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Re:Advent of Code 2018, in Coq by OnlyOneCannolo on Monday February 18, 2019 @11:33PM (#19196608)
It's pronounced closer to "coke".
Re:Advent of Code 2018, in Coq by tom_mellior on Tuesday February 19, 2019 @03:05AM (#19197393)
No. The software Coq is pronounced like the French word "coq", which has a short o like the English "cock" and unlike the long o in the English "coke". https://forvo.com/word/coq/#fr

This is certainly the only pronounciation in the French formal methods community, where Coq comes from. It is also the standard pronounciation in the international formal methods community. I have never heard anyone pronounce it like "coke".

See for example Adam Chlipala at about 5:40 here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4DYVJdHMV5k Benjamin Pierce has a slightly longer o here, but it doesn't sound to me like it's deliberately pronounced differently from "cock": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKrD4JcfW90 And here is Andrej Bauer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COe0VTNF2EA

I know from rare comments like yours that some prudish Americans pronounce it "coke", some deliberately, others apparently because they have been fooled by the first group. But this seems to be a very small minority.

Re:Advent of Code 2018, in Coq by dragonwriter on Tuesday February 19, 2019 @03:25AM (#19197467)
> The software Coq is pronounced like the French word "coq",

Yes, but...

> which has a short o like the English "cock"

No, it doesn't. The sound it has isn't a common English vowel sound at all; it is closer to the vowel sounds in “cuck” and “cook” than the one in “cock”, but not exactly either of those, either. In fact of the four (those two, plus coke and cock), the “o” in “cock” is the one most Americans would find it most distinct from, I would think.

> https://forvo.com/word/coq/#fr

Yeah, none of those pronounce it with the vowel sound in English “cock”.

> I know from rare comments like yours that some prudish Americans pronounce it "coke",

It's not prudish, its a common way Americans that haven't mastered French pronunciation approximate the unaccented French “o” irrespective of context.

Re:Advent of Code 2018, in Coq by tom_mellior on Tuesday February 19, 2019 @03:53AM (#19197568)
> Yeah, none of those pronounce it with the vowel sound in English “cock”.

I was mainly talking about the vowel length. However:

> the “o” in “cock” is the one most Americans would find it most distinct from, I would think.

Really? More distinct than from the "oʊ" sound in American "coke"? (IPA from https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/coke)

Re:Advent of Code 2018, in Coq by thardus on Tuesday February 19, 2019 @08:07AM (#19198646)
Trying to have this discussion without IPA for multiple dialects is pretty tough with "long o" and "short o." I've only ever heard Coq pronounced like /kɑk/, but I'm from the Western US. I know Brits and Americans from the NE have the round low back vowel for /kɔk/. Coke sounds like /kouk/.
Re:Advent of Code 2018, in Coq by dragonwriter on Tuesday February 19, 2019 @08:24AM (#19198760)
I think mostly because to speakers of American English, roundedness is a very important vowel distinction, as “cock” has an unrounded vowel in American English, whereas the others are rounded, except “cuck”, which while also unrounded matches “coq” in position (open-mid vs. open, on the IPA chart)
Re:Advent of Code 2018, in Coq by dwild on Tuesday February 19, 2019 @10:36AM (#19199621)
As a French Canadian, I pronounce "coq" and "cock" the same way, while "cook" and "coke" are extremely different.

It's clearly because I don't pronounce them well, but it's certainly how I do it.

Re:Advent of Code 2018, in Coq by leoc on Tuesday February 19, 2019 @05:36AM (#19198003)
No, it really is pronounced a lot more like 'cock'. Moreover, I have it on pretty good authority that this wasn't any sort of unhappy coincidence; quite the opposite. I think they may have been unhappy about 'bit'.
Re:Advent of Code 2018, in Coq by throwmeback on Tuesday February 19, 2019 @04:52AM (#19197843)
You may have just ruined all the fun for me.

I'm pronouncing it like "coque" from now on.

Re:Advent of Code 2018, in Coq by merijnv on Tuesday February 19, 2019 @05:52AM (#19198057)
Good news for you, he's wrong. It's pronounced the way "coq" is in French, which isn't quite "cock", but certainly closer to "cock" than "coke".