# Sarah Palin pronunciation **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 14, 2008, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-pronunciation/467913 "2008-10-14T18:23:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![robcaro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/df705f/32.png) [@robcaro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robcaro)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2008, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-pronunciation/467913/1 "2008-10-14T18:23:49Z")
I just heard the speech by Sarah Palin. She must have learned something from George Bush. She pronounces Nuclear as “ **Nucular**.” Ugh… Can’t someone tell her the correct way to pronounce it. ---
**Author:** ![cornflakes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@cornflakes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cornflakes)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2008, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-pronunciation/467913/2 "2008-10-14T18:26:50Z")
[Send it here.](http://gov.state.ak.us/govmail.php) ---
**Author:** ![picker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/picker/32/13969_2.png) [@picker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picker)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2008, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-pronunciation/467913/3 "2008-10-14T18:33:10Z")
I sent my comment via that form, and did it politely. I even made it sound like I was a supporter. We’ll see if she emails back. I live in a battleground state, so maybe. But I should’ve used her yahoo account probably… ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2008, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-pronunciation/467913/4 "2008-10-14T19:01:32Z")
She’s just so darned cute. To be fair, there are some people that should know better and still pronounce it that way, maybe as part of a regional accent. I’m fairly certain that Jimmy Carter used the “nukular” variant, and he served on nuclear-powered subs in the Navy, iirc. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2008, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-pronunciation/467913/5 "2008-10-14T19:31:15Z")
Oh, for fuck’s sake, who gives a shit how any politician pronounces the word “nuclear.” ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2008, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-pronunciation/467913/6 "2008-10-14T19:38:30Z")
> [@ShibbOleth](#): > > She’s just so darned cute. To be fair, there are some people that should know better and still pronounce it that way, maybe as part of a regional accent. I’m fairly certain that Jimmy Carter used the “nukular” variant, and he served on nuclear-powered subs in the Navy, iirc. I’ve heard that bandied about, but from the clips I could find on You Tube, Jimmy Carter seems to say something that sounds more like “nukier” than anything else. Not that it makes much of a difference, it’s still not “nuclear.” ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2008, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-pronunciation/467913/7 "2008-10-14T19:42:50Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Oh, for fuck’s sake, who gives a shit how any politician pronounces the word “nuclear.” Hey! I am absolutely _ecstatic_ that we’ll have a president who can pronounce it correctly. It shows that he might actually know something about what he’s talking about. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_fight\_the\_hypothetical](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/59ef9b/32.png) [@Don\_t\_fight\_the\_hypothetical](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_fight_the_hypothetical)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2008, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-pronunciation/467913/8 "2008-10-14T19:47:34Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Oh, for fuck’s sake, who gives a shit how any politician pronounces the word “nuclear.” Agreed. I think Dennis Miller started all of this. [ETA: link.](http://twitter.com/michaelcalienes/statuses/944425965) ---
**Author:** ![LouisB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@LouisB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouisB)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2008, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-pronunciation/467913/9 "2008-10-14T19:48:50Z")
> [@cornflakes](#): > > [Send it here.](http://gov.state.ak.us/govmail.php) Just on the off chance that she and McCain might win, I don’t want her to have my name and address. ---
**Author:** ![Contrapuntal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e274bd/32.png) [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2008, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-pronunciation/467913/10 "2008-10-14T19:49:51Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Oh, for fuck’s sake, who gives a shit how any politician pronounces the word “nuclear.” Apparently the OP does. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2008, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-pronunciation/467913/11 "2008-10-14T19:55:41Z")
> [@ShibbOleth](#): > > Jimmy Carter… served on nuclear-powered subs in the Navy, iirc. Carter never served on a nuclear sub, _Nautilus_ having been launched more than a year after he left the Navy. ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2008, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-pronunciation/467913/12 "2008-10-14T20:02:09Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > Carter never served on a nuclear sub, _Nautilus_ having been launched more than a year after he left the Navy. You’re correct, but he did train for it (per Wiki): > [@](#): > > He applied for the U.S. Navy’s fledgling nuclear submarine program run by then Captain Hyman G. Rickover. Rickover’s demands on his men and machines were legendary, and Carter later said that, next to his parents, Rickover had the greatest influence on him. > > Carter has said that he loved the Navy, and had planned to make it his career. His ultimate goal was to become Chief of Naval Operations. Carter felt the best route for promotion was with submarine duty since he felt that nuclear power would be increasingly used in submarines. After six years of military service, Carter trained for the position of engineer officer in submarine Seawolf, then under construction.[7] During service on the diesel-electric submarine, USS Pomfret, Carter was almost washed overboard.[8] Carter completed a non-credit introductory course in nuclear reactor power at Union College starting in March 1953. This followed Carter’s first-hand experience as part of a group of American and Canadian servicemen who took part in cleaning up after a nuclear meltdown at Canada’s Chalk River Laboratories reactor.[9][10] > > Upon the death of his father, James Earl Carter, Sr., in July 1953, however, Lieutenant Carter immediately resigned his commission, and he was discharged from the Navy on October 9, 1953.[11][12] This cut short his nuclear power training school, and he was never able to serve on a nuclear submarine, since the first boat of that fleet, the USS Nautilus, was launched on January 17, 1955, over a year after his discharge from the Navy.[13] So he should have had at least a passing familiarity with the correct pronunciation, even before he became CIC.