You had me up until the “pop” comment. This shows you for the unwashed heathen you really are. 
Everyone knows they are all “cokes” 
You also forgot 3) really do not like the speaker and are looking for yet another reason for their dislike.
I am not a heathen! I’ve been baptised! Hmm, does that count for being washed?
I’m from the part of Ohio where it’s pronounced correctly.
A bug in the White House dining room recently revealed the following conversation:
Male voice: What’s fer dinner?
Female voice: What do you want?
Male voice: Pasketty and meatballs.
Female voice: We’re having that tomorrow, when the Cheneys are over.
Male voice: Supposably, they’re staying at Camp David tomorrow. So, can we have pasketty tonight?
Female voice: Sure, whatever you want.
(time passes)
Male voice: I’m gonna wreck havoc on that kitchen staff if I don’t get some pasketty pretty soon. They need to get orientated in there.
Female voice: Control yourself.
Male voice: I’m serious. I’m gonna jump acrost the table at the next guy who comes out of there.
Female voice: Here, have some coffee.
Male voice: It’s not expresso, is it? That stuff is too damn strong. They perculate it too long.
Female voice: No, it’s Folger’s Crystals.
Male voice: It better be. Goddamnit, I’m gonna go nucular on that kitchen staff. Expecially considering what they get paid. I’m gonna wrap bob wire around that cook’s neck and really give him the bidness. I tell you whut, I’m gonna fold him in half and put him in the chester drawers. I’m chompin’ at the bit.
Female voice: Calm yourself.
Male voice: Sorry. It’s just that trying to run the fedral gubmint is getting on my nerves. I want that staff held to the revelant standards, irregardless of the consequences.
Female voice: Eat this, it’ll calm you down.
Male voice: Mmm, sherbert!
Other male voice: Mr. President, we need you to review and sign our legislative proposals for next year’s education bill…
So you pronounce it “nucular”, too? 
Parently.
And sometimes, knowing this is all that gets me through the day.
Okay, I’m kidding. But obviously I feel pretty strongly about this kind of linguistic prejudice, and it’s very nice to see people understand the issue, and realize that there’s nothing wrong with the /nu kju l@r/ pronunciation. I’m not going to argue here, because it’s so frustrating. Left Hand of Dorkness compared this linguistic prejudice to creationism - and it certainly describes the arguments well. I’ll offer reasons why every single objection to “nucular” is silly, and based upon some misconception about language. I’ll point out what experts say. I’ll offer reasonable arguments that the notion of “correct” and “incorrect” pronunciations (as opposed to the empirically valid “common” and “not common” pronunciations) is inherently flawed.
And no one listens. I might as well be trying to explain Darwin’s Theory of Natural Selection at the local Assembly of God church for all my efforts get me. No one is willing to listen. I get insulted. No one seems to be able to counter my arguments, but that doesn’t stop the stream of nonsense I get in response. I know I’m offering valid arguments, I know I’m explaining things comprehensibly, but no one seems to be willing to read what I have to say and respond to it. No one will offer a substantive response to what I say because they’re so busy repeating their dogma.
It’s dogma just the same as creationism. I can explain why it ain’t so all day long, but in the end, the only folks who agree with me are the ones who started out agreeing with me.
Well, me and Left Hand and Liberal lifted the veil of ignorance once. I guess that’s my good deed for this lifetime.
Are you familiar with Williams Syndrome? As the woman mentions, she can’t do simple arithmetic, can’t tell left from right, and can’t complete very simple tasks. The hallmark of Williams Syndrome is significant cognitive deficit except for normal or (often) very good linguistic skills. Unless your definition of intelligence equates it with linguistic skills - which would make your argument that one reflects the other a tautology - then clearly something that has a great impact on one’s overall - aggregate - intelligence can sometimes completely spare verbal intelligence.
Nevertheless, I do think Bush’s oddly disordered speech probably reflects disordered thought of some sort. I just don’t think using regional pronunciations is related to that at all, and it makes the people making the argument look silly and petty. You only have to watch the debates with Kerry, though, to see how hard it is for him to string together a coherent thought. He could be speaking the Queen’s English and it wouldn’t make him sound smart, though.
I also think you were a little harsh on Left Hand of Dorkness - nothing in what he said seemed arrogant or supercilious. It’s just that - in some cases at least - people can have very good verbal skills while in reality being very subnormal in intelligence. I’m not sure what the latest research on “g” suggests - last I heard, people were still arguing over whether individual, more measurable types of intelligence correlated well enough to make the concept of overall intelligence truly meaningful. But there’s no doubt that one’s verbal abilities can, at least under some circumstances, be vastly better or worse than other abilities.
Spelled, yes. Pronounced? Well, it’s a technical term used in linguistics, which is where I’ve run across it. I’ve never heard it pronounced anything but “dipthong” - but I don’t know if the “difthong” pronunciation (which does seem to be what the spelling suggests) is common or not. Dictionary.com gives both, which is a pretty good bet that both are pretty common. Nevertheless, my linguistics professors (who ought to have more experience with the term than most) say “dipthong”.
The correct term is “Congresscritters.” Please, both of you, try to do better in the future.
Oh sweet holy hell! It’s been done for a week, and I might have awakened it from the dead.
Shit. I should have checked the date. I did not mean to revive this monstrosity.
I’m sorry, everyone.
Dammit! And here I thought I’d killed this thread real good.
Oh well, it’s zombied now, thanks to Excalibre the /nu kju l@r/ activist.
The only time I’ve ever noticed anyone just mention be out of the blue on here (besides someone who has a particular grudge about me) it was in reference to my activism.
:: sigh ::
Well, I suppose it’s probably too much to ask that people spontaneously discuss my debonair manner and dashing good looks.