CLIK/CLEEK & NATIVE SPEAKER

[Douglas G. Wilson]

 From Larry Horn:

>I've always said "nitch" but "cleek" (and "cleekish").  And "sheek"
>for CHIC.

Me too.

"Neesh" must be mostly a recent spelling-pronunciation. I'm not sure
whether I've ever heard it. The trendy M-W on the Web shows it with a mark
meaning "considered unacceptable by some" and the very trendy AHD4 shows
it, but most of my dictionaries don't.

Even the trendy references don't show anything but "sheek" for "chic".
Pronouncing it as "chick" seems to me to be a sort of a joke, like "kwitch"
for "quiche".

-- Doug Wilson