ispell default dictionary keeps reverting to "american"

[Kevin Brubeck Unhammer]

How do I make my default ispell dictionary -- for all files and file
types -- something other than "american"?

Using ispell-change-dictionary in .emacs just works on the buffers
loaded before that line in .emacs, for new buffers it's still
"american". I can change the ispell-dictionary variable as much as I
want, this has no effect on subsequent ispells, although if I ispell-
change-dictionary manually, this works in the open buffers. But how do
I change it for all _new_ buffers too?

Rather desperately, I tried customizing the ispell-dictionary-alist,
putting my dictionary ("nynorsk") first, no luck there. So I tried
(setq ispell-dictionary "nynorsk") in my .emacs, but whenever I try
spell-checking a word, ispell reverts this variable to "american" (I
eval'd it before and after M-$).


I'm running:
GNU Emacs 22.1.1 (i486-pc-linux-gnu, GTK+ Version 2.10.11) of
2007-08-15 on palmer, modified by Ubuntu
International Ispell Version 3.1.20 10/10/95, patch 1