Hot off the Sloppy Bullets press—a lesson in spelling, with a little side detour into pronunciation, just for laughs. Let’s get right to it, shall we? Take a moment to say these phrases out loud:
- Niche market
- Technology niche
- Finding your niche
How did you pronounce the word “niche”? Did it sound like “nitch” (rhymes with ditch or rich)? Or was it closer to “neesh” (rhymes with leash or quiche)? And how the heck do we know which is correct?
The truth is that most dictionaries accept both pronunciations, though “nitch” is mostly found in the US, while “neesh” is more common in the rest of the known English-speaking universe. In point of fact, because the word “niche” is borrowed from French, the “neesh” pronunciation is truer to the source language. But apparently, we Americans like to be contrary. We continue to stick with “nitch,” though an online search suggests that “neesh” is gaining traction even in our nonconformist corner of the world.
So if either pronunciation is acceptable, why is this lesson important and why should you care? The answer is spelling! Spelling is why you should care! When someone uses a pronunciation of “niche” that sounds foreign to you—say, for instance, when you’re the scribe in a brainstorming meeting—you have to be able to recognize the word when you hear it so you can spell it correctly on the flipchart. Otherwise you’ll end up with this travesty:
True story from a recent meeting.
Niche is a tricky word—a tale of two acceptable pronunciations with only one correct spelling, made even more tricky when you consider that its spelling doesn’t match either spoken variation. If you are leading a conversation about the “neesh” markets your organization serves, it’s spelled niche. If someone then talks about a hospitality “nitch,” guess what? It’s still spelled niche! Niche is never spelled phonetically, no matter how you choose to pronounce it. So while it’s okay to SAY “nitch,” please scratch that “nitch” spelling from your vocabulary!
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