If you work with databases, you will often refer to SQL, the acronym which is short for “Structured Query Language”. Everyone who is anyone in the world of databases will know quite a few SQL statements. They might even express the thought in SQL itself…

SELECT Commands FROM tbl_SQL_Statements WHERE database LIKE “%SQL%”;

But, how do you SAY it?

How do you say “SQL”? Is it “S – Q – L ” (“es queue elle”) or it is “sequel”.

Some people get quite upset about this. One senior Oracle DBA, if one trusts the source, apparently refuses to hire candidates for junior posts if they pronounce it “S – Q – L” and not, as is the Oracle convention, “sequel”. Officially, according to Wikipedia and some other authorities (like the ISO committee) it should be “S – Q – L”, but the author of the language himself, apparently, used to refer to it as “sequel”.

See http://patorjk.com/blog/2012/01/26/pronouncing-sql-s-q-l-or-sequel/ for a fascinating account of all this and sources.

Me, I use both interchangeably… Who cares!?

Algis Kuliukas
Perth
June 2017