PSA

[brightcupenny]

Dear government and military officials,

The word you're looking for is NUCLEAR. NUKE-LEE-ER. Not, I repeat, NOT, nook-you-lar. Please learn to pronounce it properly, because you sound like a FUCKING MORON. The fact that you are in charge of anything remotely nuclear-weapon-related when you can't even say it right *terrifies* me.

Jeebus.

Comments

[fenchurche]

It's worse than nails on a chalkboard, isn't it?

[portnoyslp]

It used to annoy me, too, but I've decided it's a southern thing; perhaps only a Texas thing. Heck, I've heard locals pronounce the word "here" like it has two syllables, so who am I to judge?

"Nucular" has a long and storied history, going back to President Eisenhower. Because people really liked Ike, many kids of that time were actually taught the "Duck and Cover" method to protect against the "nucular" fallout, and learned the (mis)pronunciation at an early age. Heck, Kennedy, Ford, Carter, Clinton, and Bush Jr. have all been caught pronouncing it the "wrong" way. (Whereas Bush Sr. has always pronounced it correctly, showing off his Yale heritage.)

[gmtarkin]

As per dictionary.com:
Usage Note: The pronunciation (nky-lr), which is generally considered incorrect, is an example of how a familiar phonological pattern can influence an unfamiliar one. The usual pronunciation of the final two syllables of this word is (-kl-r), but this sequence of sounds is rare in English. Much more common is the similar sequence (-ky-lr), which occurs in words like particular, circular, spectacular, and in many scientific words like molecular, ocular, and vascular.

As a Southerner, I hereby defend each region's right to have local pronounciations. It's a wicked lahge issue. :-)

[tristmasjedi]

We had a big argument over this in my suite a couple years ago. There was one Westerner advocating "nookyouler," but we dismissed that out of hand as totally ridiculous on the basis that there's no vowel between the c and the l. That left, I think, one person advocating noo-klee-er, which also sounds weird to me but at least makes a miniscule amount of phonetic sense, and a couple people who liked my favored noo-kleer.

As one guy so eloquently put it, "You got the 'new'... and you got the 'clear.' The 'new'... and the 'clear.' Nuclear."

[brightcupenny]

The thing though, is that "nuclear" comes from "nucleus." Nucleus has three syllables, so therefore its adjective should too, at least to my mind. That's why "noo-kleer" doesn't really work for me.

[pinkrouge]

Uuuuggggggghhhhhhhhhh!!! This is one of my biggest pet peeves!!! (being the language snob that I am).

I'm with the eloquent guy - it's not so hard to say if you think "new-clear"....

I agree - it really is worse than nails on a chalkboard. I cringe and scream every time I hear it!