in that case, maybe I did ...and maybe I didn't.

höhö --- No, I don't cheat there. With a little training and concentration it's easy to do it without a single alz. The source code is open since it's javascript, so check it if you can!

[zridling]

Holy crap, I've based the last two years of my life on pronouncing it zai-plorer. I must commit seppuku now.

[admin]

Holy crap, I've based the last two years of my life on pronouncing it zai-plorer. I must commit seppuku now.

No, don't! I also voted for zaiplorer. I also own a nice xylophone, and I don't want to start calling it ekswailophone!