SUSE LINUX Enterprise Server is often abbreviated “SLES.” This should be pronounced “Sless,” as in “SLES is More.” Do not pronounce it “Slez” as though it were a short form of Slesbian, presumably meaning a SLES system administrator. First, it sounds like an insensitive schoolyard taunt. Second, it distracts me from whatever you’re talking about and makes me wonder about how one ought to pronounce abbreviations. Then I wonder what kind of reject marketing campaigns you could come up with based on those pronounciations. For example, “SLES is more,” or “Get more with SLES” or “I’m a SLESbian and I’m proud.” No, I don’t think any of them would work. The first two are lame, and the third is so tasteless and insensitive it would offend anyone within a hundred yards of it. Then I wonder about the implications of making a joke about how it’s pronounced, and if that’s a violation of various rules of conduct in the office. Then I wonder what you were saying because it’s several minutes later. So, say “sless” or “enterprise server nine” and let’s get on with the rest of the meeting. What was that again? I couldn’t hear you through the static on the phone.
Secretly Ironic 