CLIK/CLEEK & NATIVE SPEAKER

[Douglas G. Wilson]

> > "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.
>
>Actually AHD has had the neesh pron since AH2-College in 1982.

The OED adds "neesh" too, in the supplement. The book is dated 1987, but a
while in the making, I guess. The ca. 1900 OED lacks this.

The M-W Third Intl. adds both "neesh" and "nish" (with "sometimes") (my
copy is very new but I think this may date from 1961?). The "Second Intl."
("1952" but maybe really 1934?) does not have them.

So maybe "recent" means "since mid-20th Century" or something like that.
"Neesh" is such a natural pronunciation that I suppose it's been used for
centuries, but not (completely) accepted (until recently?).

-- Doug Wilson