User Panel
Posted: 8/2/2005 7:33:24 PM EDT
Nee-jair?
CNN is cracking me up. They're trying the same spin that morphed the word "jungle" into "rain forest", making it somehow seem worth pouring money into. Little doubt that it's part of an overall campaign to guilt the American people into backing "famine relief". Same sh*t, different summer... |
|
It's okay. It's called common use of language. No need to worry about correct definition, spelling or pronounciation. What matters is what everybody else is doing.
|
|
Might be because the Communist news network has a lot of foreign reporters. But I watch Fox News. |
|
|
If you want to hear the "new" pronunciation, tune in to CNN sometime. |
|
|
|
|
|
Maybe it's not incorrect after all. hmmmm
--------------------- dictionary.reference.com/search?q=Niger check out the second pronunciation. eta: I've always used the first pronunciation. |
|
last I heard it was "Nigh-Jeer". fuck it, let's call it "country of color".
|
|
|
|
|
Probably the first pronunciation listed. That's what I've always used. Ni-jer. I don't know if there was another way of saying it. I'm not sure I've ever heard it out loud. (weird) |
||
|
actualy the proper Arabic pronounciation is "gutter".... but whatever. |
|
|
Shouldn't the pronunciation be based on the native language of the person pronouncing the word? For example...Ricotta when referred to by people who speak Italian pronounce as "ReGoat", however the English pronunciation is Rih-cott-a. It seems that when people attempt to use the foreign pronunciation of a word instead of their own native pronunciation that they end up sounding like a jackass.
|
|
It's been called "nee-JAIR" since, well, the French named it that. I've always pronounced it "nee-JAIR" though. Most Americans, though, learned to pronounce it "NYE jur". However, I feel that that pronunciation in niggardly, at best.
On the "cutter/gutter" issue: In the Arabic languages the hard "K" sound is generally recarded as more "masculine" or "powerful". So, you will find Western Arabs saying "Kutter", while non-Western Arabs who tend to hate the West and seek to denigrate Qatar because they've "sold out" () will say "gutter". Incidentally, the place really is a gutter. All the dregs of the Arab world end up there, either heading out to the Indian Ocean to hob-knob with their Jamaal Islamia cohorts, or coming from the Indian Ocean as pirates seeking to establish themselves among the rest of the Arab outlaws on the peninsula. |
|
I loved hearing the white bread reporters chattering away in the 80's about the strife in Central America, and then hear them throw out a visciously accented over-pronunciation like Ni Caah Au Gua or Daniel Or-r-r tehga witha rolled "r".
So damn funny. Idiots |
|
Aaaaaaaaagh BAN HIM!!!!!!!!! Hey, don't let the facts get in the way of a perfectly good CNN bashing thread! |
|
|
Rain Forest didn't work on me, this isn't either.
Must be a sheep thing. |
|
In southwestern Missouri (miz oo RUH) there is a town called Nevada (nuh VAY dah), not to be confused with the state, Nevada (nu VAD uh). Missouri also has a town named Lebanon (LEB nun), like the country (leb un ON). Next lesson: Pronounce the capital of South Dakota! |
|
|
NPR is doing it too...I almost didn't recognize the country name.
I think they're reverting to the French pronunciation. |
|
I would like to take this opportunity to confirm that there is in fact NOT a city in Niger named "Please". Let's not get anyone else banned.
Thank you. |
|
I think either pronunciation is correct..from dictionary.com (njr, n-zhâr)...errr, phonetics didn't show up, but it has both pronunciations
|
|
I'm no expert, but it is my under standing that Arab countries don't have "K"s, or "Q" or 24 other letters. If, the english spelling is Quatar, there must be reason for it. I'm guessing that the reason is that it is meant to be pronounced KA-tar, not cutter, and not gutter. Frankly, how it pronounced in Arabic, or French for that matter, is of trivial interest. All that really matters is that when you are speaking english, you pronounce it in such a way as other english speaker know what the hell you are talking about. Ricotta is Ri-Cot-A. Which actually isn't that different from how my brothers mother-in-law (Italian) pronounces it. |
|
|
Next lesson: Pronounce the capital of South Dakota!
Thu cap i TAL uv south Da KOT a |
|
|
|
|
Someone got banned for posting that picture? Seriously? It's fucking hilarious! |
|
|
|
CNN Whatever..... friends of my wife just spent 2 years there as missionaries.... they pronounce it NIGH-jur.
|
|
Anyone remember that old SNL skit from the late 80's with Jimmy Smits?
They did a skit mocking how news reporters always seem to pronounce Latin American countries and cities the Spanish way, even though they pronounce everything else the American English way. Anyway, these reporters are sitting around, filing a story about Nicaragua, and Jimmy Smits is the only Latino. The white reporters keep rolling their r's and sounding Spanish whenever they say Nicaragua, Guatemala, Costa Rica, etc. Then lunch comes and they start asking who had the Burrrrito? The enchilada? All with the exaggerated accent. Jimmy smits gets annoyed and asks them to stop it. The reporters are all "Why? We thought you liked that." "No! It drives me crazy!" "Ok, sorry Juan. We were trying to be culturally sensitive. Now, let's look over the next story about the tor-NAH-do that destroyed a trailer park in Oklahoma........" |
|
Actually, none of the pronunciations thus far are correct. The word "qatar" in Arabic starts with the Arabic consonant ghayn, and we don't have an equivalent. It's kinda like the "kaw" sound in "cough", but harder and deeper in the throat. But I think trying to pronounce names of cities/countries in their native tongue is stupid. I speak English, and I reserve the right to Anglicize the hell out of anything I want. I'm not going to start running around talking about Paree or Milano or Deutschland, so why shouldn't I call it "Cutter" and "Ny-ger"? |
||
|
No, someone got banned for not removing it when they were asked to as well as repeatedly re-posting it and then playing cute by saying "golly jeepers, it's only a geography lesson.: Now none of that would be sufficient on its own, but this person had been warned more than once in the past about the racial slurs/rascist remarks. Lastly, the picture cracked me up the first 5 or 6 times too....after #239, it gets old..... |
|||
|
Sign up for the ARFCOM weekly newsletter and be entered to win a free ARFCOM membership. One new winner* is announced every week!
You will receive an email every Friday morning featuring the latest chatter from the hottest topics, breaking news surrounding legislation, as well as exclusive deals only available to ARFCOM email subscribers.
AR15.COM is the world's largest firearm community and is a gathering place for firearm enthusiasts of all types.
From hunters and military members, to competition shooters and general firearm enthusiasts, we welcome anyone who values and respects the way of the firearm.
Subscribe to our monthly Newsletter to receive firearm news, product discounts from your favorite Industry Partners, and more.
Copyright © 1996-2024 AR15.COM LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Any use of this content without express written consent is prohibited.
AR15.Com reserves the right to overwrite or replace any affiliate, commercial, or monetizable links, posted by users, with our own.