Is it pronounced "wares" or "war-EZ"?

[PatmanQC]

Somebody in another thread Was talking about piracy and it reminded me of a time when I was working at a computer store in the 90s. this guy came in telling me how he would never buy anything in the store because he could always download the "war-EZ" Versions. He did this repeatedly and I was quite enjoying hearing him pronounce it this way.

Since then, a few people have pronounced it this way. As anybody else heard it pronounced like this?

[gimbal]

I only very rarely heard someone use that word and it would just be "wares" but implied to end with a Z of course because HackerMan999. In polite conversation it would usually be a cracked copy. It's a rather oafish word after all.

[Megalomaniac]

I always just said 'wares'. As one of those sad people who mostly bought games I don't recall ever hearing it spoken. I remember playing it in Scrabble against someone much older who understandably wasn't familiar with the word though.

[gimbal]

Uh. It's just another word for "goods". Age should have no baring on knowing the word or not.

[desiv]

Back in the day, hearing it pronounced with a z at the end was pretty common in the groups we were in...
Not sure if that was just a local thing or not...

Think we got it from the BBSes we used to visit... I think some of them even spelled it with a z at times...

[grelbfarlk]

Just pretend you are saying Juarez, badly.

[jbenam]

Originally Posted by grelbfarlk

Just pretend you are saying Juarez, badly.

That’s how I pronounced it back in the early 2000s

Obviously we are not an English-speaking country so English words like “warez” came out with wildly varying pronunciations, especially back then

[alexh]

It was intended to be pronounced "wares" I'm sure. The word in English means "goods" or "items".

[Dunny]

Originally Posted by alexh

It was intended to be pronounced "wares" I'm sure. The word in English means "goods" or "items".

Or as in "Dude, where's my games?"

[a_crow]

Originally Posted by PatmanQC

Somebody in another thread Was talking about piracy and it reminded me of a time when I was working at a computer store in the 90s. this guy came in telling me how he would never buy anything in the store because he could always download the "war-EZ" Versions. He did this repeatedly and I was quite enjoying hearing him pronounce it this way.

Since then, a few people have pronounced it this way. As anybody else heard it pronounced like this?

Wares. As in "software". Never heard "War-EZ".

[alexh]

Originally Posted by a_crow

Wares. As in "software".

You think that is where it came from?

I always thought "wares" as in "goods for sale" but "softWARES" might make more sense.

[a_crow]

Originally Posted by alexh

You think that is where it came from? I always thought wares as in goods for sale but that makes more sense.

Your guess is as good as mine, maybe it's a bit of both! Definitely not war-EZ either way, haha!

[PatmanQC]

Originally Posted by a_crow

Your guess is as good as mine, maybe it's a bit of both! Definitely not war-EZ either way, haha!

LOL, it was so absurd hearing this guy standing there with a straight face telling me to my face that he was not going to buy anything in my store because he could just pirate it at home.

[cynix]

Originally Posted by a_crow

Wares. As in "software".

Yes, that's what it always meant to me too. But I never heard it used IRL, it was always just "New games" or "New cracks" etc.

[desiv]

Yes, it is Wikipedia, but still.. ;-)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warez

[redblade]

From one of the links on the wikipedia Warez sites.

This article discusses a group of copyright infringers known as warez traders. Warez (pronounced the same as wares) are copies of infringed copyrighted works (particularly commercial software) with any copy protection mechanisms removed. Warez traders obtain and disseminate warez as an avocation, some spending 60 or more hours per week on this hobby (McCandless, 1997).
As a sociological group, warez traders owe their existence to computer-mediated communication. Electronic networks such as the Internet create the opportunity for traders to find and communicate with each other and to trade infringing files at virtually no cost. This article discusses their unique sociological and psychological attributes and the resulting challenges for conforming warez traders’ behavior to legal norms.

Eric Goldman, The Challenges of Regulating Warez Trading (2005), https://digitalcommons.law.scu.edu/facpubs/620/

This seems to be the way I would pronounce it, but I guess the true source would be those who were/are active?

Would be interesting if some of the former active members can confirm the 60 hours? Or was it less when using a cart (Action Replay III) ? It must rapidly increase and improve your muscle memory. Also is a cart still faster when you could start coding custom decryptor tools, or would you just load decryptor or tool in memory and the first line loads the address in to the (ax) register?

[redblade]

Originally Posted by PatmanQC

Somebody in another thread Was talking about piracy and it reminded me of a time when I was working at a computer store in the 90s. this guy came in telling me how he would never buy anything in the store because he could always download the "war-EZ" Versions. He did this repeatedly and I was quite enjoying hearing him pronounce it this way.

Since then, a few people have pronounced it this way. As anybody else heard it pronounced like this?

This seems like some unusual behaviour, bragging perhaps?

[Paulee_Alex_Bow]

I say it like ware-ez or ware-rez

[Hedeon]

He pronounced it as war-easy? Weird.

[Tigerskunk]

In Germany we called that "RAUBKOPIEN"...