I hear about new technologies every day. Actually by "hear" I really mean "read," since my usual sources for these kinds of things are blog posts, tweets, IMs and emails. Weeks or months can pass before I use this new term verbally. The problem is, until that happens, I've got a pronunciation in my head, and that pronunciation may not be right.
While we can't ask the person who made up the word "tomato" how to pronounce it, the people who made up words like "Linux" and "SQL" are still around to give their opinions. Let's see what they have to say.
Linux
This is largely settled. These days I usually hear "Linux" pronounced with a short i, but not long ago it wasn't unusual to hear people pronouncing it with a long i, like the Peanuts character Linus with the s changed into an x. This makes perfect sense to an American English speaker who grew up on The Great Pumpkin, but it's wrong.
Linus Torvalds named Linux after himself, and he clearly pronounces it with a short i.
Verdict: "linn-ucks"
SQL
There are two camps: the ones who say "sequel" and others who say the letters "ess-cue-ell." The SQL standard says it's "ess-cue-ell" but I don't think that's the final word, considering its co-designer Donald Chamberlin favors "sequel."
SQL actually began life as "SEQUEL" until a trademark dispute forced a name change. Also, "sequel" saves a syllable, which I find compelling. On the other hand, there's a cutesiness to "sequel" that I've never fully warmed to.
Verdict: I suppose "sequel" it is, but I'll include this quote from MySQL's documentation:
The official way to pronounce 'MySQL' is 'My Ess Que Ell' (not 'my sequel'), but we do not mind if you pronounce it as 'my sequel' or in some other localized way.
SQLite
I thought this would be easy: people would either go with "ess-cue-lite" or "sequel-ite" depending on their SQL pronunciation preference. They have the same number of syllables so everybody's happy, right? I couldn't leave well enough alone, and found video of this database's creator giving a talk. Turns out he uses neither!
Verdict: I'm not about to add a 4th, awkward syllable, even if it's "correct." I'm sticking with "ess-cue-lite" which I think flows better than "sequel-ight." Mistrial!
Redis
When I first read about Redis, I heard "ree-diss" in my head.
Verdict: "red-iss," though I still insist it needs a double-d to truly earn its short e (this is why there's no question in my mind how to pronounce "Reddit").