July 11, 2003
YOU SAY NEE-JAHR, I SAY NIGER
I'm not one for litmus tests as a rule (heh) but I can get a pretty good handle on someone by their pronunciation of that particular hell hole.
Posted by Kim Crawford at July 11, 2003 9:08 PMEveryone's afraid they'll pronounce the G hard and lose their job.
Posted by: Jack Straw at July 11, 2003 11:10 PMI never would have imagined an alternate pronounciation. Nigh jerr. What's so tough about that?
Posted by: Jay Solo at July 14, 2003 3:56 AMIt's a silly debate. The Niger river flows through Niger (former French colony) and Nigeria (former English colony). The French pronounce it nee-ZHAIR and the English pronounce it NIGH-jer. Having lived there 2 years in Peace Corps, I tend to pronounce it the way they do. Besides, that helps differentiate between people who live there from those who live in Nigeria. If you use the English English pronunciation, both groups of people are nigh-JEER-ians.
Posted by: Monty at November 8, 2004 12:33 PM