FW: Query: alleged word "mingya"

[Joanne M. Despres]

I remember hearing this word quite frequently in the speech of the
boys in my grammar school class, which was located in the
Merrimack Valley (these were working-class Catholic boys, fwiw,
but mainly of French-Canadian rather than Italian descent).  The
word really sticks in my head because I made the mistake of using
it one day in conversation with my mother (who speaks a Sicilian
dialect of Italian) and being shocked by her reaction:  "What did
you say?  Joanne, that's a terrible Italian swear-word!"  I had no
idea what it meant and was too cowed to ask her, but I see now
why she was upset.

Thanks to the Italophones on this list for shedding light on this
matter!

Joanne Despres