The latest EconTalk is Jimmy Wales, the founder of Wikipedia talking about, well, Wikipedia. The sound quality is not the bestâit's very echoeyâbut I hope it's listenable. It was fun to hear him talk about the influence of Hayek on his thinking. It was also interesting to hear him pronounce the name of the web site. He calls it wi-key-pedia. I (and I think most everyone else) calls it wi–kuh-pedia. Hayek would be the first to point out that he cannot choose what it is called–the pronounciation emerges without being under anyone's control.
Wales on Wikipedia
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I say wi-kuh-pedia, but I also say wi-key, so I may change my tune and sing along with Wales from now on. Then I can lecture the rest of you on your improper pronunciation.
I've always called it wi-key-pedia, as does everyone else I know. Perhaps wi-kuh-pedia is an American pronunciation.
But really, would you seriously pronounce wiki, which is a word in it's own right, as wi-kuh?
Martin, I sat in two hours worth of traffic this morning. You have no idea how much I needed that laugh. Thank you, sir.
I've always said wi-key-pedia. I wonder if it's mostly a techie vs. non-techie distinction.
I already knew about wikis, which use the key sound. But if your initial exposure is that it's like encyclopedia with some different letters at the front, the kuh sound would be more natural.
"But really, would you seriously pronounce wiki, which is a word in it's own right, as wi-kuh?"
So your lexicon doesn't have any related word pairs with differences in pronunciation? Say, 'kilo' vs. 'kilogram'?
Actually, now that I think about it, wi-kuh-pedia probably isn't the best phonetic spelling. I think when I say it, I say wih-kih-pedia, where -ih- rhymes with the vowel in 'sit'. If this is what the non-key people do, then it makes perfect sense that no one says wih-kih, since (to the best of my knowledge) there are no English words that end in -ih (at least not in my dialect).
"Martin, I sat in two hours worth of traffic this morning. You have no idea how much I needed that laugh. Thank you, sir."
I hope the laugh help you get through the long wait. Hayek would be the first to point out that you cannot can control the economic forces that cause you to waste your worthless life in traffic. The traffic congestion emerges without being under anyone's control. You are a pawn in a game far bigger than your contemplation of dumb jokes. Now I am returning control of your internet device back to you. You have no control over that either. You are so brainwashed, that you have know idea what you have control over and what you don't. I assure you that Hayek doesn't make the rules anymore, either. The two hours sucked out of your downtrodden alleged existence is just the beginning and it ain't Wikiwonderful ™. You and your kind are Doomed with a capital D. Face the Wikifacts ™ even if your face has been torn off by an angry chimp on a rampage. I would cry, not laugh if I were you. Your batteries must have been installed backwards. You are strange and the way you dress is what's truly funny.
"waste your worthless life in traffic"
…Excuse me? And you wondered why I called you an asshole before. Of course your mindless troll begs the question: if it's worthless what is there to waste?
"You are so brainwashed, that you have know idea what you have control over and what you don't."
I never claimed to have control over traffic or the internet. Neither did Hayek. Do you know what "non sequirtur" means?
"The two hours sucked out of your downtrodden alleged existence…"
My existence is "alleged"?
"You and your kind…"
Who are my kind? How do they differ from your kind?
"your face has been torn off by an angry chimp on a rampage."
…or an angry troll on a rampage.
"You are strange and the way you dress is what's truly funny."
How do you know how I dress? Are you stalking me?
What's truly funny, Trumpit, is the severity of your need for attention. Why did you bother wasting any of your time writing that comment? You contributed nothing to conversation and insulted another user.
I've never heard it called anything other than "wi-key-pedia." I'm in my twenties; is this a generational difference?
GU, I suspect you're right. I usually say "wi-key" as well.
Of course, Wikipedia isn't the only wiki I visit either so maybe exposure has something to with it.
I should have added that I'm in my mid-twenties.
You must not know many people into Wikis. I think technologically savvy people are more likely to pronounce it wi-key-pedia than wi-kuh-pedia. (Not all, but most.)
My friends and I often make fun of people who say "wi-kuh-pedia" instead of "wi-key-pedia". It appears that almost anyone who says "wi-kuh-pedia" is someone out of the know — which is a lot of people, but not everyone. Reporters seem to be pretty bad at this.
The term from which it comes is wiki, pronounced "key" not "kuh". You would be stared at in most compuer circles if you said "I'm going to install a wi-kuh for project documentation". The pronounciation of "wikipedia" derives straight from the pronunciation of "wiki".
When are people who make personal attacks and off topic rants going to be perma-banned?
Shouldn't it more properly be pronounced "wee-kee-pedia"
Where does "wiki" come from? Sounds a bit Polynesian or Hawaiian. Is it something like "tiki"?
Oddly enough, Wikipedia has an article on wikis.
Sam, you're right. It's Hawaiian for "fast".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiki
In the hope of making pronunciation of Wikipedia the most highly commented trivial thing on Cafe Hayeck, I'll add another data point that might help with the wiki pronunciation hypotheses.
I'm in mid-fifties, admittedly a techie who knows a lot of other techies. We all say wi-key. I've never heard (or perhaps noticed) the wi-kuh or wi-kih pronunciation until now.
Is someone keeping score?
I'm enjoying the trivial discussion. One thing that hasn't been mentioned yet, is that the "uh" sound may come from the pronunciation of "encyclopedia". If the word is said quickly enough, the "o" sounds like "uh", and since Wikipedia is an amalgamation of "wiki" and "encyclopedia"…
MnM, check post 4 above on encyclopedia
and thank YOU for the laugh on your 12:36 comment
Holy cow mjohns, you're right. Sorry I missed that.
You and your kind are Doomed with a capital D. Face the Wikifacts ™ even if your face has been torn off by an angry chimp on a rampage.
STrumPit! I will NOT tolerate this kind of racism against our blessed leader!!
I more or less consistently hear the "key" pronunciation, and I've long considered it the "correct" one.
I nonetheless say "wi-[kuh]-pedia." To this twenty year old, "wi-[key]-pedia" is just too awkward.
I say wi-key-pedia too. But I did not know until last week that Krugman is pronounced Kroog-man. I'd always pronounced it to rhyme with, you know, Smugman.
Ditto Keynes, thought it was keens until last year.
I, too, say wi-key and haven't heard anyone except Russ on EconTalk say wi-kuh. Maybe I need to get out more.
I pronounce Krugman to rhyme with "ugh" since that seems fitting to me.
It is wi-key-pedia in Britain and Ireland.
Probably it is pronounced differently all over the world.
Current,
Wikipedia is one of those made up words that there is no translation for in other languages, thus even the French must use it in one form (key) or (kuh) the other but always spoken as the made up Americanization it is……and I love that that fact just galls the hell out of the Frenchies.
While "wiki-wiki" in Hawaiian means "quickly", the opposite is "akahele", to use care, caution.
So, you might want to check out Akahele.org and see what they're doing over there.
Hint: it's a site that doesn't call Jimmy Wales the "founder" of Wikipedia, because they haven't unceremoniously stuffed Dr. Larry Sanger down the ol' memory hole like Wales has.