this post was submitted on 18 Feb 2026
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Demon? Damon? Or something more exotic?

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[–] beeng@discuss.tchncs.de 2 points 4 hours ago
[–] Lettuceeatlettuce@lemmy.ml 7 points 15 hours ago* (last edited 15 hours ago) (1 children)

Day-mon, every Linux admin I've worked with, old and young, pronounces it that way too, so that's where I picked it up.

I've never heard of people deliberately pronouncing it like that to avoid offending Christians though, seems like an American take lol.

I thought that it was just an archaic spelling of the modern demon and an alternative pronunciation to clairify that the speaker is referring to a technical part of an OS, not making a joke about the spiritual nature of the machine lol.

It sounds cooler to say day-mon anyways IMO.

[–] Chakravanti@monero.town 1 points 4 hours ago

Wait til you figure out that your missing that there is no such thing as a meaningless coincidence.

[–] enbiousenvy@lemmy.blahaj.zone 3 points 16 hours ago
[–] copyscam@lemmy.ml 1 points 15 hours ago

I'm wrong but in my head it's always been Damien

[–] msokiovt@lemmy.today 22 points 1 day ago

I say at day-mon.

[–] Nioxic@lemmy.dbzer0.com 75 points 1 day ago (4 children)
[–] RickyRigatoni@piefed.zip 35 points 1 day ago

Daymon. Fighter of the nightmon. Champion of the sun.

[–] panda_abyss@lemmy.ca 40 points 1 day ago

What do you want, Picard?

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Same as demon. Because my research indicates that this usage was originally a reference to Maxwell's demon.

https://www.takeourword.com/TOW146/page4.html

[–] neidu3@sh.itjust.works 27 points 1 day ago
[–] Quibblekrust@thelemmy.club 23 points 1 day ago* (last edited 11 hours ago) (4 children)

"Demon"

It was always "demon" (spelled daemon or dæmon), as in a spiritual attendant. Christian mythology has poisoned the word, and anyone who says "daymon" to not offend them is a coward.

See here:

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/demon

Edit: When I say it was always pronounced "demon", I mean the nerds who started calling a small background program daemon pronounced it "demon".

[–] Chakravanti@monero.town 0 points 4 hours ago

You're wrong. I say them both day-mon. Because they are the fucking same. That's not a pun. It's just one of the things they handle delivering to those who want that stuff.

Xtians are fucking evil. Evil was never and will never be real even though Daemons are. They're imagining evil and going fucking Tenet.

Yeah. Tgat movie. That's them. They did that. Go cry, Stan. You fucking CIA cartoon.

It's still not and never will be real beyond their imagination.

[–] lambalicious@lemmy.sdf.org 5 points 16 hours ago

While offending Christians is welcome in this day and age, the marked Latin and Greek history of the word, originating as "daímōn" with an 'a', and the fact that 'æ' exists, both make "dæmon" a cool enough spelling that I'm keeping it, and the fancier spelling helps keeping safe and separate from the christofascist corruption of the word for when I am more in mind of the mechanics and purposes rather than having to be a soldier in someone else's cultural war.

[–] spartanatreyu@programming.dev 15 points 1 day ago

I say daymon not to avoid offence, but since it sounds cooler than demon.

A demon sounds like a fiend that has only been around for at most a few hundred years, but a daemon sounds like it has been around for a few thousand so it is much more dangerous.

[–] BetterDev@programming.dev 21 points 1 day ago

Calm your tits (meaning your birds), I say "daymon", and I relish any opportunity to offend the overly devout.

My reason is simple: I learned the word by reading it and sounding it out, and that's more badass than "haha I say demon because I'm edgy"

[–] MantisToboggon@lemmy.world 34 points 1 day ago (2 children)
[–] wesker@lemmy.sdf.org 38 points 1 day ago (1 children)

He's a master of command lines and shell scripts for everyone!

[–] Delta_V@lemmy.world 18 points 1 day ago
[–] NigelFrobisher@aussie.zone 16 points 1 day ago (1 children)

It’s just an old spelling of demon. So that.

[–] BetterDev@programming.dev 1 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

Languages change over time, and we get to vote on which words we'd like changed by preferring cool ones over just "the way it has always been"

[–] NigelFrobisher@aussie.zone 2 points 10 hours ago (1 children)

Yeah, but also sometimes people are just thick.

[–] BetterDev@programming.dev 1 points 5 hours ago

Can't argue there!

[–] teft@piefed.social 20 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Same way that I say Matt Damon.

Matt Daemon

[–] imsufferableninja@sh.itjust.works 22 points 1 day ago (3 children)

The 'ae' in daemon is the same as the æ in encyclopædia.

[–] entwine@programming.dev 17 points 1 day ago (2 children)

How do you pronounce encyclopædia?

[–] breadsmasher@lemmy.world 29 points 1 day ago (3 children)
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[–] Eldritch@piefed.world 9 points 1 day ago

Just as it reads. You smash that E into the A's ass. Starting the E before the A finishes.

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[–] HubertManne@piefed.social 8 points 1 day ago

both honestly. I think when I see it I think damon mostly but I might say that and I might say demon.

[–] tiny_hedgehog@piefed.social 17 points 1 day ago

I usually go for J̵̧̢̢̢̡̩͎̙͙̹͇̞̯̯͇̞̭̯̙̻̲͖̻̗̫̙̲̪̫̥̦͇̭͇͍̤̳̫̖̪̗̈ö̸͓̱̭͔͓̼͔́̄̆̑̅͛̈̉̆̓̿̾̓̒̑͂̃̃͑̏̄̈͛̄̈̂̌̑̂̆͛̅͘̚̚͘͝r̶̡̢͉̤͎̲̥̮̻̟͉̩̗̠̝̖̬͈̹͓͈̱̹͖͕̩͎̉̑̋̂̀̍̇͋́̐͆̇͋́m̶̢̢̨̢̨̭̪̹͓̜̱̼̬̘͖̬̝̩̤̘̰̮͕͎͈̭͖͕͎̳͓̺̟͒͑̈́͊̓̾̆͂͂͒̕͘͜͠ͅü̵̢̢̧̢̢̞̹̼̱̲̯̟͕̞̖̞̖̪͙͓̈́̓́̈́̎̓͐̂͆̏̍̍͒̾̀͒̍̎̐̊̀͊̓̋̀̀̋͑͊͑̚͘͝͠͝͝͝ņ̴̡̢̛̛̪̺̻̺͎̪̯͎̪̦͔̱͕̱̫̬̞̦̝̃̽͊̆͌̈́͂̈́̈́̾̋̐͋̋̐͋̏͆̄̄̽͗̒͋̌͒͂͘͜͠͝͝͝͠g̸̛̰̱̣̺͇̒̈́͐̓̿͑́̂̂̔̏̈́͊̔̅̌̈́̍̿͆̄͒͑̀̊͘͘͜͝a̶̦̯̦̹̘̪̞̗̟͇̲̣̳̩̔́́͗̈́͛̀͋͛̌̉̐̾͋́̇̄̍̈́̾̏̿̐̔̔͘̚n̶̡̻͎͔̬̣̲͋̽͒̒̏͋̈́́́d̵̨̧̢̢̡̗̱̼̙͔̤̤̣͓̖̼͍̻̰̭̗̬̟̙̗̿̿̒̎̌̓̆̋̈́͂̊͊̿͊͗̐̿͜r̷̡̦̱̖͖̙̥̫͙̞̲̬̫̼̞̫̖̜̦̰̙̗̯̠̹̗̲̪̯̻̖͇͚̳̿͂͆͒̂̎̇͛͂̈̐͒̄͊͘͠͝ but some purists find that too much so I tone it down to “baddie”.

[–] nomecks@lemmy.wtf 10 points 1 day ago

Demon, because it offends purists, and FreeBSD's mascot is a demon.

[–] frongt@lemmy.zip 11 points 1 day ago
[–] hendrik@palaver.p3x.de 12 points 1 day ago (6 children)

ˈdiː.mən

And don't ever ask random people how to pronounce 'router'.

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[–] numbermess@fedia.io 10 points 1 day ago

D ayyyyy mon

[–] smuuthbrane@sh.itjust.works 11 points 1 day ago

Samy way as the actor, Matt.

[–] who@feddit.org 6 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Pronunciation

  • (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA(key): /ˈdiː.mən/
  • Rhymes: -iːmən
  • Hyphenation: dae‧mon

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/daemon

Rhymes

  • daemon, demon
  • freeman
  • seaman
  • Seaman (surname - see especially David Seaman)
  • semen

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Rhymes:English/i%CB%90m%C9%99n

[–] CallMeAl@piefed.zip 5 points 1 day ago (1 children)
[–] tatterdemalion@programming.dev 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I thought it was a reference to Maxwell's demon.

Daemons in computing, generally processes that run on servers to respond to users, are named for Maxwell's demon.

[–] CallMeAl@piefed.zip 2 points 23 hours ago

Yes the CTSS crew were reportedly thinking of Maxewell's demon but also chose to change it to the "daemon" spelling to make it sound more like a "friendly garden spirit than a monster" and the pronounced it "deemon".

[–] Telorand@reddthat.com 4 points 1 day ago

"DAH-ay-mon," I choose you! Use your exec ~/thunder_sma.sh!

[–] owenfromcanada@lemmy.ca 5 points 1 day ago

I would pronounce it "DEEmon" but that gets some religious folks all freaked out, so I usually go with "DAYman".

[–] Olap@lemmy.world 4 points 1 day ago

Demon, so I can kill them, spawn them, or send them signals to die!

[–] dsilverz@calckey.world 4 points 1 day ago

@guynamedzero@piefed.zeromedia.vip @linux@programming.dev

"Why thou summoneth me?" Lol
Just kidding!

I'm Brazilian, so I pronounce Daemon in such a Brazilian (specifically the southeast, "paulista"/from state of São Paulo variation) accent:

Daah-eh-monn

Or, if my IPA literacy is correct:

/dajˈmõ/

The Daemon I use in my pseudonym is inspired both by the Unix daemons (because I'm a DevOps and also a Linux daily user), as well by the esoteric daemons (as in the original Greek definition of daimon, spirits, due to my belief system).

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