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Comment by dboyd | Hacker News Reader

With apologies for dampening the mood of the original post...

  () == paranetheses
  [] == brackets
  {} == braces

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bracket

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In Italian, we qualify them by their shape:

    () == parentesi tonde (round)
    [] == parentesi quadre (squared)
    {} == parentesi graffe (claws)

In British English it's much the same:

  () == "round brackets" or usually just "brackets"
  [] == "square brackets"
  {} == "curly brackets" or "braces"

I grew up in India and am familiar with this, used to always wonder if I was wrong and why i often get confused when people say parentheses instead of brackets.(I have been in the US since the last 10 years)

Interesting, I'm from the US and I do call () parenthesis but the last two are the same from what I've learned and what other people say (usually in math classes).

In New Zealand:

  () == "round brackets"
  [] == "square brackets"
  {} == "curly brackets"
  <> == "pointy brackets"

In England I learned the version further up this thread. Computer Science nomenclature doesn't really follow British vs. American English separations as much as natural language.

In fact I don't recall anyone in Britain use those terms to me, either in university or at work.

That's how I learned it (although I never used 'round brackets' explicitly). This gets really confusing when you begin to talk to Americans and refer to 'brackets', thankfully everybody understands parens, and the others are the same.

> {} == parentesi graffe (claws)

I initially read that as "parentesi giraffe" which could have been plausible...

,-{ __ }-,

in French, they are (plural form):

    ( parenthèses )
    [ crochets ]    => "hooks"
    { accolades }   => "hugs"

Some computer scientists split the word in two to distinguish the opening one from the closing one (like Physicist do with the bra-ket notation).

( a b c ) is then pronounced "Paren, a, b, c, thèse".

I've never heard the "split parenthesis" - perhaps Quebec is different.

I have a Lisp teacher in Japan who has an interesting way of reading code. He says 'kakko' for '(', which is the usual Japanese word for a parenthesis. For the closing one, he says the word in reverse: 'kokka'. So "(def a (fn))" would be read "kakko def a kakko fn kokka kokka". It's quite effective.

Yes but in Physics the bra & ket vector notatin (kind of) mis-uses '<' & '>' to denote vectors as in <Ψ|H|Ψ> = E, for example (and if my memory servers right…)

In Mexico:

    () == Paréntesis
    [] == Corchetes
    {} == Llaves (keys)

In Romanian:

  () == paranteze (rotunde); the "rotunde" (round) adjective is optional  
  [] == paranteze pătrate (squared)  
  {} == acolade (braces)

In Swedish:

  () == Paranteser (Parentheses)  
  [] == Hakparanteser (Hook parentheses)  
  {} == Måsvingar (Gull wings)
        Klammerparanteser (Brace parentheses)
        Krullparenteser (Curl parentheses)
        Spetsparanteser (Tip parentheses)
        Ackolader (Swedification of the French accolades => Hugs)

Swedish uses left, right or more commonly amongst developers start and end prefixes. Måsvingar seem to be winning as the word of choice for braces amongst developers.

For completeness, the INTERCAL standard naming convention:

  ( wax
  ) wane
  [ U turn
  ] U turn back
  { embrace
  } bracelet

.de:

  () = runde Klammern (round)
  [] = eckige Klammern (angled)
  {} = geschweifte Klammern (cambered)

Thus, a counter-suggestion:

  [ == "open-brack"
  ] == "close-brack"

It's parentheses.

I find the following nomenclature to be both concise and descriptive e.g., "open square" or "close paren":

() == parens [] == squares {} == staches (formerly curlies)

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