[thechat] Pronounce URL

[Jorah Lavin]

I'm taking a required course called "Foundatoins of e-Commerce." The 
textbook is poorly written, with the author constantly mixing the terms Web 
and Intranet (at one point he discusses all of the applications that were 
popular on the Web before the invention of the Web... I kid you not) but 
one thing he wrote stopped me dead.

He introduced the term "URL," then remarks that it is pronounced "earl."

Well, I've been online since '97, and I earn my living building Intranet 
sites, so I talk to tech people all the time. I've never once heard anyone 
pronounce the term that way. Most people spell it out, "you are ell," and I 
once heard a long-time AOL person pronounce it as "ural," similar to how 
I've always pronounced those Russian mountains, the Urals, or the way the 
word "urinal" would be said if the "in" vanished.

So... now I'm wondering if he just made that up, or if there is regional or 
sub-cultural variations in the way the term is spoken.

What have you folks heard?

-Jorah


PS: I'm located on the east coast of the US. When I moved down south to 
North Carolina from New England, I had to learn to stop saying .GIF as 
"jiff," and start saying "giff" with a hard G sound, since that is how 
people say it down here... see, I'm willing to adapt. I even say "y'all" 
sometimes now. I misdoubt that I'll be saying "URL" as "earl" anytime soon, 
though.