[eesmith]

I don't get the joke/smilely.

The NATO alphabet use "X-Ray", which https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NATO_phonetic_alphabet describes as "ECKS RAY".

I also pronounce "xargs" with a leading "ECKS".

I don't think I'm pronouncing it wrong. https://www.gnu.org/software/findutils/manual/html_node/find... says 'The name xargs, pronounced EX-args, means “combine arguments.”'

[simonblack]

The 'joke' is that instead of naming the letter as in 'ECKS'-args, I'm sounding the letter as in 'KS'-args.

Same as 'ls'. Is it 'ELL'-'ESS' which would conform to the naming 'ECKS' above, or is it 'L-uh-S' which would conform to the sounding 'KS' above?

[eesmith]

Okay, I think I understand where the joke is coming from.

And I think I understand why I have a hard time understanding it as a joke. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X#English comments that 'x':

] is typically pronounced as the voiceless consonant cluster /ks/ when it follows the stressed vowel

] When ⟨x⟩ does start a word, it is usually pronounced 'z' (e.g. xylophone, xenophobia, and xanthan). When starting in some names or as its own representation it is pronounced 'eks', in rare recent loanwords or foreign proper names, it can also be pronounced /s/ [...] or /ʃ/

I think this dead horse is well and truly beat.