Not quite. It was a question I asked him, while Brian Kernighan and I were writing the Unix Programming Environment. His actual response was pithier (as one would expect): "I'd spell creat with an 'e'".

-rob

On Sat, Feb 8, 2020 at 2:33 PM Ronald Natalie <ron@ronnatalie.com> wrote:

It has been F-Suck since we first got a copy.

My favorite UNIX quote was Ken Thompson (I hope I’m getting this right Ken), when asked if he could do it over again, if he’d change anything.
He said he’d put an “e” on the end of creat.

I’ve always pronounced it CREE-AT.