Pronounce "Maemo"?

[dgpretzel2]

How does one pronounce "Maemo"?

Thank you.

DG

[thoughtfix]

MAY mow? That is my guess.

[neiljerram]

MAY mow? That is my guess.

I've always thought "MY mow". I've no authority for that though.

If we're trying to establish what the inventors of the name had in mind, I guess it depends how "ae" is pronounced in Finnish.

- Neil

[count zero]

because ae stands for the german letter ä, i pronounce it mämo :D

memo would be an englisch word which sounds similar.

[mpancorbo]

How does one pronounce "Maemo"?

Do the easy fonetic way: ma-e-mo ("ma" like "madam", "e" like "bed", "mo" like "modify"), accent on "e" or in "ma", as you want (I prefer on "e").

is it so difficult to guess !? :)

[BanditRider]

I'm with Thoughtfix,

MAY mow

[Luna]

I pronounce it "maemo" So just like anything else new in technology the first time you actually say it in public to someone that has really heard the correct pronunciation, you sound like a goof.

[gnuite]

I've always pronounced it in the same way that it would be pronounced in Spanish: mah-EH-mow. That's probably wrong, but it's too late for me to try to change now. :)

[LukeWorm]

If we're trying to establish what the inventors of the name had in mind, I guess it depends how "ae" is pronounced in Finnish.
- Neil

Finnish is pronounced as it's written with the stress on the first syllable. The average Finn would pronounce Maemo as the Spanish mentioned earlier, MAH-eh-mo.
However, I don't think the origin of this name is Finnish.

[Karel Jansens]

I usually pronounce it "Oh wow!".

[dgpretzel2]

:)


But, does anyone really know?


DG

[mpancorbo]

:)
But, does anyone really know?
DG

Remember that "maemo" is invented word.

For Spanish does not make sense asking for pronunciation of invented word, whenever it contains known symbols: all words are pronounced by regular rules. That's the case.

Your question does not make sense for me. I apply the rules. Simple.

[Paul Webster]

Invented by a password generation tool - and I presume this substring selected because it appeared to be unique, not a swear word and happened to look a bit like 'memo'.
My guess is that it does not have a 'correct' pronunciation . however, was it said at the launch of the Google Talk tie-up ... the video was available on-line.

[Hedgecore]

I say "May moe"... and I could swear they pronounced it as such on that 2006 webcast thoughtfix re-encoded and posted.

[stevenf]

Too funny... I'd always assumed MEE-mo, based on the old English combined "ae" symbol (what's that thing called?) which is pronounced as a long E, like in "Encyclopaedia".

[penguinbait]

:eek: MAY MOE!!!!
:eek: MAY MOE!!!!
:eek: MAY MOE!!!!
:eek: MAY MOE!!!!
:eek: MAY MOE!!!!
:eek: MAY MOE!!!!

[dgpretzel2]

Wow.

I can see this forum is an exciting place, full of folks (including me) with way too much time on their hands! :)

[dgpretzel2]

"ae" symbol (what's that thing called?) which is pronounced as a long E, like in "Encyclopaedia".
On the other hand :D , many folks pronounce "daemon" as "day-mun", so... "May Mow"

DG

[bac522]

http://corvette.spectraaccess.net/pics/may.jpg http://corvette.spectraaccess.net/pics/moe.jpg

[cagilaba]

I pronounce it MY-mo [in my head].

[dgpretzel2]

For no reason I can think of, that was my very first impression/thought, too.

DG

[Karel Jansens]

For those who really need insane amounts of extra power :D , I know of one product that does work:

BatteryGeek are manufacturers of all linds of external battery packs, and the one they offer for the Sony PSP does work for the Nokia 770.

Y'all have to googgel them up by yourselves, 'cuz I lost the urrel.

[aflegg]

I pronounce it MY-mo [in my head].

I thought I did, but saying it out loud (I think for the first time ever, and only to myself) it came out as "May-Moe".

Oh well, shows I'll even argue with myself.

[dgpretzel2]

I guess it's one of those questions that has not real answer. As mentioned previously, there is the "encyclopaedia" example for a long E. The condos we live in are named "Saebroc", pronounced Say-brahk. And then there is the long I, as well as many other non-English possibilities.

In the absence of any knowledge of original intentions, if there are any, I guess it will just have to be debated along with the number of angels that can dance on the head of a pin.

:)

DG

[jesuscliment]

Hi all.

This might come a bit too late, but i can tell you how to pronunce "maemo". I came up with the name, so...

The origin is as stated: pwgen (a password generator utility which you can set to give you all character passwords) gave me an option, "maimo". I used 5 characters names for my machines, so i also restricted it to that. But I did not like the "i" so I changed it for an "e".

Maemo was the name of my desktop, and little by little it gathered importance in the project, as i made it the canonical repository for everybody involved. And became THE server. And the project. And the SDK. And the OS.

So now that the origin is clear, and me being Spanish and Finnish being pronounced almost exactly as Spanish...

"mah-Eh-mo"

mah as the beginning of my
eh as the "e" in "pet"
mo as in Monica, but only pronouncing the M and the O.

Hope you like it.

[jaem]

Hi all.
So now that the origin is clear, and me being Spanish and Finnish being pronounced almost exactly as Spanish...
"mah-Eh-mo"
mah as the beginning of my
eh as the "e" in "pet"
mo as in Monica, but only pronouncing the M and the O.
Hope you like it.

You've just ruined my life... *sob*. No, but seriously, that's nice to know, but I'll probably just keep calling it May-Mo, because the correct way seems more awkward for me - and I'm young and set in my ways. Thanks for letting us know the truth, though. :P

[Thesandlord]

Dude, make a recording of you saying it. Then it will make more sense.

[bac522]

Holy "old old post" revivals batman

[qole]

Yeah, but it was revived by the guy who came up with the word! How cool is that?

And anyway, what did you expect Jesus to do? Start a new thread? No. He had to resurrect this thread.

[penguinbait]

Dude, make a recording of you saying it. Then it will make more sense.

my name is jesuscliment and pronounce maemo, maemo!

I will be waiting to listen to this???? :D:D:D

[YoDude]

Hi all.

This might come a bit too late, but i can tell you how to pronunce "maemo". I came up with the name, so...

The origin is as stated: pwgen (a password generator utility which you can set to give you all character passwords) gave me an option, "maimo". I used 5 characters names for my machines, so i also restricted it to that. But I did not like the "i" so I changed it for an "e".

Maemo was the name of my desktop, and little by little it gathered importance in the project, as i made it the canonical repository for everybody involved. And became THE server. And the project. And the SDK. And the OS.

So now that the origin is clear, and me being Spanish and Finnish being pronounced almost exactly as Spanish...

"mah-Eh-mo"

mah as the beginning of my
eh as the "e" in "pet"
mo as in Monica, but only pronouncing the M and the O.

Hope you like it.

Then it's three syllables instead of two...

That's interesting. So that must have been your machine with the yellow maemo label. A picture of it was posted not long ago either here or in a blog, I'm not sure which.

Thank you JC. :)

[jaem]

And anyway, what did you expect Jesus to do? Start a new thread? No. He had to resurrect this thread.
. . .

I think you're thinking of that other guy, from a while back... ;) The joke was amusing and inevitable, at any rate. +1 Internet to Qole!

[qgil]

Then it's three syllables instead of two...

Yes, I wanted to say that in another thread yesterday but I didn't want to ruin timsamoff's haiku.

That's interesting. So that must have been your machine with the yellow maemo label. A picture of it was posted not long ago either here or in a blog, I'm not sure which.

Stefano (http://maemo.org/profile/view/stezz/), our current IT Jesus.

http://stezz.blogspot.com/2009/05/recycling-first-maemo.html
http://stezz.blogspot.com/2008/10/where-maemo-is-coming-from.html

If you want to hear how the majority of the Maemo SW team pronounces "Maemo" go to the audio file (http://www.archive.org/details/QuimGil-MaemoLinuxtag2008Update) linked in this blog entry (http://flors.wordpress.com/2008/06/01/maemo-linuxtag-update/). I'm not Jesus but at least we are native speakers of the same languages, so I'm probably close to the original.

So what, "Maemo" is pronnounced with variations in several local adaptations. That's fine. Happens to all global brands. For instance in Spain only posh arrogant people would pronnounce "Nike" as it is pronnounced in the company headquarters ('naikí'). Everybody says "Nike" as "Mike" (something that actually makes sense if you think it twice). This doesn't seem a burden for them to sell a lot.

[kanishou]

I only ever hear people pronounce it "my-moh", but I guess that "mah-eh-moh" comes very close to that when spoken quickly.

Just don't pronounce it the German way (mämo). I earned some blank stares for that on the summit, until somebody "translated". :)

[daperl]

For instance in Spain only posh arrogant people would pronnounce "Nike" as it is pronnounced in the company headquarters ('naikí'). Everybody says "Nike" as "Mike" (something that actually makes sense if you think it twice). This doesn't seem a burden for them to sell a lot.

How do posh, arrogant Greeks pronounce it? I think Porsche is a better example.

[attila77]

Ah, the good old name debate. Can get funny though, like with BIC. Bic is originally written as Bich (in french, after the founder's name, so that would make it 'bish' IINM). However, when moving outside of France, they were afraid people would pronounce it 'b-i-t-c-h', so they shortened it. At least that's what the legend says.

But this happens all the time. Boy would someone selling Ondo phones get surprised in Hungary :) And, if I'm at phones, from what I hear Moko (as in OpenMoko) is not exactly a dinner topic in Spain, either.

[qgil]

How do posh, arrogant Greeks pronounce it?

Not /ˈnaɪki/ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nike,_Inc.) but [níːkɛː] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nike_(mythology)), which oddly enough is just how you would say it in Spanish if you wouldn't think that the word should be pronnounced as in English. But try to say [níːkɛː] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nike_(mythology)) in Spain and people will laugh at your face for ignorant. Weird globalization.

[krisse]

Ah, the good old name debate. Can get funny though, like with BIC. Bic is originally written as Bich (in french, after the founder's name, so that would make it 'bish' IINM). However, when moving outside of France, they were afraid people would pronounce it 'b-i-t-c-h', so they shortened it. At least that's what the legend says.

But this happens all the time. Boy would someone selling Ondo phones get surprised in Hungary :) And, if I'm at phones, from what I hear Moko (as in OpenMoko) is not exactly a dinner topic in Spain, either.

Oh there are millions of these examples... I can't print all of them here but there are various Finnish products which sound very rude if you say them in English (for example a crisp bread named after the Finnish word for "fitness", look it up).

Sometimes it goes the other way too, there's an Indian car company called Reva:

http://www.revaindia.com/

...there is NO WAY they would EVER dare to market anything under that name in Finland. It will not happen.

I guarantee you any Finns who visit that website for the first time will laugh very very hard, especially at phrases like "Make your own reva" and questions in the FAQ like "How green is the reva?", "What is the seating capacity of the reva?", "How safe is the reva?", "Are reva spare parts available?", "How frequently do I need to service my reva?" etc. In fact I have tears streaming down my face as I write this. :-)

[daperl]

... in Spain and people will laugh at your face for ignorant. Weird globalization.

Yes, weird. I live in the U.S. near the Mexico border, and regardless of your first language or your station, after a few moments of confusion, you might also get laughed at if you pronounced Nike as in Mike. But not so if it's plural.

[timsamoff]

Yes, I wanted to say that in another thread yesterday but I didn't want to ruin timsamoff's haiku.
I wondered about that myself and came to the conclusion that "Fremantle" would work better that "Maemo 5" anyway (it's more "natural" and all)... I'll go change it.

Tim

[javispedro]

So now that the origin is clear, and me being Spanish and Finnish being pronounced almost exactly as Spanish...

So I've been pronouncing it right the whole time! :D

[lma]

How do posh, arrogant Greeks pronounce it?

Actually the rhymes-with-mike pronunciation is the most common amongst arrogant Greeks (I wouldn't know about the posh part though ;-) ).

We also pronounce maemo pretty much the way Jesus intended. More on-topic, does anyone know the correct IPA spelling of that? The wikipedia entry (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maemo_(operating_system)) needs correcting methinks.

[Bobbe]

Wikipedia does need correction indeed, then. First they included primary and secondary stress, which 'maemo' doesn't have, regardless of being two or there-syllabled.

According to Jesus (love saying that) it would be pronounced /ma'ɛ:məʊ/

I'm assuming /ma/ and not /maɪ/ because he said it's like 'the beginning' of my, not like my itself.

It does sound strange in my head though. It always sounded like /ma'i:məʊ/ or a nasalized /ma'æ:məʊ/ (a nasalized æ would be the sound in 'ant' /æ:nt/) to me, no matter how hard I try to say /ma'ɛ:məʊ/. Anyway, it's a proper name, and it should be pronounced properly.

And thanks again to Jesus for the clarification!

Edit: it might also be /ma'ɛ:mo/, not /ma'ɛ:məʊ/, depending on how he meant 'Monica' to be pronounced.

Okay, I'm bugged by this lol

[qgil]

it might also be /ma'ɛ:mo/

That is.

If you don't have enough hearing how I pronounce it (Latin variant style, like Jesus) you can also hear the Finnish variant (basically the same, you need to be acute to distinguish) from no less than Ari Jaaksi at http://flors.wordpress.com/2008/03/13/connecting-open-source-and-mass-market-the-nokia-plan/ (it takes a while until he says 'Maemo', sorry but too lazy to find the exact time now).

[Bobbe]

If you don't have enough hearing how I pronounce it(Latin variant style, like Jesus)

Sorry, it's not a hearing issue. I didn't hear you yet actually. Will do so shortly though =)

It will be interesting to see how this is going to play out. Maemo 5 will probably bring a lot more people to be interested in the platform than it already does (if the rumors about the RX-51 confirm, I guess) and several different pronunciations will come out.Use always beats standard over time. Let's see if people will try to pronounce like he pronounces it in the keynote.

In that sense, 'correcting' the Wikipedia entry would play a huge role on that, the way I see it.

Who can edit the entry?

[mikkov]

Who can edit the entry?

Well it's Wikipedia, so anybody who's smarter than fish. So I did it.

[GeneralAntilles]

Who can edit the entry?

Anybody, it's Wikipedia. . . .

[Bobbe]

I know about it. The problem was that when I clicked edit all the other links it let me, except for the opening. Some problem with my box, probably, as I see somebody has already edited it =)

(My question must have sounded incredibly stupid back there :()

[GeneralAntilles]

I know about it. The problem was that when I clicked edit all the other links it let me, except for the opening.


The intro paragraph is not under a section, so you'll need to click the Edit button at the top of the page.

[Bobbe]

The intro paragraph is not under a section, so you'll need to click the Edit button at the top of the page.

Which I did, and that was I meant with 'couldn't edit' before. I couldn't open that 'Edit this article' page.

Anyways, I see now that what confused me with the phonetic transcription there was the same thing that has always confused me with 'man' and 'men'
I heard qgil's address and basically he pronounces Maemo the way I do =)

Thanks to everybody for all the help!

[qole]

According to Jesus (love saying that) it would be pronounced /ma'ɛ:məʊ/

Edit: it might also be /ma'ɛ:mo/, not /ma'ɛ:məʊ/, depending on how he meant 'Monica' to be pronounced.

Okay, I'm bugged by this lol

I (and most most English speaking Canadians) pronounce the 'o' in Monica as /ɔː/ (the same way I pronounce "paw" or "caught"), is that what you mean? I don't see an "o" in the IPA key (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:IPA_for_English).

I think we should have T-Shirts with the IPA for Maemo on them.

[Bobbe]

I (and most most English speaking Canadians) pronounce the 'o' in Monica as /ɔː/ (the same way I pronounce "paw" or "caught"), is that what you mean? I don't see an "o" in the IPA key (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:IPA_for_English).
No, that was not really what I meant. I meant that both my suggestion /ma'æ:mo/ and qgil's /ma'ɛ:mo/ are basically the same (the one he uses in his address). We had the same sound in our heads when we wrote these, just with different 'interpretations' of the IPA (yes, they vary sometimes).

And about the way you pronounce 'Monica': really? :confused: The /ɔː/ sound usually refers to the way the British (http://www.macmillandictionary.com/dictionary/british/paw) pronounce 'paw' and 'caught'. Compare the pronunciation in the link for the British pronunciation with the usual AmE pronunciation (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/paw) in this one (the website shows a similar IPA transcription but the sound is clearly different from the IPA symbols there). Try this (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPA_chart_for_English_dialects) for disambiguation, and to clarify what I meant in the beginning =). Maybe you meant /ɒ/?

I think we should have T-Shirts with the IPA for Maemo on them.
Love the idea :cool:. We could even joke about this whole mess of different pronunciations. Put them all in the front of the shirt with question marks in each and the (hopefully) chosen mascot in the back with an official Maemo logo (which I believe is the one in the top (??) :D)

[qole]

Bobbe:

Wonderful to have a language geek on the forums.

You're right; I'm wrong.

I don't know the IPA phonetic system, so I assumed North American pronunciation of of the example words (using the "C" dialect if I remember from my single phonetics class). So while it is correct that I pronounce the o in Monica in the same way that I pronounce the "aw" in paw and the "au" in "caught", the British version of "paw" is very different from my pronunciation. The pronounciation of "caught (http://www.macmillandictionary.com/dictionary/british/caught)" is different too, but it doesn't sound like the same vowel sound as "paw".

So I don't know. Still no "o" symbol in the Wikipedia IPA table, though. Did you mean "ɔ"?

But it seems the Brits pronounce "Monica" much the same way as Canadians: harmonica (http://www.macmillandictionary.com/dictionary/british/harmonica) ... With an "ɒ" sound!

So should Maemo be written:

/ma'ɛ:mɒ/

[Bobbe]

Bobbe:

Wonderful to have a language geek on the forums.

Thanks! I've been teaching English here in Brazil for the last few years, and this pronunciation issue is quite fun to watch. It's language 'erupting', in a way.

So I don't know. Still no "o" symbol in the Wikipedia IPA table, though.

Which "o" are you trying to find a symbol for? The "o" in "harmonica" (which is /ɒ/) or the "o" in "Omen"? The "o" in Omen, in English, is always a diphtong, so you'll always find it as /oʊ / (or with a schwa, /əʊ/. (The schwa /ə/ is the weakest vowel in English, and it's kinda hard to explain the sound of that diphtong over there, but think of the sound of 'a' in 'about' together with a /ʊ/ sound.) The IPA for Japanese (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:IPA_for_Japanese) shows the 'o' sound in 'oniisan'. Is that what you were looking for?

Did you mean "ɔ"?
Like I said, the /ɔ/ is generally not found outside British English (and/or Australian and NZ English, with some variations). So I probably meant /oʊ/ or /əʊ/ or /ɒ/ (like explained above) :D


But it seems the Brits pronounce "Monica" much the same way as Canadians: harmonica (http://www.macmillandictionary.com/dictionary/british/harmonica) ... With an "ɒ" sound!

So should Maemo be written:

/ma'ɛ:mɒ/

That is the difference I found between Jesus' explanation of how he meant the word to be pronounced (exactly like you transcribed, considering that's how he would pronounce "Monica") and the way I heard it pronounced in qgil's address, /ma'ɛ:mo/ (or /ma'ɛ:məʊ/ as most English native speakers will almost definitely pronounce it).

(However, I couldn't find the word "maemo" in the other presentation he linked here, from Ari Jaaksi. If he could point it out I'd be grateful.)

And that's where the confusion still stands =)

[JayOnThaBeat]

As an American, I have been endowed with the god-given right to mispronounce any word, as I see fit. (Thanks W.!)

May-Moe it is!




(better late than never ;))

///EDIT:

did we ever get that recording of Jesus saying it?

[Bobbe]

lol

Americans are worse at it, true. Mispronouncing foreign words is a matter of patriotism for Uncle Sam, right alongside bizarre phenomena such as the Freedom Fries thing (sorry if I sound offensive, but that was just hilarious).

But English speakers as a whole will pronounce everything they see as it was written in English and be done with it. Right after that they will make fun of the Japanese when they try to say fly lice and say fried rice instead.

Lingua Franca privileges, I guess =)

[JayOnThaBeat]

Right after that they will make fun of the Japanese when they try to say fly lice and say fried rice instead.

Lingua Franca privileges, I guess =)

"It's FRIED RICE, YOU PLICK!"

-Lethal Weapon 4

[Bobbe]

Because a classic never dies

[Hogwash]

The whole confusion over the british/american pronunciation of "Monica" could perhaps be disambiguated by referring to the way each side of the Atlantic pronounce the word "pot"....at least, that's what it sounds like to my ear.

3 syllables? Really? Mah-Eh-Mo....that will feel awkward for a while. I defaulted to the "encyclopaedia" 2 syllable Mee-Mow. What's the rythm for the 3 syllable version? Even beats, or more like "potato"?

[GeneralAntilles]

3 syllables? Really? Mah-Eh-Mo....that will feel awkward for a while. I defaulted to the "encyclopaedia" 2 syllable Mee-Mow. What's the rythm for the 3 syllable version? Even beats, or more like "potato"?

The 2nd syllable is really deemphasized. You're probably better off just saying "my-moe".

[daveb70]

For ages I pronounced it in my mind "may-moe" but since I finally saw how it's supposed to be pronounced, I am working towards saying "my-moe" in my head all the time. I've spoken it out loud to others correctly as of late, while describing the N900.

Here's a thought- force everyone who registers an account on TMO to hear the audible pronunciation of it. :) Quim seems to have a good version we could sample from his N900 vid.

Oh, and when I saw qole comment on IPA, I got excited (http://www.genx40.com/images/2006a/twisted1.JPG), but only momentarily. But yes, nice to have Bobbe here to set us straight.

[qgil]

Next time we can have a lightning talk in the Maemo Summit with Jesus Climent saying "Maemo" and the audience repeating in a chorus during 5 minutes. He is actually a DJ used to public performances.

[buurmas]

The 2nd syllable is really deemphasized. You're probably better off just saying "my-moe".

Since we've been in language geek territory in this thread (and any decent singer is forced to be a bit of a language geek, right qole?), I'll point out that the "y" in "my" has a diphthong (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diphthong). The way I say it, it's an "ah" followed by a short "ee" -- two vowel sounds mashed together. So, I assumed that the whole "Eh" in Mah-Eh-Mo was less to suggest another syllable and more to spell out the diphthong in "ae".

Also, the word "diphthong" is dangerously ripe for punning. ;)

[Flandry]

Just thought i'd bump this up, seeing as how i was wondering this myself. I pronounce it "may moe" because that's the way one would expect it to be pronounced in English, which does nasty things to dipthongs, but i know that Nokia employees (Finns...) say "MAH eye moh" because of the way Finnish is emphasized.

I actually like the way may-moe sounds better than MAH-eye moh.

[flux41]

(I'm a big fan of May-Moe)

Same here. I've said May-moe since my dealings with the n770.

[pelago]

Yeah, I've always pronounced it May-Moe, although I'm sliding towards My-Moe after listening to various videos recently.

As a serious question, I wonder if the strange pronunciation puts of some new users? I've heard real-life stories of people not wanting to buy a Cinquecento (car) because they were embarrassed about trying to pronounce it.

On the other hand, people didn't know how to say Wii initially (some thought it was to rhyme with "why") and when they did know they laughed. Of course now it's become successful it's not a problem, but will Maemo ever reach that level of public recognition?

[jsa]

The IPA for the Finnish version is /mɑemo/ or /maemo/ (not sure which). It has three syllables: ma-e-mo and the stress is on the first syllable. Speculation: The Spanish pronounciation is similar but the stress is on the second syllable.

It's hard to explain the IPA o with words to someone who pronounces "mo", "moh" and "moe" similarly. :) The English to IPA tables have the o but it always seems to be with some other sound.

[buurmas]

On the other hand, people didn't know how to say Wii initially (some thought it was to rhyme with "why") and when they did know they laughed. Of course now it's become successful it's not a problem, but will Maemo ever reach that level of public recognition?
Oui. ;)

(Sorry.)

[Jaffa]

Easy pronounciation guide for those who don't know IPA, but know The Simpsons.

The owner of the bar, where Homer receives his beloved beer, is called Moe.

If you had one of him in your pocket, he'd be "my Moe". That's basically it (adjust length of each word to own personal dialect; but they should be about equal).

[nymajoak]

How do you guys pronounce daemon? It seems logical Maemo should be pronounced analogously?

I've always said "day-mon", with "mon" rhyming with John. Skipping the "n" and comparing with the above Simpson's example, I would pronounce Maemo "May Moe". Assuming "my Moe" is right, I would pronounce daemon "die-mon" which seems weird to me but might be right..

Where does the name Maemo come from, anyway?

[smarsh]

How do you guys pronounce daemon? It seems logical Maemo should be pronounced analogously?

I've always said "day-mon", with "mon" rhyming with John. Skipping the "n" and comparing with the above Simpson's example, I would pronounce Maemo "May Moe". Assuming "my Moe" is right, I would pronounce daemon "die-mon" which seems weird to me but might be right..

Where does the name Maemo come from, anyway?

See:
http://test.maemo.org/faq/faq.html#general

It's a random thing, but apparently it does mean something (standard) in one language...

BTW, I think I've always said May-mo. Beats my-mo anyway.

[JayOnThaBeat]

Where does the name Maemo come from, anyway?


Hi all.

This might come a bit too late, but i can tell you how to pronunce "maemo". I came up with the name, so...

The origin is as stated: pwgen (a password generator utility which you can set to give you all character passwords) gave me an option, "maimo". I used 5 characters names for my machines, so i also restricted it to that. But I did not like the "i" so I changed it for an "e".

Maemo was the name of my desktop, and little by little it gathered importance in the project, as i made it the canonical repository for everybody involved. And became THE server. And the project. And the SDK. And the OS.

So now that the origin is clear, and me being Spanish and Finnish being pronounced almost exactly as Spanish...

"mah-Eh-mo"

mah as the beginning of my
eh as the "e" in "pet"
mo as in Monica, but only pronouncing the M and the O.

Hope you like it.

So there.
..
..

[tomraider]

How do you guys pronounce daemon? It seems logical Maemo should be pronounced analogously?

I've always said "day-mon", with "mon" rhyming with John. Skipping the "n" and comparing with the above Simpson's example, I would pronounce Maemo "May Moe". Assuming "my Moe" is right, I would pronounce daemon "die-mon" which seems weird to me but might be right..

Where does the name Maemo come from, anyway?

Isn't daemon just the US spelling of demon (UK) ? So isn't it just pronounced dee-mon, that's how I've heard other UK linux admins pronounce it.

Edit - here: http://www.merriam-webster.com/cgi-bin/audio.pl?demon001.wav=daemon

[access]

Here's the Finnish-swedish (http://mariapettersson.se/maemo.ogg) way of pronouncing Maemo. :)

[pataphysician]

I'm fine with anything, unless someone starts calling it mee-maw (mima) I don't want to use a grandma OS ;) OK, may-emo might also be a bit annoying as well ;) though I'm totally fine with maam-o.

[tomraider]

No way!

Here in the U.S. of A, we only subtract letters from words, like color and humor.


More letters.... ha!

hehe can't be a US/UK thing then.

What about skillful (US) and skilful (UK) :-) Also fulfill/fulfil, enrollment/enrolment.

[pataphysician]

Maybe we should have a contest for the pronunciation like we did for the logo?

[JayOnThaBeat]

Maybe we should have a contest for the pronunciation like we did for the logo?

No. Jesus proclaimed the pronunciation. Then, access uploaded an ogg of it being pronounced. And he saw that it was good.

[zgold550]

I was a "May Moh"-er until the summit. The consensus at the summit was pretty clear though for My-Moh. I kinda like it now that I am used to it, its like "My Mobile".

[DaveP1]

I was a "May Moh"-er until the summit. The consensus at the summit was pretty clear though for My-Moh. I kinda like it now that I am used to it, its like "My Mobile".

I would agree. My-moh does imply (in English) a personal OS focused on mobility.

Plus, for the southern Europeans at least, it is the proper Latin pronunciation with ae pronounced as a long I.

[buurmas]

I was a "May Moh"-er until the summit. The consensus at the summit was pretty clear though for My-Moh. I kinda like it now that I am used to it, its like "My Mobile".
Is Nokia marketing reading this thread? ;) They should be!

[qole]

I'm Canadian, so I say "My Eh? Moe". ;)

Well, I try to say it that way. I keep saying May Moe, then correcting myself.

[javispedro]

What? You decided in the summit against the Spanish pronunciation of Maemo? :eek:

Dealbreaker! I'm not buying the N900 now. :D

[Milnoc]

I prefer to pronounce it In French, more specifically French Canadian.

"Mémo"

Similar to may-mo, but without the "a" part.

Since it's all open source anyway, I can pronounce it any way I want! :D

[Mavashi]

So now that the origin is clear, and me being Spanish and Finnish being pronounced almost exactly as Spanish...

"mah-Eh-mo"

mah as the beginning of my
eh as the "e" in "pet"
mo as in Monica, but only pronouncing the M and the O.

Hope you like it.
I'm Ukrainian and we have the same pronunciation as you described.
In addition we have Ukrainian word maemo, which translates as we have ... ;)

[torpedo48]

Those who have studied latin at school know that "ae" has to be read "e", so:

Maemo --> Mémo

The fact that in Maemo's symbols the "a" and the "e" are always linked together leads me to that reading.

And that is definitely the correct one :)

[tpinhao]

Those who have studied latin at school know that "ae" has to be read "e", so:

Maemo --> Mémo

The fact that in Maemo's symbols the "a" and the "e" are always linked together leads me to that reading.

And that is definitely the correct one :)

Portuguese here ... we read :

Ma-é-mo

[GeneralAntilles]

And that is definitely the correct one :)

Yes, except the word isn't Latin and made-up words can't really have "correct" pronunciation. :)

[UNderworld]

"MEE" "MO" .... thats how I spell it....

[Venomrush]

I pronouce it as 'mee-mo'

the 'mae' in 'maemo' should sound smiliar to 'tea' which is 'eee'

[nokix]

can i drop the "e" and call it mam-mow?

[inidrog]

Hhehehe (lol) at this thread.

I suggest every contender of this thread records how they pronounce Maemo or even Mæmo and link the files up here :)

[inidrog]

Hi all.

This might come a bit too late, but i can tell you how to pronunce "maemo". I came up with the name, so...

The origin is as stated: pwgen (a password generator utility which you can set to give you all character passwords) gave me an option, "maimo". I used 5 characters names for my machines, so i also restricted it to that. But I did not like the "i" so I changed it for an "e".

Maemo was the name of my desktop, and little by little it gathered importance in the project, as i made it the canonical repository for everybody involved. And became THE server. And the project. And the SDK. And the OS.

So now that the origin is clear, and me being Spanish and Finnish being pronounced almost exactly as Spanish...

"mah-Eh-mo"

mah as the beginning of my
eh as the "e" in "pet"
mo as in Monica, but only pronouncing the M and the O.

Hope you like it.


@ jesuscliment

I really hope you can make a sound recording of you pronouncing Maemo, for the history books ...

[stayloa]

I'm also Mee Moh...

[SubCore]

the 'mae' in 'maemo' should sound smiliar to 'tea' which is 'eee'

says who?
i find that awful...
the english pronounciation of "caesar" is equally horrible. but i guess i'm spoiled, because in german "ä" is derived from latin "ae"...

i'm going with the latin diphthong, suits best IMO.

[blue_led]

maemo = latinization of short ( memorandum ) > memo
" A memorandum or memo is a document or other communication that aids the memory by recording events or observations on a topic, such as may be used in a business office. "
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memorandum

Latinization of Finland is finnish's new national sport. http://www.yleradio1.fi/nuntii/
and if I don't "drank the ink" at latin school class I could understand all, but for me, latin is definitely better than finnish language :)

All make sense. So go latin. It is the best choice .
as wikipedia say : "Romanian is a Romance language, belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European language family, having much in common with languages such as French, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish. "
for me is naturaly me-mo like { me-mo } ry

[ezcola]

Yes, here is the closest pronounceation of "Maemo" that represents the "original" spanish/finnish way of saying the word.

Good link... just the one word pronounced.

Ofcourse there is no one right way of saying it, but this is as close that I can see Jesus (all mighty) ment it in the first place.

Here's the Finnish-swedish (http://mariapettersson.se/maemo.ogg) way of pronouncing Maemo. :)

[christexaport]

There is only one real pronunciation, and it is "MY-moe". And its not Latin, just a made up marketing choice. Give it a rest, put down the Hooked on Phonics discs, and move on.

[SubCore]

in every (european) language where "ae" exists, it's derived from latin (even the non-romanic ones).
i know it's not supposed to be a latin word, but the pronounciation in all of those languages is similar to latin.

"my-moe" is okay, "mee-moe" is not.

[romanianusa]

They pronounce it "MY MOE" and i thought that's WRONG. It should be "MAY-MOE." AE is "A"....I thought they're Europeans..that's why they pronounce it wrong.

[Den in USA]

They pronounce it "MY MOE" and i thought that's WRONG. It should be "MAY-MOE." AE is "A"....I thought they're Europeans..that's why they pronounce it wrong.

I have always pronounced it "May-moe" because I studied Latin for four years.

[christexaport]

I did too, but officially, its MYmo.

[RevdKathy]

I studied latin, greek, hebrew... I still pronounce it My Mo (short for My Maurice, I think though it could be My Maureen)

That seem to be the nearest to the diphthong intended, and give him a name as well.

[javispedro]

This might come a bit too late, but i can tell you how to pronunce "maemo". I came up with the name, so...
...
So now that the origin is clear, and me being Spanish and Finnish being pronounced almost exactly as Spanish...

"mah-Eh-mo"
mah as the beginning of my
eh as the "e" in "pet"
mo as in Monica, but only pronouncing the M and the O.
Word Of God. And I'm not going to listen to anyone telling me otherwise! ;)

[zehjotkah]

Word Of God. And I'm not going to listen to anyone telling me otherwise! ;)

You forgot to mention, that he is the one, that invented the name "maemo"

[jsa]

I did too, but officially, its MYmo.

Actually, that way you are pronouncing Maimo, not Maemo. Access already linked a clip in this thread in which he pronounced it the Finnish way. Spanish is very similar but the stress is in the middle of the word, not in the beginning.

This discussion is kind of funny though. One might think it would be easy to describe in words how something is supposed to sound but it's not. :)

If you pronounce it May-moe, you'd be right if the OS's name was Meimou, Mee-mo would be ok if the OS was Miimo and so on..

[javispedro]

More fun: http://www.acapela-group.com/text-to-speech-interactive-demo.html .

I personally say it much like "Spanish - Maria" does, which is halfway between the Finnish and the male Spanish voice...(damn inaccurate TTS systems).

[zehjotkah]

More fun: http://www.acapela-group.com/text-to-speech-interactive-demo.html .

I personally say it much like "Spanish - Maria" does, which is halfway between the Finnish and the male Spanish voice...(damn inaccurate TTS systems).

italian voices are okay, too...

[fatalsaint]

I've always said "May-moe" myself.

After reading half this thread.. I still don't know if it's:

May-moe
Mah-moe
Mey-mah
My-moe

Or what... lol. For hells sake.. I'll just call it "M5". Unless you bastards got a problem with "emm" being the pronunciation of "M" :p.

[mastac]

I've always said "May-moe" myself.

After reading half this thread.. I still don't know if it's:

May-moe
Mah-moe
Mey-mah
My-moe

Or what... lol. For hells sake.. I'll just call it "M5". Unless you bastards got a problem with "emm" being the pronunciation of "M" :p.

I agree... and who really cares?

[qole]

More fun: http://www.acapela-group.com/text-to-speech-interactive-demo.html .

I personally say it much like "Spanish - Maria" does, which is halfway between the Finnish and the male Spanish voice...(damn inaccurate TTS systems).

That Maria voice says it like I've heard the Maemo people do.

The closest spelling for the correct pronunciation (using the Maria voice as my guide) for my dialect (Canadian English) is "my-ai-mo" all smoothly run together. The "ai" is pronounced how we would say the letter "A" (or the trademark Canadian "eh?").

EDIT: I think "may-moe" is a acceptable approximation, and really, it doesn't matter much how you pronounce it.

[noobmonkey]

That Maria voice says it like I've heard the Maemo people do.

The closest spelling for the correct pronunciation (using the Maria voice as my guide) for my dialect (Canadian English) is "my-ai-mo" all smoothly run together. The "ai" is pronounced how we would say the letter "A" (or the trademark Canadian "eh?").

lol just seeing it spely like that makes me think of a geordie saying "Whyyyyyy ayeeeee" - My-ai :) - now i'm never gonna stop saying maemo in a geordie accent! aGHHHHHHHHH!

[SubCore]

The closest spelling for the correct pronunciation (using the Maria voice as my guide) for my dialect (Canadian English) is "my-ai-mo" all smoothly run together.

that's a great english transcription!
end of thread :D

[Joseph.skb]

What's the right pronouncement for Maemo?

And what does it mean?

Just curious :rolleyes:

[MINKIN2]

My-Mo

And I have no idea, lol (I guess it could be a finnish play on words with My-Mobile?)

[theonelaw]

What's the right pronouncement for Maemo?

And what does it mean?

Just curious :rolleyes:

Abandoned by Nokia

[gabby131]

M-ey-mow?

i-dont-really-know

in the dictionary, mostly "ae" is pronounced like "eigh" as in "neighbor"

I would like to know the exact pronunciation as well.

Not good in my English class since day 1 i started school.

[Radicalz38]

My-Mo

And I have no idea, lol (I guess it could be a finnish play on words with My-Mobile?)

hey I don't think it's that slang :p

I think that's two persons... Mae And Moe :D

[MINKIN2]

hey I don't think it's that slang :p

I think that's two persons... Mae And Moe :D

TBH, I would have agreed and originally thought it was pronounced "Mey-mo", but I have seen too many Youtube vids from user and those in the industry call it "Mymo" :)

[hawaii]

It's officially pronounced My-Mo by Nokians.

[sjgadsby]

The thread "How do you pronounce Maemo" (7 posts) has been merged into this thread.

The official answer by jesuscliment (http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?p=287259#post287259) was given earlier in the thread.

[Radicalz38]

Well... My n900 pronounced it as mae-mo... If you have espeak try typing in xterm

"espeak maemo"

:D

[cfh11]

The thread "How do you pronounce Maemo" (7 posts) has been merged into this thread.

The official answer by jesuscliment (http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?p=287259#post287259) was given earlier in the thread.

Interesting, I always assumed it was a variation on the Finnish word "maaemo" meaning "Mother Earth."

[maniacattack]

MEM-MO memo

[rmerren]

Nobody really knows how to pronounce it. It was only uttered once a year by the high priest, and since the temple fell it has not been spoken aloud in thousands of years.

[Radicalz38]

Woot! Read guys read!

The thread "How do you pronounce Maemo" (7 posts) has been merged into this thread.

The official answer by jesuscliment (http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?p=287259#post287259) was given earlier in the thread.

[Descalzo]

It doesn't matter how I pronounce it. I only have seen 2 N900s with my eyes. The other one is with my oldest brother, who lives about a thousand miles away. We rarely speak on the phone, and when we do we rarely speak the word "Maemo" and when we do we say "Mee-Mo" to rhyme with "me" and "mo".
Everyone else with whom I have shared this phone's awesomeness has simple referred to it as my phone or, in the case of one friend, "Your cool Linux phone."

[Alb3rtO]

My EmO :))))

[Joseph.skb]

You guys are just great!

Ask a question, and get 200 hilariously creative versions of pronouning Maemo.

Still, thanks.

Now, how about the meaning of Maemo?

[flipalong]

i pronounce it may-e-mo :D or me-mo.

[Joseph.skb]

Wait a minute! I thought we just saw the 'official' pronounciation "mah-Eh-mo"
http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?p=287259#post287259

Can we now try to guess the meaning of the word? :rolleyes:

[Radicalz38]

You guys are just great!

Ask a question, and get 200 hilariously creative versions of pronouning Maemo.

Still, thanks.

Now, how about the meaning of Maemo?

Again

Woot! Read guys read!

The thread "How do you pronounce Maemo" (7 posts) has been merged into this thread.

The official answer by jesuscliment (http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?p=287259#post287259) was given earlier in the thread.

Spoonfeed
The origin is as stated: pwgen (a password generator utility which you can set to give you all character passwords) gave me an option, "maimo". I used 5 characters names for my machines, so i also restricted it to that. But I did not like the "i" so I changed it for an "e".

[kingoddball]

It's a weird name.... Weirdest name for any "mass marketed" device OS..

The way I say it: "May-Mo".

[ndi]

I always used memo, like the note. It's easier, though it's kid of bugging me where writing code, I've spelt TMaemo.Lines several times now.