I've been in the database industry for approaching 30 years and "SQL" has had mixed pronunciation since shortly after it came out of System R at IBM Research. I once asked Jim Gray about the original intent, but can't remember his answer. I think it was supposed to be S Q L. Certainly inside the SQL Server group at Microsoft (of which I'm a former General Manager and Architect) and amongst the many ex-Sybase (where the SQL Server name originated) developers I know the usage is almost always "sequel". I personally use an 90/10 mix of sequel and S Q L when referring to the language, but the product name should be pronounced "sequel server". Hal Berenson, President PredictableIT, LLC http://www.predictableit.com