# Time for my annual "there's-only-one-U-in-nuptial" rant **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [November 30, 2006, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-for-my-annual-theres-only-one-u-in-nuptial-rant/382380 "2006-11-30T20:18:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2006, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-for-my-annual-theres-only-one-u-in-nuptial-rant/382380/1 "2006-11-30T20:18:30Z")
It’s not pronounced “nup-choo-ul,” it’s pronounced “nup-sh’l.” One “U.” Do you say “par-choo-ul” for partial? Do you say “ee-sen-choo-ul” for essential? Where in hell did that secound “U” come from? ---
**Author:** ![OneCentStamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/13edae/32.png) [@OneCentStamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneCentStamp)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2006, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-for-my-annual-theres-only-one-u-in-nuptial-rant/382380/2 "2006-11-30T20:21:30Z")
And here I thought it was going to be some faux-clever wordplay along the lines of “no I in team.” :smack: People who pronounce it \*nuptual \*are the same kind of people who say _nucular_. :mad: ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2006, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-for-my-annual-theres-only-one-u-in-nuptial-rant/382380/3 "2006-11-30T20:26:42Z")
[QUOTE=panache45] Do you say “ee-sen-choo-ul” for essential? [/QUOTE] I will from now on. ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2006, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-for-my-annual-theres-only-one-u-in-nuptial-rant/382380/4 "2006-11-30T20:29:01Z")
[QUOTE=OneCentStamp] And here I thought it was going to be some faux-clever wordplay along the lines of “no I in team.” :smack: [/QUOTE] Me too. Vulgar English football fans chant “There’s only one F in Fulham!” ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2006, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-for-my-annual-theres-only-one-u-in-nuptial-rant/382380/5 "2006-11-30T20:34:17Z")
[QUOTE=OneCentStamp] People who pronounce it \*nuptual \*are the same kind of people who say _nucular_. :mad: [/QUOTE] I wish it were limited to them. But I hear virtually everyone pronounce it with the second “u” (and no, that doesn’t make it right). ---
**Author:** ![Only\_Mostly\_Dead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/f19dbf/32.png) [@Only\_Mostly\_Dead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Only_Mostly_Dead)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2006, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-for-my-annual-theres-only-one-u-in-nuptial-rant/382380/6 "2006-11-30T20:35:12Z")
[QUOTE=OneCentStamp] And here I thought it was going to be some faux-clever wordplay along the lines of “no I in team.” :smack: People who pronounce it \*nuptual \*are the same kind of people who say _nucular_. :mad: [/QUOTE] I too was expecting a rant against some bridezilla playing off “no I in team.” ☹ And I’ll admit that I have always pronounced it more as “nup-chu-uhl” than “nup-shul”. My justification is that I didn’t experience the word in print until I was an older child, after I had heard it pronounced (incorrectly) dozens of times in my life. Even now, I probably read it only once for every ten or twenty times I hear it (often incorrectly). So, this is deep in the gray matter, whether I like it or not. But I do NOT say nucular. ---
**Author:** ![Sattua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sattua/32/11906_2.png) [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2006, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-for-my-annual-theres-only-one-u-in-nuptial-rant/382380/7 "2006-11-30T21:10:39Z")
(experiments with pronunciation) Nup-ti-al… nup-tial… nup… No, you see, you’re going from the high-front vowel to the low-back vowel, and unless one is being uber-uptight about it, that vowel gets stuck halfway between at the schwa. As usual, no respect for people who complain about pronunciation. Now, _spelling_ on the other hand, that’s a rant I can get behind. ---
**Author:** ![Jamaika\_a\_jamaikaiake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7993a0/32.png) [@Jamaika\_a\_jamaikaiake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jamaika_a_jamaikaiake)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2006, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-for-my-annual-theres-only-one-u-in-nuptial-rant/382380/8 "2006-12-01T01:30:37Z")
[QUOTE=panache45] I wish it were limited to them. But I hear virtually everyone pronounce it with the second “u” (and no, that doesn’t make it right). [/QUOTE] Yes it does. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2006, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-for-my-annual-theres-only-one-u-in-nuptial-rant/382380/9 "2006-12-01T05:07:16Z")
[QUOTE=Jamaika a jamaikaiaké] Yes it does. [/QUOTE] Well, ok, maybe in Jersey. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Jamaika\_a\_jamaikaiake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7993a0/32.png) [@Jamaika\_a\_jamaikaiake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jamaika_a_jamaikaiake)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2006, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-for-my-annual-theres-only-one-u-in-nuptial-rant/382380/10 "2006-12-01T06:16:06Z")
[QUOTE=panache45] Well, ok, maybe in Jersey. 😉 [/QUOTE] Look, I’ve only lived in Jersey for 4.5 years. Before that it was Chicago, Budapest and Indiana. I don’t understand why people think Jersey is some magical, bizarro-world just because you can’t pump your own gas here. Really, though, if virtually everyone you hear pronounces something a certain way, then that is the correct pronunciation. What other measure of correctness is there? How it is spelled? How it used to be pronounced? How _you would like_ people to pronounce it? I don’t buy any of these. ---
**Author:** ![congodwarf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e36b37/32.png) [@congodwarf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/congodwarf)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2006, 6:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-for-my-annual-theres-only-one-u-in-nuptial-rant/382380/11 "2006-12-01T06:51:23Z")
[QUOTE=Only Mostly Dead] My justification is that I didn’t experience the word in print until I was an older child, after I had heard it pronounced (incorrectly) dozens of times in my life. [/QUOTE] I think **OMD** has got something here. I read a lot. I will read just about anything. But I think I can honestly say that I have seen this word written, probably less than 20 times in my life. It’s just not one of those words which comes up often. It certainley never came up on a vocabulary or spelling test. I learned the word and it’s pronounciation from my elders (a group of people recognized countrywide and possibly worldwide, for being incapable of pronouncing the most simple words - like Car). So, I’m not surprised that I learned the incorrect pronounciation. Actually, until about 5 minutes ago, I wasn’t even sure how to spell the damn word. Since it doesn’t come up much in my unmarried life, I didn’t give enough of a damn to look it up. I have not and will never say nucular though. Or foilage (unless I’m being a dork on purpose). ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Rieux](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@Dr.Rieux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Rieux)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2006, 7:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-for-my-annual-theres-only-one-u-in-nuptial-rant/382380/12 "2006-12-01T07:46:23Z")
Dood, don’t have a nucular meltdown about it. ---
**Author:** ![Manatee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/50afbb/32.png) [@Manatee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manatee)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2006, 7:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-for-my-annual-theres-only-one-u-in-nuptial-rant/382380/13 "2006-12-01T07:52:34Z")
Yeah, chill out. Go to the liberry or something. ---
**Author:** ![Shecky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/85e7bf/32.png) [@Shecky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shecky)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2006, 11:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-for-my-annual-theres-only-one-u-in-nuptial-rant/382380/14 "2006-12-01T11:50:04Z")
And, taken from another board I frequent: There is no I in T-E-A-M There’s also no I in Felony Assault and Battery ---
**Author:** ![Crotalus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crotalus/32/41_2.png) [@Crotalus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crotalus)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2006, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-for-my-annual-theres-only-one-u-in-nuptial-rant/382380/15 "2006-12-01T13:13:59Z")
As others have noted, this is not a word that most of us hear or see often. I have heard it pronounced in the way that offends the OP so consistently that I was surprised to see the correct spelling. ---
**Author:** ![Sonia\_Montdore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/90ced4/32.png) [@Sonia\_Montdore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sonia_Montdore)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2006, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-for-my-annual-theres-only-one-u-in-nuptial-rant/382380/16 "2006-12-01T13:40:27Z")
[QUOTE=OneCentStamp] People who pronounce it \*nuptual \*are the same kind of people who say _nucular_. :mad: [/QUOTE] The same folks pronounce “erudite” as “er-ie-u-dite.” It’s got three syllables, not four. Drives me up the wall when people insert that extraneous “ie” sound. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2006, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-for-my-annual-theres-only-one-u-in-nuptial-rant/382380/17 "2006-12-01T13:57:52Z")
[QUOTE=Sonia Montdore] The same folks pronounce “erudite” as “er-ie-u-dite.” It’s got three syllables, not four. Drives me up the wall when people insert that extraneous “ie” sound. [/QUOTE] They’re probably the same ones who insert that same extraneous “ie” into “mischievous.” ---
**Author:** ![Trunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/87869e/32.png) [@Trunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trunk)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2006, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-for-my-annual-theres-only-one-u-in-nuptial-rant/382380/18 "2006-12-01T15:58:42Z")
I loves me some schwa. ---
**Author:** ![shamrock227](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@shamrock227](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shamrock227)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2006, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-for-my-annual-theres-only-one-u-in-nuptial-rant/382380/19 "2006-12-01T16:12:07Z")
I think someone has had too much expresso this morning. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2006, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-for-my-annual-theres-only-one-u-in-nuptial-rant/382380/20 "2006-12-01T16:48:46Z")
[Still taking longer than we thought](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=398226). [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-for-my-annual-theres-only-one-u-in-nuptial-rant/382380.md?page=2)