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In Europe, the surname of Niklaus Wirth (inventor of the Pascal programming language) is pronounced “veert”; in the United States, it’s pronounced “worth.“

Thus, in Europe, he’s called by name; in the US he’s called by value.



The meaner version explicitly says Niklaus, and Nickle's as well.


This was the original:

Whereas Europeans generally pronounce his name the right way ('Nick-louse Veert'), Americans invariably mangle it into 'Nickel's Worth.' This is to say that Europeans call him by name, but Americans call him by value.

- Introduction by Adriaan van Wijngaarden at the IFIP Congress (1965). (https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Niklaus_Wirth)




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