# On Frazier...What word was this? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 2, 2014, 7:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-frazier-what-word-was-this/687491 "2014-05-02T07:19:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2014, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-frazier-what-word-was-this/687491/41 "2014-05-05T21:57:10Z")
> [@Andy\_L](#): > > “Metier” means what you do; your profession or usual activity, with the secondary meaning being that it’s something you’re good at, too. I guess the connotation I’m seeing is that anything a person does professionally is going to be something they do better than the average person. If we were talking about a medical issue on this board, for example, and somebody posted “I’m a physician and here’s the information” we would assume he’s right. We’re not saying that his medical knowledge is necessarily extraordinary among physicians but even if he’s just an average physician, his medical knowledge is extraordinary among us. Medicine is his metier. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2014, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-frazier-what-word-was-this/687491/42 "2014-05-05T23:07:11Z")
> [@Bill\_Door](#): > > That word, like niche, is one that most people pronounce incorrectly. If you say it right, you will most likely be corrected. I recall watching a college catalog come off the press with a teaser at the top, “Finding You Nitch, page 7”. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2014, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-frazier-what-word-was-this/687491/43 "2014-05-06T04:24:38Z")
> [@Bill\_Door](#): > > That word, like niche, is one that most people pronounce incorrectly. I’ve only ever heard it pronounced to rhyme with “rich”–at least by Americans–and that is the sole pronunciation shown in my Webster’s. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2014, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-frazier-what-word-was-this/687491/44 "2014-05-06T04:41:41Z")
> [@Bill\_Door](#): > > That word, like niche, is one that most people pronounce incorrectly. If you say it right, you will most likely be corrected. > [@Friedrich Niche](#): > > Blessed are the forgetful: for they get the better even of their blunders. … ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2014, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-frazier-what-word-was-this/687491/45 "2014-05-06T05:12:40Z")
> [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](#): > > I’ve only ever heard it pronounced to rhyme with “rich”–at least by Americans–and that is the sole pronunciation shown in my Webster’s. I’ve mostly only heard it pronounced to rhyme with ‘quiche’ - by Americans. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2014, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-frazier-what-word-was-this/687491/46 "2014-05-06T23:51:11Z")
If it sounded like “mill-yerr” instead of “mill-yoo” that’s because Niles tried to pronounce with a more French and thus more proper pronunciation. ---
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2014, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-frazier-what-word-was-this/687491/47 "2014-05-07T00:11:03Z")
> [@johnspartan](#): > > m’loo, as in my loo, which is English English for my toilet. So, the dance-song is “Skip to M’loo”, and it was based on an outbreak of dysentery? Makes perfect sense! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2014, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-frazier-what-word-was-this/687491/48 "2014-05-07T00:33:19Z")
> [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](#): > > I’ve only ever heard it pronounced to rhyme with “rich”–at least by Americans–and that is the sole pronunciation shown in my Webster’s. That is just sad, that is. That pronunciation sounds straight up hillbilly (NTTAWHBs). The dictionary on this here device has three pronunciations listed, such as rhyme with “rich”, “leash” and “wish”, but when you play the audio, it gives the first one of those. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2014, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-frazier-what-word-was-this/687491/49 "2014-05-07T00:50:55Z")
No love for _wheelhouse_? ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2014, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-frazier-what-word-was-this/687491/50 "2014-05-27T16:30:18Z")
> [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](#): > > No love for _wheelhouse_? No. I unreservedly hate the phrase “in my wheelhouse” and its variants. Dunno why. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2014, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-frazier-what-word-was-this/687491/51 "2014-05-27T16:55:01Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > That is just sad, that is. That pronunciation sounds straight up hillbilly (NTTAWHBs). You remind me of an old TV commercial–can’t remember what for–with a pretentious woman trying on dresses and putting on airs in a high-end boutique. She asks the clerk, “Don’t you have something more…flam-bwah-_yahn_?” And the clerk, looking down her nose, replies drily, “Oh, you mean flam-BOY-ant?” ---
**Author:** ![Casey1505](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dc4da7/32.png) [@Casey1505](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Casey1505)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2014, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-frazier-what-word-was-this/687491/52 "2014-05-27T17:04:44Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Mestizos is the equivalent term for Latin Americans. 🙂 I’d always wanted to try Matzo ball soup. ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2014, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-frazier-what-word-was-this/687491/53 "2014-05-27T19:28:53Z")
> [@Erdosain](#): > > Huh? The Latin word is fortis, which means strong, and gave rise to both words. It’s pretty clear that they are about as closely related as you can get. > > But before this thread I didn’t realize the standard American pronunciation of forte was one syllable. I’ve always heard it spoken as two syllables. One syllable used to be the British pronunciation too until the mispronunciation with two became standard. The word is from the French _fort_, strong. OED also has a dig at the feminine form which is used. “As in many other adoptions of French adjectives used as nouns, the feminine form has been ignorantly substituted for the masculine; compare locale, morale (of an army), etc.”. ---
**Author:** ![Knowed\_Out](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/knowed_out/32/7380_2.png) [@Knowed\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knowed_Out)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2014, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-frazier-what-word-was-this/687491/54 "2014-05-27T23:07:54Z")
I drink Budweiser. Miller is not my milieu. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2014, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-frazier-what-word-was-this/687491/55 "2014-05-28T22:14:12Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > ¿Qué? 😕 It’s alright, he’s from Barcelona. Vishyswa. Neeswa. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-frazier-what-word-was-this/687491.md?page=2)