IRC is a written language. I've very rarely heard anyone using IRC terminology in spoken verbatim, so everyone sort of forms a different mental audio image of the terms you use on on IRC.
Take, for example, the pronunciation of an IRC channel. The # sign always prefixes the channel name. I've always pronounced it "num", as in "num-everything" (as when I learned # as being called the "number sign"). I am in the minority, though. Most people tend to pronounce this as "pound-everything" or "channel-everything" (or "chan-everything"). Still others will just not pronounce the # sign at all.
Commands, like /msg, /join, or /me are usually pronounced without the slash. Again, I pronounce the slash, but if you hear someone reading the line "/me misses sensei, chances are they'll read it "Me misses sensei."
mIRC is "em eye are see", no two ways about it. ircII is "eye are see two". BitchX is, obviously, "bitch-ex". Ircle is "urkel" (I used to say "eye are see ell ee" but numerous people told me "it's URKEL, like the guy on Family Matters!").
EFnet is "ee-eff-net", Dalnet is "dalnet", not "dee aie ell net". And lastly, "IRCop" is "eye are see op", not "eye are cop". To avoid confusion and embarrasment, just use the term "oper" which is more common anyway (not to be confused with "op", which is only used for channel operators). Alternately, you can call them "l33t hax0rs".
Be armed with this information, should you ever decide to attend an IRC channel meeting. | 
