Pronunciation of Bichir?
- Thread starter crashinc25
- Start date
This gets asked a lot, I still like saying B I T C HER for my own amusement, but most of the time I hear BIKER, after MFK I say poly or senegal my friends know what I mean!
technically its biker
when i call asking an lfs if they have any, i always have to end up spelling it
when i call asking an lfs if they have any, i always have to end up spelling it
To quote Beblondie "WHY BICHIR?
When Europeans (French) discovered the genus Polypterus in 1809 it had already been known along the Nile since the time of the pharoahs. The local peoples referred to them as bichirs (unknown pronunciation and spelling). While unable to come up with an exact meaning for the word it was most likely a descriptive term (''whip'' has been suggested) for this type of fish.
The French most likely pronounced it as phonetically as possible to the orginal native word and came up with bee-sheer as a pronunciation and spelled 'bichir'. Since this would be the name of these fish for
several years until they were scientifically described and put into the proper family it became an accepted common name"
Of course, any time I pronounce it "beesheer" the guys at the LFS usually look at me funny.
When Europeans (French) discovered the genus Polypterus in 1809 it had already been known along the Nile since the time of the pharoahs. The local peoples referred to them as bichirs (unknown pronunciation and spelling). While unable to come up with an exact meaning for the word it was most likely a descriptive term (''whip'' has been suggested) for this type of fish.
The French most likely pronounced it as phonetically as possible to the orginal native word and came up with bee-sheer as a pronunciation and spelled 'bichir'. Since this would be the name of these fish for
several years until they were scientifically described and put into the proper family it became an accepted common name"
Of course, any time I pronounce it "beesheer" the guys at the LFS usually look at me funny.
The only thing I don't understand is why people so often try to put an extra R in the name - BRI - CAR...wtf?