# Learn how to pronounce, "President" Bush **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [March 7, 2003, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/learn-how-to-pronounce-president-bush/159638 "2003-03-07T02:41:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2003, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/learn-how-to-pronounce-president-bush/159638/21 "2003-03-07T05:56:25Z")
FTR, I was being sarcastic. But my true feelings are that I don’t give a whit what sounds Shrub’s mouth does or doesn’t like to place in sequence. To me, orthography is important, and so is diction. As far as your remonstrance to **ubermensch** above, I believe he stated quite clearly why he was placing Shrub’s title in quotes. It appears that he’s okay with Shrub supporters thinking he looks like an ass. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2003, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/learn-how-to-pronounce-president-bush/159638/22 "2003-03-07T06:02:45Z")
What I’m seeing is that there’s really no “i” there, Ace. Tricky language, ain’t it?! The ‘ng’ is the syllable former. Sonorant consonats, in addition to vowels, can form syllables. BTW, the ‘ng’ is represented in the IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) by one sybmol because it’s one sound. A good example (classic, even) is the pronunciation of the word ‘bird’. The IPA (you can get that from [http://www.sil.org](http://www.sil.org)) shows it as follows: _I’ll go ahead and write each segment’s description next to it and then write the next segment beneath that._ b _voiced bilabial stop_ upside down r with a small vertical line under it _syllabic r, sometimes represented by the schwa with a little tick mark on the upper right side & in that case called a “r-colored schwa”_ d _voiced alveolar stop_ There’s no ‘i’ in that word either. So, getting back to _larngks_ what we’re dealing with at the end is the velar nasal followed by the voiceless velar stop which is in turn followed by the voiceless alveolar fricative. ---
**Author:** ![I\_can\_t\_believe\_that\_s\_butter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/8edcca/32.png) [@I\_can\_t\_believe\_that\_s\_butter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_can_t_believe_that_s_butter)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2003, 6:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/learn-how-to-pronounce-president-bush/159638/23 "2003-03-07T06:03:30Z")
Is “militarily” such a word? He said that. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2003, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/learn-how-to-pronounce-president-bush/159638/24 "2003-03-07T06:04:17Z")
Oh, I see, kaylas. You don’t give a whit about facts. I’ll keep that in my notes. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2003, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/learn-how-to-pronounce-president-bush/159638/25 "2003-03-07T06:08:41Z")
Joe: [Dictionary.com](http://Dictionary.com) gives _militarily_ as an adverb in the entry for _military_. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2003, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/learn-how-to-pronounce-president-bush/159638/26 "2003-03-07T06:10:06Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Monty \* > \*\*Ace: > > There’s something called Phonotactics. In Bush’s dialect of American English, apparently the particular set of sounds which constitute the way you pronounce ‘nuclear’ are not permitted in that same arrangement, thus Bush and others who speak that particular dialect insert another segment–in this case, a glide followed by a vowel–between the sounds that dialect “doesn’t like” in that arrangement. > \*\* So is President Bush incapable of saying _clear_ then? Does he instead say _cular_? If not, then I suggest that it has little to do with Bush’s dialect or an unfamiliarity with a “particular set of sounds” and more to do with upbringing and education. I’d be interested to hear how he pronounces _binocular_. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2003, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/learn-how-to-pronounce-president-bush/159638/27 "2003-03-07T06:14:33Z")
Please see above, Skogcat, where I mentioned word-initial, word-medial, and word-final. Those are all different environments and some segments can appear in one of those environments but not the other, depending on the dialect/language concerned of course. Bush has more education than I do, so I doubt very seriously it has to do with a lack thereof. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2003, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/learn-how-to-pronounce-president-bush/159638/28 "2003-03-07T06:17:13Z")
BTW, Skog; how do you feel about the OP’s griping about the pronunciation of the r? ---
**Author:** ![scablet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@scablet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scablet)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2003, 6:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/learn-how-to-pronounce-president-bush/159638/29 "2003-03-07T06:22:04Z")
[hijack] Waaait, doesn’t [dictionary.com](http://dictionary.com) say “larynx” is pronounced LARE-inks? … not LARE-nix? 😕 [/hijack] ---
**Author:** ![MysteryFellow63427](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e4f/32.png) [@MysteryFellow63427](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MysteryFellow63427)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2003, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/learn-how-to-pronounce-president-bush/159638/30 "2003-03-07T06:24:58Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by ubermensch \* > \*\*/troll > I swear…maybe we should give Texas back to Mexico… > /troll \*\* Ha! I’d like to ask you to refamiliarize yourself with a little thing called “The War for Texas Independence.” 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2003, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/learn-how-to-pronounce-president-bush/159638/31 "2003-03-07T06:29:17Z")
scablet: No, it does not. Look at it again. Tell me, please, where, in the pronunciation section (that’s the nifty bit between the parentheses), that there’s an i. Upon close inspection–heck, even upon cursory inspection–one will notice that there’s no i in the pronunciation. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2003, 6:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/learn-how-to-pronounce-president-bush/159638/32 "2003-03-07T06:32:50Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Monty \* > \*\*What I’m seeing is that there’s really no “i” there, Ace. Tricky language, ain’t it?! The ‘ng’ is the syllable former. Sonorant consonats, in addition to vowels, can form syllables. BTW, the ‘ng’ is represented in the IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) by one sybmol because it’s one sound. > \*\* **Monty** : From the OED, _larinks_ (the n has a funny little tail to it that I cannot do but it is not pertinent to the discussion). This actually doesn’t contradict your _larngks_ but what you are failing to see (or hear) is that the _i_ sound, that is almost implied in some accents, falls between the _r_ and the _n_. _lar(i)ngks_. _ngks_ equals _nx_ _ngks_ does not equal _nix_ **(on preview)** **Monty** I don’t have much of an opinion over the two _r_ sounds. It does amuse me that it sounds like _tourism_ but I recognise it as lazy speach patterns. _Nukular_, on the other hand, gives the impression that he is an idiot (I do realise he is not an idiot and undoubtedly far better educated than I but that is still the impression he gives). ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2003, 6:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/learn-how-to-pronounce-president-bush/159638/33 "2003-03-07T06:34:02Z")
And just to be clear. My _larinks_ above is from the pronunciation section for the entry _Larynx_. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2003, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/learn-how-to-pronounce-president-bush/159638/34 "2003-03-07T06:36:08Z")
and on further perusal of the dictionary I see that the funny _n_ shaped thing is the symbol for the _ng_ sound, so my dictionary says _laringks_ ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2003, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/learn-how-to-pronounce-president-bush/159638/35 "2003-03-07T06:37:44Z")
The President also used a couple of redundancies tonight. One was “proceed forward.” Does anyone remember the other one? ---
**Author:** ![Raygun99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Raygun99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raygun99)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2003, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/learn-how-to-pronounce-president-bush/159638/36 "2003-03-07T06:42:30Z")
From [http://m-w.com](http://m-w.com) Main Entry: lar·ynx Pronunciation: 'lar-ings There’s an audio of the pronounciation there too if you search for it, though I can’t link to it. ---
**Author:** ![Aspidistra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspidistra/32/3894_2.png) [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2003, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/learn-how-to-pronounce-president-bush/159638/37 "2003-03-07T06:42:46Z")
Well this is what I see [for larynx](http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=larynx): lar’ingks with the ‘a’ and the ‘i’ both appearing as superscripts, with curvy lines over them. Wasn’t sure what the ‘superscript i with curvy line over it’ meant in Proper Phonetic-speak, so just for fun I looked up [finish](http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=finish) fin’ish with the i’s appearing _exactly_ the same way as in ‘larynx’. So what’s the difference? If the i is “really there” in ‘finish’ (which I hope we can all agree on) why is it “not really there” in larynx? ---
**Author:** ![scablet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@scablet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scablet)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2003, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/learn-how-to-pronounce-president-bush/159638/38 "2003-03-07T06:43:45Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Monty \* > \*\*scablet: > > No, it does not. Look at it again. Tell me, please, where, in the pronunciation section (that’s the nifty bit between the parentheses), that there’s an i. > > Upon close inspection–heck, even upon cursory inspection–one will notice that there’s no i in the pronunciation. \*\* Uhh, okay - in the “nifty bit between the parentheses,” _there’s an i_. **(lar’ingks)** of course, the “a” and “i” both have breves over them. But they are there. And they look like [this](http://cache.lexico.com/dictionary/graphics/AHD4/GIF/abreve.gif) and [this](http://cache.lexico.com/dictionary/graphics/AHD4/GIF/ibreve.gif), respectively (warning: hideously tiny graphics!). Do you not have image viewing enabled or somesuch? ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2003, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/learn-how-to-pronounce-president-bush/159638/39 "2003-03-07T06:45:24Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Monty \* > \*\*scablet: > > No, it does not. Look at it again. Tell me, please, where, in the pronunciation section (that’s the nifty bit between the parentheses), that there’s an i. > > Upon close inspection–heck, even upon cursory inspection–one will notice that there’s no i in the pronunciation. \*\* Between the _r_ and the _n_ there is an _i_ with a _(_ rotated anticlockwise through 90 degrees, above it. This symbol is for the sound _i_ as in P_i_t. That is where the _i_ is, and it occurs in front of the _ngks_ ---
**Author:** ![scablet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@scablet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scablet)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2003, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/learn-how-to-pronounce-president-bush/159638/40 "2003-03-07T06:45:44Z")
Oh, Mum always told me how it would feel the day I ended up on the tail-end of a triple simupost… but I never believed her… ☹ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/learn-how-to-pronounce-president-bush/159638.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/learn-how-to-pronounce-president-bush/159638.md?page=3)