My favorite is the justification that “nuclear” is an unusual sound, so mispronouncing it is understandable. Gee, that’s a great rule, I just wish they taught it to me back in school.
I wonder if the people who pronounce it nucular would also pronounce the center of the cell as the nuculous. Sadly, some do indeed. When they try the latest acne cream, I wonder how they manage to say the “new clearasil”, since it’s so tricky to pronounce and all. Similar to mask, task, and bask, not to even mention basket.
That’s why I happily pronounce that sweet, sticky fruit as oranag, because since orange is so unusual, it must be legitimate.
Now that I think of it, the pronunciation of the word “arctic” as “artic” has been accepted for quite some time.
It is really aggravating to hear a television meteorologist pronounce it that way. It’s even more aggravating to hear them refer to themselves as “meterologists”.
So is any of this important? Do we really want people to have good speakable skills? Heck, the people certainly don’t think it takes away from “Dubya’s” presidentiarial performance.
As I’ve said before, the fight against ignorance must begin at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
I think the linguist cited above did that preemptively. There are specific theories as to how the pronunciation evolved and why. It is nothing like pronouncing faux pas as fox pass, which is just an ignorance of French. Enough highly intelligent and knowledgable people use the pronunciation “nucular” that the audacity of your disdain is conspicuous.
Boston, eh? Good chowda out there. I was in Warshington last summer, and the idear popped into my mind to go visit Boston, but I ended up in Nooyaaahk instead. (Tickets were much cheaper!)
P.S. Bostonians have long since gang-raped and left for dead the English language. Various peoples may or may not have the moral authority to critique pronounciations and whatnot; Bostonians are not among them.
Well I did invite everyoine to pounce on the posting.
Not surprising that Liberal and Brutus were quick to criticize. It would be a rare thread in which they actually agreed with me.
Heck, this is the SDMB and it’s all in good fun right?
But be that as it may (and I doubt if it ever was), I think I’ll bring up one more incorrect pronunciation. In some parts of this country, they refer to this state as “MassaTOOsetts”.
To quote Liberal There are specific theories as to how the pronunciation evolved and why.
Okay, I’d sure like to know the ‘how and why’ of that pronunciation.
Maybe it is due to people being lazy and not really giving a damn about speaking proper English?
It is, yes. And you have a good attitude about it. The only I criticized was your rather imprudent decision to declare people who say “nucular” to be less knowledgable, when you yourself had no knowledge of why they do.
Although there are a number of quite valid reasons to criticize Mr. Bush, which my esteemed colleagues on the Left have enumerated in the past and hopefully will continue to, the idea that he, having been ridiculed for mispronunciation in the past, might decide to learn the correct pronunciation of the word in question and begin using it, does not strike me as absurd.
Of course, I do see the world through rose-colored glasses, so feel free to Pit this comment.
Poly, it’s possible that that is the case, but I don’t believe it: he seems a bit fake when trying to put out the “cowboy” vibe. But it is possible: I’m not a mind reader.
And to everyone, I’d agree, this isn’t the best founded or most important rant, and perhaps I should have put [lame] disclaimer. But in the Dead Poets Society scale of importance times execution, it comes squarely in the middle of the graph
It’s part of The Plan. All evil geniuses must have a plan, it’s required. The idea is to get everyone all wrapped up around “noo kyuh ler” while he goes ahead unnoticed with construction of his alludium pu-38 explosive space modulator. The man is truly an evil genius.
Liberal
You said I have a good attitude about these ‘discussions’ ? Thanks.
When this message board ceases to be fun, I sure as heck won’t be around.
There’s a lot more to life than the Internet … I think.
[QUOTE=Zoe]
As much as the pronunciation nyu-kyuh-luhrgrates on my nerves, it is acceptable in Webster’s. Well, almost. Webster’s uses the schwa instead of the uh. (The schwa gives it a u sound as in cut or abut.)QUOTE]
But where is the letter under the schwa? The problem,if there be one, is that a “u” is being inappropriately inserted between the “C” and the “l”, as it is legitimately found in “molecular”, “particular”, and “muscular”, but not in “clear”.
What is this thing you call “life”? These large rectangular moving images of trees and birds on my wall, surrounded by draperies — is it these of which you speak?
Re the ticket price: One gets what one pays for. The good stuff costs more.
Re “artic”: I’m glad someone else is aggravated by that. It’s not accepted by people who care about how they are perceived by people who know how to talk correctly. I gnash my teeth every time I see my local weatherman say “As far as tomorrow”, without the “…is concerned” or “…goes”. There must be a Weatherspeak 101 course in the meaty urologist schools that teaches that crap instead of English. Even some idiots on the Weather Channel do it. Use “As for” instead of “As far as”.
Like you said later, about “Massatoosetts”, “Maybe it is due to people being lazy and not really giving a damn about speaking proper English?”
Ex-Bahstin area resident who is now amused more than bothered by its accent (as well as New Yahk’s).
Yeah, I agree with Liberal. I’m awful damn tired of people going around claiming that one pronunciation of a word is “correct” while another is “wrong”, and sliding back to excuses that boil down to “Well, that’s what I was taught.” Appeals to spelling are even worse, unless you pronounce “cough” and “though” as rhymes. “Nuclear” and “nucular” are both common pronunciations, like “February” and “Febuary”. God didn’t hand Moses tablets with guides on English usage, and the only authority in language that means anything is the way people speak.
