this post was submitted on 05 Oct 2026
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"An SQL" makes me unreasonably angry, but that's pretty awesome
Not everyone calls it "sequel" https://learnsql.com/blog/sql-or-sequel/
If you want to be really pedantic, you could argue that Server Query Language (SQL) and Server English QUEry Language (SEQUEL) refers to two different things.
FYI, SQL = Structured Query Language, not Server Query Language.
It's always fun to get a glimpse into how other people pronounce things with their usage of A vs AN. My favorite example is people who say "an historic".
If you go by the Greek origin of the word (ιστορία), that's more correct. Correcter, if you will.
This I at least can comprehend, as H is silent in some languages
I sometimes see it with words I can't even start guessing, can't remember which, but I think last time it was something starting with M or N after ‘an’
"an mnemonic"
language processing brain center implodes
Some people pronounce Graphics Interchange Format Jiff. It does not make it right or socially acceptable.
Some of us say hard g GIF, but prefer "ess-cue-ell" for SQL.
The former is an acronym and the latter is an initialism, and for me, that's what makes the distinction. Anything else is secondary.
Oddly, I usually say "ess-cue-ell" but read it as sequel while reading the acronym in your first sentence.
You say es-cue-ell.
I say squeal.
We are not the same.
"Suckle" would be my preferred horrific reading.
For reasons I won't go into, and probably not the first ones you'd think of, "squeal" holds a different negative connotation for me.
The year is 2839939. The last GIF vs JIF joke is made. The sun explodes, killing everyone, and ridding the universe of the joke forever.
"Welcome to Jraphics park!" *Sweeping score plays as loops of pictures of dinosaurs fill the scene"
Choosey developers choose gif (jiff). It was deliberately meant to evoke the peanut butter ad.
ZHAIF 4 LAIF
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmqy-Sp0txY
We should just stop naming things tbh
Hi
It's really not obvious that SQL is supposed to be pronounced sequel. If they wanted that they should have gone with a more contrived acronym.