[Ads-l] "Niger" or "Niger"?

Jonathan Lighter wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM
Thu Oct 19 14:06:42 UTC 2017


In my day, people said "NYE-jer." Nowadays, except for a courageous
journalist in the Rose Garden recently, they're all saying "Nee-ZHAIR."

Sounds so much  more sophisticated, _non_?

When was the big switch? The Random House College Dictionary of 1982 gives
only "NYE-jer."  I first heard Nee-ZHAIR" in the early '80s.

JL



-- 
"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org



More information about the Ads-l mailing list