[Ads-l] [Non-DoD Source] "Niger" or "Niger"?

[Jonathan Lighter]

Might as well observe that usu. lower-case "Niger" was the usual pre-1800
form of you-know-what, though presumably pronounced "NEEgur."

JL

On Thu, Oct 19, 2017 at 11:49 AM, Margaret Winters <mewinters at wayne.edu>
wrote:

> I had students from there in the 80s and 90s - the pronunciation was the
> French one [niZer] with the sound in the middle of leisure and their first
> European language was indeed French.
>
>
> The "Mikado"  predates1900, of course...
>
> Margaret
>
>
> ----------------------------
> MARGARET E WINTERS
> Former Provost
> Professor Emerita - French and Linguistics
> Wayne State University
> Detroit, MI  48202
>
> mewinters at wayne.edu
>
>
>
> ________________________________
> From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of
> MULLINS, WILLIAM D (Bill) CIV USARMY RDECOM AMRDEC (US) <
> william.d.mullins18.civ at MAIL.MIL>
> Sent: Thursday, October 19, 2017 11:34 AM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: Re: [Non-DoD Source] "Niger" or "Niger"?
>
> >
> > 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.
> >
> My wife used to buy thistle seeds for her goldfinch feeders.  Then they
> started calling it Niger seed.  Now it's trademarked as Nyjer .
>
> "The name was trademarked as Nyjer ® in 1998 by the Wild Bird Feeding
> Industry, however, to clarify proper pronunciation (NYE-jerr)."
> https://www.thespruce.com/nyger-seeds-for-finches-386574
> Nyjer Seed - Feeding Birds - The Spruce<https://www.thespruce.
> com/nyger-seeds-for-finches-386574>
> www.thespruce.com
> Nyjer seed, also known as thistle or niger, is a popular seed to offer
> small birds and finches. But what is it, and which birds will eat it?
>
>
>
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