Bourgie

[Wendalyn Nichols]

The r-less pronunciation /bu' zhi/ was used commonly among my friends in
England when I lived there (1987-1996); it was widespread, used by all
races and seemingly anyone under 50. It was not specific to blacks, used
simply as a mild disparagement of middle-class taste or behavior. I never
saw it spelled; I assume the r-less pronunciation is due to the way that
"bourgeois" is pronounced in England.

At 02:18 PM 9/24/02 -0400, Jesse Sheidlower wrote:
>On Tue, Sep 24, 2002 at 06:14:27PM +0000, Tom Kysilko wrote:
> > In the early '90s a number of my left-wing political buddies in the Twin
> > Cities, most of whom were white, used /bu' zhi/.  I never saw it
> spelled out.
> > They could very well have gotten it from their Afro-American political
> buddies.
>
>I actually should correct myself; while I agree that the pronunciation
>is almost always if not actually always r-less, the "bourgie" spelling
>is more common than I thought when I posted my previous message.
>
>Jesse Sheidlower