What does niche mean?

[videotape]

Niche does not suffer from any derogatory connotation in its common usage. It is not a value judgement and it does not typically accompany a value judgment.

Off the top of my head it's most commonly used in reference to economic markets, or biological agents with respect to their ecosystems.

"Highly specialized" or "narrowly targeted" would be good synonymous phrases.

[Salandrin]

So when someone says anime is niche, it does not necessarily mean they are saying it's garbage or creepy? I hear people constantly refer to it as niche, so I thought it meant something insulting.

Thanks for the clarification.

[vindicatorx]

i have never heard the word niche used in a derogatory way, im not even sure how you could.

Honestly look who is asking, one of the few people on here that would actually make a thread asking a question that could have easily been answered by himself. Of course he wants to make it sound like it is a bad thing if he didn't people would stop posting in the thread. The OP loves to ask trivial questions and then act dumb, like his mind is blown by the responses that is why most people just ignore him.

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So when someone says anime is niche, it does not necessarily mean they are saying it's garbage or creepy? I hear people constantly refer to it as niche, so I thought it meant something insulting.

Thanks for the clarification.

Next time use the online dictionary rather than make yet another useless thread please.

[Hand Banana]

soft CH. so "neesh" would be closer.

Always thought it was "nish".

Pretty sure it can be used in a bad and good way. Like if someone says this is a niche show that means it probably only appeals to a small proportion of the demographic. But if someone, like in WoW, has a niche ability like BoP for pallys thats a good thing. At least thats my definition of it.

[Luko]

Niche does not suffer from any derogatory connotation in its common usage. It is not a value judgement and it does not typically accompany a value judgment.

Off the top of my head it's most commonly used in reference to economic markets, or biological agents with respect to their ecosystems.

"Highly specialized" or "narrowly targeted" would be good synonymous phrases.

The word isn't linguistically related to derogatory connotation but as you may have noticed from this (and many other) threads, the word is becoming more commonly applied to negative situations as of late. Is it technically the proper application for the word? No, but as with most cultural trends, it'll take on a more socially acceptable meaning whether we like it or not.

The socially bastardized version is explained in my last post on the previous page.

[Khime]

When used derogatorily, it's usually referring to people or a group of people who have found a comfort zone and refuse to break out of it. It's subjective as to whether or not it's actually negative and (like most of the shit on this site lately) boils down to a case of "to each his own."

Also, a lot of times I think it's used derogatorily when compared to something more mainstream. Usually something along the lines of "Why is Blizzard spending so much precious development time on niche activities like Pet Battles/PvP/Scenarios/Garrisons/etc, when they should be spending that time to make more content for more popular activities like Dungeons/Raiding/PvP/Quests/etc."

[Kasierith]

Please do not create pointless threads. The forums are not your dictionary.

Closed.