I typically pronounce "char" as "character". Honestly, I rarely have any reason to talk specifically about chars, so it doesn't come up often.

The next logical question is, then, why don't I pronounce "enum" as "enumeration"? And the answer is that I often do. But I do say it both long and short.

I do, especially in VARCHAR as vare-care where everyone else is on the varr-carr train.

I knew somebody (not a programmer) who pronounced HTML as "hotmail". I normally let people pronounce things however they want, but I had to beg her to pronounce it differently because I simply couldn't deal with it pronounced like that.

I had a specific experience where I couldn't understand a client request the first time around because they kept talking about some guy named Earl.

I can't really express how jarring that pronunciation is - you just need to genuinely experience it sometime without warning to truly grok the oddness.

Url and at-at are solidly initialisms. SQL has a solid enough argument for being an acronym that I'll accept either.

I like saying mumorperger for MMORPG because Yahtzee Croshaw said it that way in one of his review videos once.

Or sequel instead of S.Q.L.

Squeal.

It bugs me a bit when people treat acceptable synonyms as foreign just because it's not the word or within the range of words they would've chosen.

I had something similar happen getting off a plane at London Heathrow. I asked airport staff where I could find the restrooms and they replied with a slightly confused look, "do you mean toilet?"

I don't get it. Are there other pronunciations for queue?

But that's "regular expressions", which shortened is rej-ecks. How else would you say it? "Rejects"?

Fortunately, although "rej-ecks" is common, so is the correct pronunciation.

As for "red-iss", I think that may be a losing battle. Wikipedia even lists that as the correct pronunciation. I think the rules start to fall apart when it is a project name, and when it smooshes together multiple words.

Gotta say it with respect for our Lord Wōden. Wōden's day

So, in my case, enum is programmer jargon and is not something that I'd pronounce at all to a layman or larger audience. I don't think anybody has ever misunderstood me. I often also simply say "enumeration". But again, that is still jargon. For a programmer, an enumeration is a data type, and for the layman, it probably just means something like "numbered things".

Spoken language is too ephemeral to be imprecise or use your own flair

I would say that this is a good rule of thumb.

But then, how do I put this? I think people who are on the spectrum are much more concerned with misinterpretation than neurotypical people. I understand why, as I've struggled with being misinterpreted in the past. Being misinterpreted feels like a major disaster. But I noticed that other people basically assume that they'll be understood, no matter how poorly their message is conveyed. I suspect that you've noticed the same thing. I don't go that far, but I definitely think there is room for self-expression.

In the end, if you understand and feel comfortable with the normal rules, then you can understand where it's okay to start to break them. Some estimates say that Shakespeare invented 1700 words in his written works. I'm sure that in the majority of those instances, he expected to be understood, despite using a word that nobody else had ever used.

Your fashion metaphor is actually a pretty good one, I think. There is room for expression, but there are also general guidelines to follow. In a typical office environment, nobody comes in to work nude or wearing a toilet seat around their neck. Okay that's extreme, but nobody wears tons of jewelry like Mr. T, either. What I'm saying is that, outside of high fashion like you see on runways, people do follow a basic set of clothing rules, some of which are social and not specifically practical, and their self-expression is only built on top of that base.

The basic rules for clothing are to conceal certain areas, to provide comfort and protection. That sort of basic thing. So with that, everybody's clothes serve that purpose. And then, like I said, there are some social rules. You know, like don't wear a white dress to a wedding. When people violate those rules, other people notice and are often confused. And once the basic purpose of clothing is met, then there are areas for flair. I would say that the same thing applies to language.

I pronounce it the same as you, and by the way, that's also the pronunciation listed on Wikipedia.

But I can't remember how other people that I've worked with pronounce it. I'm sure it's come up, but I just don't recall.

I think the fact that its configuration file is called sudoers is fairly decisive that other pronunciations are wrong.