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

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[–] Nioxic@lemmy.dbzer0.com 81 points 1 month ago (4 children)
[–] panda_abyss@lemmy.ca 48 points 1 month ago

What do you want, Picard?

[–] RickyRigatoni@piefed.zip 38 points 1 month ago

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

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[–] MantisToboggon@lemmy.world 36 points 1 month ago (2 children)
[–] wesker@lemmy.sdf.org 41 points 1 month ago (1 children)
[–] _haha_oh_wow_@sh.itjust.works 10 points 1 month ago

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

[–] Delta_V@lemmy.world 20 points 1 month ago
[–] neidu3@sh.itjust.works 30 points 1 month ago
[–] Quibblekrust@thelemmy.club 28 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month 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".

[–] BetterDev@programming.dev 24 points 1 month 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"

[–] spartanatreyu@programming.dev 15 points 1 month 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.

[–] lambalicious@lemmy.sdf.org 6 points 1 month 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.

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[–] imsufferableninja@sh.itjust.works 25 points 1 month ago (3 children)

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

[–] entwine@programming.dev 19 points 1 month ago (2 children)

How do you pronounce encyclopædia?

[–] breadsmasher@lemmy.world 33 points 1 month ago (1 children)
[–] nomecks@lemmy.wtf 3 points 1 month ago (1 children)
[–] Telorand@reddthat.com 9 points 1 month ago (1 children)
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[–] Eldritch@piefed.world 9 points 1 month ago

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

[–] SilverCode@lemmy.ml 3 points 1 month ago

Dammit! Now I have to pronounce Encyclopaedia incorrectly 😞

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[–] tatterdemalion@programming.dev 22 points 1 month ago

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

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

I say at day-mon.

[–] teft@piefed.social 21 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Same way that I say Matt Damon.

Matt Daemon

[–] NigelFrobisher@aussie.zone 20 points 1 month ago (3 children)

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

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

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

[–] hendrik@palaver.p3x.de 14 points 1 month ago (2 children)

ˈdiː.mən

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

[–] Maestro@fedia.io 4 points 1 month ago (2 children)

So, what is it? Rooter? Or rauter?

[–] who@feddit.org 3 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

It's somewhat regional. Lots of Americans pronounce the ou as in ouch, but lots of other folks pronounce it as in root (recognizing that route is its root word).

[–] moody@lemmings.world 4 points 1 month ago (2 children)

(recognizing that route is its root word)

You could also ask people how they pronounce route and get different answers.

[–] who@feddit.org 4 points 1 month ago

Indeed. Which reinforces what I wroot.

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[–] Lettuceeatlettuce@lemmy.ml 12 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month 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.

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

Samy way as the actor, Matt.

[–] frongt@lemmy.zip 11 points 1 month ago
[–] nomecks@lemmy.wtf 11 points 1 month ago

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

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

D ayyyyy mon

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

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

[–] lengau@midwest.social 8 points 1 month ago

You people use meat flapping to communicate?

[–] CallMeAl@piefed.zip 6 points 1 month ago (1 children)
[–] tatterdemalion@programming.dev 4 points 1 month 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.

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

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

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

[–] enbiousenvy@lemmy.blahaj.zone 5 points 1 month ago
[–] dsilverz@calckey.world 4 points 1 month 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).

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

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

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

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

[–] beeng@discuss.tchncs.de 4 points 1 month ago
[–] Durandal@lemmy.today 3 points 1 month ago
[–] noxypaws@pawb.social 3 points 1 month ago
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