Why Niger trigger?

coop21

coop21

Member
I have overheard people in fish stores talking about this beautiful fish, and 95% of the time they pronounce the name wrong. (the way it wasn't intended to be pronounced) Blatantly too, as if some kind of joke. That pisses me off. Where did this name come from, and why can't it be changed? I'm not african-american, but it's not about that. It's an issue of respect (or disrespect). Just thought I'd throw this out there. COOP.
 
dlight692000

dlight692000

Member
this is just a hunch but ill try, the scientific name is odonus niger, so they could have gotten it from that, but the fish is purple, almost black, and in different languages niger or some form of it means dark, or black, alot of these names come from the native people and where they are from.
 
lionfish

lionfish

Member
LionFish says......
Well, I must say I had to be corrected wwhen I first saw the name because I was in shock at someone giving a fish a bad name. Of course I had to say it loud enough for the whole store to hear and everybody was giving me dirty looks. :rolleyes: But I didn't know I had done something wrong until someone said to me it was pronounced differently. However, Dlight has a good explanation, although I'm not sure that is right. My only other theory would be that because Nigers come from the indo-pacific region which is bordered by Africa where they are caught, that they were named from being caught off the coast of Nigeria. Just a hunch.
 
pufferlover

pufferlover

Active Member
I'd say dlight is probably correct in his statement as to how the name was arrived at. I think it is more a honorable name derived from its coloration and location as suggested.
 
tonga

tonga

Member
I'm not saying weather I agree or disagree with this (I dont want any flame wars) but I recently read a article that said the "jewfish" was getting a name change due to it's name.
 
bobj

bobj

Member
The language of taxonomy is latin and the latin word for black is niger. The i in niger is pronounced like the i in ice not like the i in trigger.
Whoever first classified the fish thought it looked pretty black and that's where the niger comes from.
 
grouperhead

grouperhead

Active Member
about the jewfish, im jewish and found no offense to it at all. i thought it was kinda cool to have a fish after my religion (an awesome fish at that). the government said it wasnt politically correct, so are they gonna have to change the manatee to the personatee? just some thoughts. as for the niger its been pretty much covered. i have seen it misspelled here on several occasions? was it on purpose? i hope not, but you never know.... bo
 
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