English Amiga Board - View Single Post - Amiga questions you've always been too embarrassed to ask

Mark Wright · 18 May 2013, 03:22

I always wondered why if you type = followed by return (equals sign) into a CLI window (even without a disk inserted) you're treated to "error in command name". There's no attempt to read a volume for a file, unlike virtually anything else you type into an open CLI window.

The above relates to KS 1.2/1.3 but I think KS2/3 display the same. Too obscure to bother raising it until now! I presume it's some sort of operand to use with stock CLI commands, but I always thought it odd that intuition accepts it on its own.

Something that's bugged me for years...

I can remember being uncertain about the pronounciation of esoteric computer-related things back at the beginning of the Amiga days. In an era before the internet and TV, none of us "heard" what things were called, we simply read about them in magazines and gave them our own vocal interpretation in discussions with friends, etc.

I've never been 100% sure if I'm right about the following:

I always said EXXX-COPY, but a friend insisted it was CROSS-COPY (with the X denoting cross, which kind of makes sense really). Mr Neuhaus? Can you clear this up once and for all please? By that logic, is Factor 5's EXXX-OUT pronounced CROSS OUT? But how should you pronounce ZED-OUT? Calling Jules Eggmeister!

I always said GEE (hard G - bee, pea, tea) ANNA SISTERS. A different friend (who I think had Italian roots) insisted it was GEE (gee-whiz, as in the bearded disco falsetto trio of gees) ANNA SISTERS. Armin! Help!? Oh.... :-(

I always said BAMIGA (like Fred and Wilma's club-happy son) SECTOR ONE. But I often heard the B and AMIGA separated among contacts - Bee Amiga... Chatterbox?

There are others I can't think of right now (I knew people who sounded the silent P in Psygnosis) but I wonder if anyone had a red face when they finally heard an official pronounciation of something they'd been mispronouncing for years ;-)

18 May 2013, 03:22	#37
Mark Wright Junior Member Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: Hove, actually Posts: 218	I always wondered why if you type = followed by return (equals sign) into a CLI window (even without a disk inserted) you're treated to "error in command name". There's no attempt to read a volume for a file, unlike virtually anything else you type into an open CLI window. The above relates to KS 1.2/1.3 but I think KS2/3 display the same. Too obscure to bother raising it until now! I presume it's some sort of operand to use with stock CLI commands, but I always thought it odd that intuition accepts it on its own. Something that's bugged me for years... I can remember being uncertain about the pronounciation of esoteric computer-related things back at the beginning of the Amiga days. In an era before the internet and TV, none of us "heard" what things were called, we simply read about them in magazines and gave them our own vocal interpretation in discussions with friends, etc. I've never been 100% sure if I'm right about the following: I always said EXXX-COPY, but a friend insisted it was CROSS-COPY (with the X denoting cross, which kind of makes sense really). Mr Neuhaus? Can you clear this up once and for all please? By that logic, is Factor 5's EXXX-OUT pronounced CROSS OUT? But how should you pronounce ZED-OUT? Calling Jules Eggmeister! I always said GEE (hard G - bee, pea, tea) ANNA SISTERS. A different friend (who I think had Italian roots) insisted it was GEE (gee-whiz, as in the bearded disco falsetto trio of gees) ANNA SISTERS. Armin! Help!? Oh.... :-( I always said BAMIGA (like Fred and Wilma's club-happy son) SECTOR ONE. But I often heard the B and AMIGA separated among contacts - Bee Amiga... Chatterbox? There are others I can't think of right now (I knew people who sounded the silent P in Psygnosis) but I wonder if anyone had a red face when they finally heard an official pronounciation of something they'd been mispronouncing for years ;-)