this post was submitted on 18 Feb 2026
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Demon? Damon? Or something more exotic?

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[–] lengau@midwest.social 8 points 5 days ago

You people use meat flapping to communicate?

[–] msokiovt@lemmy.today 24 points 6 days ago

I say at day-mon.

[–] tatterdemalion@programming.dev 22 points 6 days ago

Same as demon. Because my research indicates that this usage was originally a reference to Maxwell's demon.

https://www.takeourword.com/TOW146/page4.html

[–] beeng@discuss.tchncs.de 4 points 5 days ago
[–] enbiousenvy@lemmy.blahaj.zone 4 points 6 days ago
[–] Nioxic@lemmy.dbzer0.com 95 points 1 week ago (4 children)
[–] panda_abyss@lemmy.ca 55 points 1 week ago

What do you want, Picard?

[–] RickyRigatoni@piefed.zip 41 points 1 week ago

Daymon. Fighter of the nightmon. Champion of the sun.

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[–] MantisToboggon@lemmy.world 42 points 1 week ago (2 children)
[–] wesker@lemmy.sdf.org 46 points 1 week ago (1 children)
[–] _haha_oh_wow_@sh.itjust.works 13 points 1 week ago

He's a master of command lines and shell scripts for everyone!

[–] Delta_V@lemmy.world 23 points 1 week ago
[–] neidu3@sh.itjust.works 35 points 1 week ago
[–] Quibblekrust@thelemmy.club 25 points 1 week ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (4 children)

"Demon"

It was always "demon" (spelled daemon or dæmon), as in a spiritual attendant. Christian mythology has poisoned the word, and anyone who says "daymon" to not offend them is a coward.

See here:

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/demon

Edit: When I say it was always pronounced "demon", I mean the nerds who started calling a small background program daemon pronounced it "demon".

[–] spartanatreyu@programming.dev 20 points 6 days ago

I say daymon not to avoid offence, but since it sounds cooler than demon.

A demon sounds like a fiend that has only been around for at most a few hundred years, but a daemon sounds like it has been around for a few thousand so it is much more dangerous.

[–] lambalicious@lemmy.sdf.org 5 points 6 days ago

While offending Christians is welcome in this day and age, the marked Latin and Greek history of the word, originating as "daímōn" with an 'a', and the fact that 'æ' exists, both make "dæmon" a cool enough spelling that I'm keeping it, and the fancier spelling helps keeping safe and separate from the christofascist corruption of the word for when I am more in mind of the mechanics and purposes rather than having to be a soldier in someone else's cultural war.

[–] Chakravanti@monero.town 0 points 5 days ago

You're wrong. I say them both day-mon. Because they are the fucking same. That's not a pun. It's just one of the things they handle delivering to those who want that stuff.

Xtians are fucking evil. Evil was never and will never be real even though Daemons are. They're imagining evil and going fucking Tenet.

Yeah. Tgat movie. That's them. They did that. Go cry, Stan. You fucking CIA cartoon.

It's still not and never will be real beyond their imagination.

[–] BetterDev@programming.dev 28 points 1 week ago

Calm your tits (meaning your birds), I say "daymon", and I relish any opportunity to offend the overly devout.

My reason is simple: I learned the word by reading it and sounding it out, and that's more badass than "haha I say demon because I'm edgy"

[–] imsufferableninja@sh.itjust.works 24 points 1 week ago (2 children)

The 'ae' in daemon is the same as the æ in encyclopædia.

[–] entwine@programming.dev 21 points 1 week ago (2 children)

How do you pronounce encyclopædia?

[–] breadsmasher@lemmy.world 42 points 1 week ago (3 children)
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[–] Eldritch@piefed.world 9 points 1 week ago

Just as it reads. You smash that E into the A's ass. Starting the E before the A finishes.

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[–] teft@piefed.social 24 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Same way that I say Matt Damon.

Matt Daemon

[–] NigelFrobisher@aussie.zone 23 points 1 week ago (1 children)

It’s just an old spelling of demon. So that.

[–] BetterDev@programming.dev 2 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Languages change over time, and we get to vote on which words we'd like changed by preferring cool ones over just "the way it has always been"

[–] NigelFrobisher@aussie.zone 3 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Yeah, but also sometimes people are just thick.

[–] BetterDev@programming.dev 1 points 5 days ago

Can't argue there!

[–] tiny_hedgehog@piefed.social 15 points 1 week ago

I usually go for J̵̧̢̢̢̡̩͎̙͙̹͇̞̯̯͇̞̭̯̙̻̲͖̻̗̫̙̲̪̫̥̦͇̭͇͍̤̳̫̖̪̗̈ö̸͓̱̭͔͓̼͔́̄̆̑̅͛̈̉̆̓̿̾̓̒̑͂̃̃͑̏̄̈͛̄̈̂̌̑̂̆͛̅͘̚̚͘͝r̶̡̢͉̤͎̲̥̮̻̟͉̩̗̠̝̖̬͈̹͓͈̱̹͖͕̩͎̉̑̋̂̀̍̇͋́̐͆̇͋́m̶̢̢̨̢̨̭̪̹͓̜̱̼̬̘͖̬̝̩̤̘̰̮͕͎͈̭͖͕͎̳͓̺̟͒͑̈́͊̓̾̆͂͂͒̕͘͜͠ͅü̵̢̢̧̢̢̞̹̼̱̲̯̟͕̞̖̞̖̪͙͓̈́̓́̈́̎̓͐̂͆̏̍̍͒̾̀͒̍̎̐̊̀͊̓̋̀̀̋͑͊͑̚͘͝͠͝͝͝ņ̴̡̢̛̛̪̺̻̺͎̪̯͎̪̦͔̱͕̱̫̬̞̦̝̃̽͊̆͌̈́͂̈́̈́̾̋̐͋̋̐͋̏͆̄̄̽͗̒͋̌͒͂͘͜͠͝͝͝͠g̸̛̰̱̣̺͇̒̈́͐̓̿͑́̂̂̔̏̈́͊̔̅̌̈́̍̿͆̄͒͑̀̊͘͘͜͝a̶̦̯̦̹̘̪̞̗̟͇̲̣̳̩̔́́͗̈́͛̀͋͛̌̉̐̾͋́̇̄̍̈́̾̏̿̐̔̔͘̚n̶̡̻͎͔̬̣̲͋̽͒̒̏͋̈́́́d̵̨̧̢̢̡̗̱̼̙͔̤̤̣͓̖̼͍̻̰̭̗̬̟̙̗̿̿̒̎̌̓̆̋̈́͂̊͊̿͊͗̐̿͜r̷̡̦̱̖͖̙̥̫͙̞̲̬̫̼̞̫̖̜̦̰̙̗̯̠̹̗̲̪̯̻̖͇͚̳̿͂͆͒̂̎̇͛͂̈̐͒̄͊͘͠͝ but some purists find that too much so I tone it down to “baddie”.

[–] numbermess@fedia.io 14 points 1 week ago

D ayyyyy mon

[–] smuuthbrane@sh.itjust.works 14 points 1 week ago

Samy way as the actor, Matt.

[–] hendrik@palaver.p3x.de 13 points 1 week ago (2 children)

ˈdiː.mən

And don't ever ask random people how to pronounce 'router'.

[–] Maestro@fedia.io 6 points 1 week ago (5 children)

So, what is it? Rooter? Or rauter?

[–] lambalicious@lemmy.sdf.org 2 points 6 days ago

It's a rauter, from the Ínglich raut, a paþ.

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[–] nomecks@lemmy.wtf 12 points 1 week ago

Demon, because it offends purists, and FreeBSD's mascot is a demon.

[–] frongt@lemmy.zip 11 points 1 week ago
[–] HubertManne@piefed.social 10 points 1 week ago

both honestly. I think when I see it I think damon mostly but I might say that and I might say demon.

[–] CallMeAl@piefed.zip 8 points 1 week ago (1 children)
[–] tatterdemalion@programming.dev 5 points 6 days ago (1 children)

I thought it was a reference to Maxwell's demon.

Daemons in computing, generally processes that run on servers to respond to users, are named for Maxwell's demon.

[–] CallMeAl@piefed.zip 2 points 6 days ago

Yes the CTSS crew were reportedly thinking of Maxewell's demon but also chose to change it to the "daemon" spelling to make it sound more like a "friendly garden spirit than a monster" and the pronounced it "deemon".

[–] owenfromcanada@lemmy.ca 5 points 1 week ago

I would pronounce it "DEEmon" but that gets some religious folks all freaked out, so I usually go with "DAYman".

[–] who@feddit.org 5 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Pronunciation

  • (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA(key): /ˈdiː.mən/
  • Rhymes: -iːmən
  • Hyphenation: dae‧mon

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/daemon

Rhymes

  • daemon, demon
  • freeman
  • seaman
  • Seaman (surname - see especially David Seaman)
  • semen

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Rhymes:English/i%CB%90m%C9%99n

[–] Olap@lemmy.world 4 points 1 week ago

Demon, so I can kill them, spawn them, or send them signals to die!

[–] Durandal@lemmy.today 4 points 1 week ago
[–] dsilverz@calckey.world 4 points 1 week ago

@guynamedzero@piefed.zeromedia.vip @linux@programming.dev

"Why thou summoneth me?" Lol
Just kidding!

I'm Brazilian, so I pronounce Daemon in such a Brazilian (specifically the southeast, "paulista"/from state of São Paulo variation) accent:

Daah-eh-monn

Or, if my IPA literacy is correct:

/dajˈmõ/

The Daemon I use in my pseudonym is inspired both by the Unix daemons (because I'm a DevOps and also a Linux daily user), as well by the esoteric daemons (as in the original Greek definition of daimon, spirits, due to my belief system).

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