189: The great niche debate. Is it "neesh" or "nitch"?

I’ve been involved in niche media for almost my entire career. When I started out – back in the days when having a hard drive in your computer was a luxury reserved for the few – everybody said “nitch.” Then apparently the French invaded and people started saying “neesh.” Like quiche. Which seems to make some sense. More on that in a minute.

You might remember there was a book back then called “real men don’t each quiche.” That might have been in the back of my mind when I concluded that “neesh” was pretentious. I stuck with nitch. I’m an American.

Dictionary.com and Merrian-Webster support me. They list nitch as the first (preferred) pronunciation of the word.

The OED does a slight twist on me. You see, it wasn’t a French invasion, it was the British. For British English, the OED lists neesh first and nitch second, but for American English it lists nitch first and neesh second.

So the dictionaries are all on the side of nitch.

I also tried several rhyming dictionaries, and they all assumed a “nitch” pronunciation.

So I’m on solid ground to say that “nitch” is the preferred pronunciation in America.

Then why is it quiche?

Well, English is hard. If you look up words that end in “iche” you find some weird things.

The only other “iche” word with an “Itch” sound is “miche,” which is “to lurk out of sight.” And the funny thing is that it’s a British word, and according to the OED, the Brits are more likely to say “neesh.”

There are a lot of words that are closer to “eesh.”
Affiche, which is a poster
Fiche, like microfiche, which I used to use at the library
Postiche, which is an artificial hair piece, which I obviously don’t use
Pastiche, which is when you imitate another style
Babiche is a thread or thong of sinew, gut, or rawhide
Riche, like nouveau riche
Corniche, which is a road built along the coast, although that one might be closer to car-nish

But then you have the “eechay” sound.
Cliche
Ceviche
Moriche (which is a type of palm)
Caliche (which is a nitrate-bearing gravel)

It’s obvious that most of these words are imports to English. So, are we supposed to retain the original pronunciation? I don’t know. The town in Illinois is called KAY-ro, not KAI-ro, and from Pennsylvania to Illinois is’t ver-SAYLES, not ver-SAI.

Some people will hear ver-SAYLES and think, “Ah, those uncultured hicks.” I don’t have that reaction at all. I don’t say France (with the French pronunciation), and I call the land of my father’s ancestors Germany, not Deutschland. I also make no effort to pronounce South American countries and cities the way the natives do. I’m an American and we speak American English.

But my friend Lev Kaye from Credspark was talking about quizzes and polls last week, so I decided to do a poll on LinkedIn. Many of my connections have some association with niche publishing.

“Neesh” won, by a wide margin.

My conclusion is that for America as a whole, nitch is the preferred pronunciation, but for the niche media industry, neesh might be preferred.

I’ll continue to say nitch – because I’m ornery. But Lev Kay had a good comment on the poll.

“Can there be a third option: 'Depends on whether or not I'm speaking to a French person.'”

I like that.

So there you have it, the great niche debate.