Laugh OTD

[figmo]

This morning a recruiter called to ask me if I was available for a contract. I of course said "yes."

"Do you have Oracle database experience?"

"I think so." (I worked at Oracle for three years.)

"Do you know what 'SQL' [pronounced "see-quel") is?"

"Of course! Structured Query Language."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"I ask because we sent two candidates to the client, and neither of them knew what it was. When the interviewer asked what 'SQL' stands for, the candidate asked, 'Can you spell that?'"

Comments

[wcg.livejournal.com]

I don't think I've ever heard anybody call it see-quel. It's always S.Q.L. with each initial pronounced.

[terriwells.livejournal.com]

I've heard it both ways. I tend to edit it as if it's pronounced "sequel" rather than "S.Q.L." Yes, that actually does make a difference.

[duncanmac.livejournal.com]

I'm not surprised. I do know that it would affect the "collating sequence" (or order of sorting).

[howeird]

It's always been see-quel to me.

[wcg.livejournal.com]

Huh. Might be an east coast/west coast thing.

[madfilkentist]

I'm on the east coast, and I hear "Sequel" more often than "ess cue ell."

[wcg.livejournal.com]

OK, well, that's not it either. Must be the space science community I interact with, or at least my part of it.

[mneme]

I've certainly run into Programmers With a Clue who had never encountered SQL pronounced "Sequel". But that's still very much the most common pronunciation I've encountered (and the one I use). I've also run into rare programmers who pronounced it "Squeel".

[figmo.livejournal.com]

Officially, only IBM can call it "see-quel," but lots of folks call it that anyway.