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

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[–] Nioxic@lemmy.dbzer0.com 95 points 2 weeks ago (4 children)
[–] panda_abyss@lemmy.ca 55 points 2 weeks ago

What do you want, Picard?

[–] RickyRigatoni@piefed.zip 41 points 2 weeks ago

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

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

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

[–] Delta_V@lemmy.world 23 points 2 weeks ago
[–] neidu3@sh.itjust.works 35 points 2 weeks ago
[–] Quibblekrust@thelemmy.club 25 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks 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".

[–] BetterDev@programming.dev 28 points 2 weeks 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"

[–] spartanatreyu@programming.dev 20 points 2 weeks 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 2 weeks 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.

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[–] teft@piefed.social 24 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Same way that I say Matt Damon.

Matt Daemon

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

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

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

How do you pronounce encyclopædia?

[–] breadsmasher@lemmy.world 42 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)
[–] nomecks@lemmy.wtf 3 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)
[–] Telorand@reddthat.com 12 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)
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[–] Eldritch@piefed.world 9 points 2 weeks 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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[–] msokiovt@lemmy.today 24 points 2 weeks ago

I say at day-mon.

[–] NigelFrobisher@aussie.zone 23 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)

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

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[–] tatterdemalion@programming.dev 22 points 2 weeks 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

[–] tiny_hedgehog@piefed.social 15 points 2 weeks ago

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

[–] smuuthbrane@sh.itjust.works 14 points 2 weeks ago

Samy way as the actor, Matt.

[–] numbermess@fedia.io 14 points 2 weeks ago

D ayyyyy mon

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

ˈdiː.mən

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

[–] Maestro@fedia.io 6 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

So, what is it? Rooter? Or rauter?

[–] who@feddit.org 4 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (1 children)

It's somewhat regional. Lots of Americans pronounce the ou as in ouch, but lots of other folks pronounce it as in root (recognizing that route is its root word).

[–] moody@lemmings.world 6 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

(recognizing that route is its root word)

You could also ask people how they pronounce route and get different answers.

[–] who@feddit.org 5 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

Aye. Which reinforces what I wroot.

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[–] KindaABigDyl@programming.dev 3 points 2 weeks ago

'ɹaʊ.ɾɚ

[–] nomecks@lemmy.wtf 12 points 2 weeks ago

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

[–] frongt@lemmy.zip 11 points 2 weeks ago
[–] HubertManne@piefed.social 10 points 2 weeks 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 2 weeks ago (1 children)
[–] tatterdemalion@programming.dev 5 points 2 weeks 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.

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[–] lengau@midwest.social 8 points 2 weeks ago

You people use meat flapping to communicate?

[–] who@feddit.org 5 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks 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

[–] owenfromcanada@lemmy.ca 5 points 2 weeks ago

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

[–] enbiousenvy@lemmy.blahaj.zone 4 points 2 weeks ago
[–] Olap@lemmy.world 4 points 2 weeks ago

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

[–] noxypaws@pawb.social 4 points 2 weeks ago
[–] dsilverz@calckey.world 4 points 2 weeks 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).

[–] beeng@discuss.tchncs.de 4 points 2 weeks ago
[–] Durandal@lemmy.today 4 points 2 weeks ago
[–] Telorand@reddthat.com 3 points 2 weeks ago

"DAH-ay-mon," I choose you! Use your exec ~/thunder_sma.sh!

[–] I_Am_Jacks_____@sh.itjust.works 3 points 2 weeks ago
[–] SigHunter@discuss.tchncs.de 3 points 2 weeks ago
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