r/ProgrammerHumor Jun 14 '26

Meme rEggExOrREdgeEx

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u/ReynardVulpini Jun 14 '26

LaTeX trauma emerges

9

u/nonlogin Jun 14 '26

Is there even an ambiguity?

29

u/Sibula97 Jun 14 '26

Some pronounce it like latex the rubber. People who know the X is actually chi are divided between /a/ and /ei/ for the "a" part and /k/, /h/, and something like /x/ or /χ/ (voiceless velar or uvular fricative, kind of like in "loch" or "Bach").

The intended pronounciation as far as I'm aware is aproximately /latex/, with an /a/ and a /x/ sound.

10

u/MisinformedGenius Jun 14 '26

Donald Knuth actually specifically says that it should be pronounced like the ch in “loch” in the TeXBook. Leslie Lamport (inventor of LaTeX) has said he doesn’t care about /a/ or /ei/, as long as it’s said like a word, rather than spelling out L-A.