CLIK/CLEEK & NATIVE SPEAKER [was "FAG one last time"]

[A. Maberry]

I agree. As a "nitch" "clik" "keesh" speaker (but a "nitch" "cleek"
"keesh" reader), I have no problem accepting the inconsistency. "Nitch"
I've heard all my life but probably didn't assimilate the word "quiche"
until high school.

allen
maberry at u.washington.edu

On Thu, 15 Mar 2001, Peter A. McGraw wrote:

> Beverly describes my pattern exactly.  I grew up saying "nitch" (however
> infrequently), and have become aware of "neesh" only in the last 10 years
> or so.  I'm not sure if I actually formalized a distinction between "nitch"
> as a type of physical space and "neesh" as a faddish business and academic
> term, but would have no trouble accepting and adopting such a distinction.
>
> The fact that "nitch" and "cleek" have always peacefully coexisted in my
> speech probably indicates that I've ordered the two words at different
> stages of my personal "word naturalization" scale.  This enables me to be
> untroubled by the fact that I'm also aware of words like "quiche," which I
> would never pronounce as "kitsch."
>
> Peter Mc.
>
> --On Thursday, March 15, 2001 1:58 PM -0500 Beverly Flanigan
> <flanigan at OAK.CATS.OHIOU.EDU> wrote:
>
> > A similar "in" term is "niche"--as in "niche program."  I've generally
> > heard it pronounced "nitch" (a little table stands in a corner niche), but
> > recently, with the specialized usage in business and academia, "neesh"
> > seems to be preferred (I've even been "corrected" once).  Someone thought
> > that everybody must "know" the French pronunciation of words like
> > 'clique', but I'm not sure this is true.  "Niche" is by now a common Am
> > Eng word and has followed the usual rules of borrowing; I doubt that most
> > people think of it as French.
>
>
>
> ****************************************************************************
>                                Peter A. McGraw
>                    Linfield College   *   McMinnville, OR
>                             pmcgraw at linfield.edu
>