"Clique": kleek? klick?

[Wilson Gray]

On 12/31/05, Jim Parish <jparish at siue.edu> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Jim Parish <jparish at SIUE.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: "Clique": kleek? klick?
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Wilson Gray asks (snipped):
> > However, the fact of the matter is that I've never heard "clique" pronounced
> > other than as "klick" by any American of any race, creed, color, or social
> > status anywhere, under any set of circumstances. Admittedly, "clique" is
> > not a word of everyday utility, but, over a span of a half-century or so,
> > I would expect to have heard "kleek" at least once. A minute ago, just
> > for the hell of it, I asked my wife to pronounce "o-b-l-i-q-u-e." Her
> > response: "obleek." Then I asked her to pronounce "c-l-i-q-u-e." Her
> > response: "klick."
> >
> > OED2 gives "kleek" as the sole pronunciation and RHD and WNW give "kleek" as
> > the preferred pronunciation.
> > So, what's up? How say ye?
>
> The gang I ran with in high school (San Diego, first half of the '70s) called
> itself "the Clique", pronounced "kleek". Ever since then, I've assumed that was
> the, or a, standard pronunciation (although possibly a pretentious one).
>
> Jim Parish
> -------------------------------------------------
> SIUE Web Mail
>