For ages I pronounced it in my mind "may-moe" but since I finally saw how it's supposed to be pronounced, I am working towards saying "my-moe" in my head all the time. I've spoken it out loud to others correctly as of late, while describing the N900.

Here's a thought- force everyone who registers an account on TMO to hear the audible pronunciation of it. Quim seems to have a good version we could sample from his N900 vid.

Oh, and when I saw qole comment on IPA, I got excited, but only momentarily. But yes, nice to have Bobbe here to set us straight.

Next time we can have a lightning talk in the Maemo Summit with Jesus Climent saying "Maemo" and the audience repeating in a chorus during 5 minutes. He is actually a DJ used to public performances.

Since we've been in language geek territory in this thread (and any decent singer is forced to be a bit of a language geek, right qole?), I'll point out that the "y" in "my" has a diphthong. The way I say it, it's an "ah" followed by a short "ee" -- two vowel sounds mashed together. So, I assumed that the whole "Eh" in Mah-Eh-Mo was less to suggest another syllable and more to spell out the diphthong in "ae".

Also, the word "diphthong" is dangerously ripe for punning.

Just thought i'd bump this up, seeing as how i was wondering this myself. I pronounce it "may moe" because that's the way one would expect it to be pronounced in English, which does nasty things to dipthongs, but i know that Nokia employees (Finns...) say "MAH eye moh" because of the way Finnish is emphasized.

I actually like the way may-moe sounds better than MAH-eye moh.

Same here. I've said May-moe since my dealings with the n770.

Yeah, I've always pronounced it May-Moe, although I'm sliding towards My-Moe after listening to various videos recently.

As a serious question, I wonder if the strange pronunciation puts of some new users? I've heard real-life stories of people not wanting to buy a Cinquecento (car) because they were embarrassed about trying to pronounce it.

On the other hand, people didn't know how to say Wii initially (some thought it was to rhyme with "why") and when they did know they laughed. Of course now it's become successful it's not a problem, but will Maemo ever reach that level of public recognition?

The IPA for the Finnish version is /mɑemo/ or /maemo/ (not sure which). It has three syllables: ma-e-mo and the stress is on the first syllable. Speculation: The Spanish pronounciation is similar but the stress is on the second syllable.

It's hard to explain the IPA o with words to someone who pronounces "mo", "moh" and "moe" similarly. The English to IPA tables have the o but it always seems to be with some other sound.

Oui.

(Sorry.)

Easy pronounciation guide for those who don't know IPA, but know The Simpsons.

The owner of the bar, where Homer receives his beloved beer, is called Moe.

If you had one of him in your pocket, he'd be "my Moe". That's basically it (adjust length of each word to own personal dialect; but they should be about equal).

How do you guys pronounce daemon? It seems logical Maemo should be pronounced analogously?

I've always said "day-mon", with "mon" rhyming with John. Skipping the "n" and comparing with the above Simpson's example, I would pronounce Maemo "May Moe". Assuming "my Moe" is right, I would pronounce daemon "die-mon" which seems weird to me but might be right..

Where does the name Maemo come from, anyway?