# Why is this word so hard to pronounce correctly? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 18, 2003, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-word-so-hard-to-pronounce-correctly/162267 "2003-03-18T14:47:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Hobie\_the\_One](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e99b99/32.png) [@Hobie\_the\_One](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hobie_the_One)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2003, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-word-so-hard-to-pronounce-correctly/162267/1 "2003-03-18T14:47:43Z")
I was watching TV last night and listening to a gentleman who has degrees from Yale and Harvard. I’m sure you know of whom I speak. During his announcement, he proved that both these two institutions are incapable of correcting an egregious mistake that makes me just grit my teeth whenever I hear it. NUCLEAR is not pronounced NEWKEWLER! :smack: Sigh. I don’t want shots taken at the gentleman in question because he is not the only one with this affliction. Why is this word so impossible for so many people to say correctly? ---
**Author:** ![whatsallthisabout](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/eb9ed0/32.png) [@whatsallthisabout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whatsallthisabout)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2003, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-word-so-hard-to-pronounce-correctly/162267/2 "2003-03-18T14:48:42Z")
What I can’t understand is how his speech coaches do not correct him. ---
**Author:** ![biddee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/839c29/32.png) [@biddee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/biddee)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2003, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-word-so-hard-to-pronounce-correctly/162267/3 "2003-03-18T14:51:13Z")
Ha ha…I noticed that too! It reminded me of Homer Simpson…It’s not NEWKLEER, it’s NEWKEWLER. And we wonder why the world thinks the man’s an a$$! ---
**Author:** ![CurtC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ce73a5/32.png) [@CurtC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CurtC)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2003, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-word-so-hard-to-pronounce-correctly/162267/4 "2003-03-18T14:51:29Z")
But is it supposed to be noo-clee-ur or nyoo-clee-ur? ---
**Author:** ![Ruby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/13edae/32.png) [@Ruby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruby)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2003, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-word-so-hard-to-pronounce-correctly/162267/5 "2003-03-18T14:51:43Z")
It’s my understanding from last week’s Marilyn-Whats-Her-Name column that new-ku-lar is a common pronounciation in George’s part of Texas. Can it be true? ---
**Author:** ![hammerbach](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/73ab20/32.png) [@hammerbach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hammerbach)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2003, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-word-so-hard-to-pronounce-correctly/162267/6 "2003-03-18T14:52:48Z")
Perhaps this is an affected trait (in that case). It’s not the worst I’ve ever heard, I have a friend who refers to those islands as the “her-bid-ees”. Nothing in te world can make him say “Hebrides”. ---
**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:** [March 18, 2003, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-word-so-hard-to-pronounce-correctly/162267/7 "2003-03-18T15:08:07Z")
Christ, people, we can’t even agree on how he’s \*mis-\*pronouncing it. ---
**Author:** ![racekarl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6bbea6/32.png) [@racekarl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racekarl)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2003, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-word-so-hard-to-pronounce-correctly/162267/8 "2003-03-18T15:08:18Z")
Listen up Mr. Smarty-pants, I’m gonna drop a little dope on you: Language is spoken, not written. Writing is just a bunch of symbols meant to represent spoken laguage. Therefore, to prescribe a particular pronuncation of a word based on how it is written is putting the cart before the horse. Pronunciation of words is fluid, and many common words were pronounced differently one hundred years ago. There are regional variations, personal preference, whatever. Get over it. The answer to your question is that the sound that is key to your preferred pronunciation is extremely rare in American English. Being rare, it is often difficult to pronounce for native English speakers. Ever try rolling your R’s or doing that Castillian lisp? It’s hard because you were not brought up making those noises. Inserting a vowel is a pretty common way for people to deal with difficult sounds. I bet you’ve heard people say Ath-a-lete, too. Don’t waste any more time tilting at this windmill… ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2003, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-word-so-hard-to-pronounce-correctly/162267/9 "2003-03-18T15:17:19Z")
From the biography of another gentleman: > [@](#): > > After serving on the USS Pomfret in the Pacific, he was selected as one of a group of officers to work under Capt. (later Adm.) Hyman Rickover on the **nuclear** submarine program. Rickover had a profound effect on Carter who, **after studying nuclear physics** at Union College, Schenectady, N. Y., served on the crew of the **nuclear** submarine Sea Wolf. If all that exposure didn’t get Carter to stop saying new-kew-ler, and his professors and Hyman Rickover were apparently cool with it, perhaps we should just accept that it’s a matter not of ignorance, but of Dixiebonics. Still, since people seem to get all het up about this one word, while not objecting to the rest of the man’s accent, you would think his advisors would try to get him to correct it. There’s LOTS of words that have regional mispronunciations involving the switching of syllables, or transposition into other words, BTW. I grew up where people would comment on those funny looking dogs as “African” hounds, or talk about the “affigan” on the sofa. Even people who knew what they were saying was spelled “afghan”. A leader with that particular regionalism could have been very confusing recently. ---
**Author:** ![Hobie\_the\_One](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e99b99/32.png) [@Hobie\_the\_One](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hobie_the_One)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2003, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-word-so-hard-to-pronounce-correctly/162267/10 "2003-03-18T15:19:45Z")
So inserting a vowel is okay? That means that the word clear must be pronounced kewler? “If you cannot say what you mean, you will never mean what you say.” Peter O’toole in _The Last Emperor_ Like I said, I have no problem with the man in question but do not understand why it is so hard to say NEW-CLEAR. Sigh. ---
**Author:** ![racekarl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6bbea6/32.png) [@racekarl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racekarl)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2003, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-word-so-hard-to-pronounce-correctly/162267/11 "2003-03-18T15:29:03Z")
I didn’t say it was OK. If you read carefully, I gave you the answer as to why it is hard for some people to say, and that the “insert a vowel” strategy is an adaptation people make to avoid making a sound that does not feel natural to them. That’s the question you asked, not “can someone justify why people should say it?” As an example, try saying “kvetch.” (I assume you are a lifelong US resident and native english speaker, sorry if I’m off base). It’s quite difficult to say, and I don’t know about you, but my mouth wants to say “kuh-vetch.” Would you rather he say new-kew-lur or stumble over a word that’s hard for him to form? ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2003, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-word-so-hard-to-pronounce-correctly/162267/12 "2003-03-18T15:31:07Z")
Who says you can’t pronounce it that way Hobie the One? Who is the authority on that? Here is what Webster’s says: “usage Though disapproved of by many, pronunciations ending in -ky\*-l\*r\ have been found in widespread use among educated speakers including scientists, lawyers, professors, congressmen, U.S. cabinet members, and at least one U.S. president and one vice president. While most common in the U.S., these pronunciations have also been heard from British and Canadian speakers.” Seems acceptable to me if all of them are saying it that way, but then I use sign language & so I don’t need to concern myself with that 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Hobie\_the\_One](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e99b99/32.png) [@Hobie\_the\_One](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hobie_the_One)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2003, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-word-so-hard-to-pronounce-correctly/162267/13 "2003-03-18T15:35:28Z")
I am not complaining about regional pronunciations. This is not regional, this is rampant (at least in the US, is it a problem in other English speaking countries?). I really want to know why it is not an easily correctable problem. The word is clearly spelled and shouldn’t be all that hard to say. ---
**Author:** ![Hobie\_the\_One](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e99b99/32.png) [@Hobie\_the\_One](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hobie_the_One)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2003, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-word-so-hard-to-pronounce-correctly/162267/14 "2003-03-18T15:43:18Z")
> [@](#): > > “usage Though disapproved of by many, pronunciations ending in -ky\*-l\*r\ have been found in widespread use among educated speakers including scientists, lawyers, professors, congressmen, U.S. cabinet members, and at least one U.S. president and one vice president. While most common in the U.S., these pronunciations have also been heard from British and Canadian speakers.” Okay, I thought that this site was to further knowledge. I suppose that if enough people start doing something incorrectly, it’s not worth correcting. Does this make speeding okay now? ---
**Author:** ![SmackFu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@SmackFu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmackFu)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2003, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-word-so-hard-to-pronounce-correctly/162267/15 "2003-03-18T15:56:09Z")
And what the hell is up with that y’all stuff? “You all”? That’s not English! Mocking dialectics is fun! ---
**Author:** ![Futile\_Gesture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f05b48/32.png) [@Futile\_Gesture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Futile_Gesture)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2003, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-word-so-hard-to-pronounce-correctly/162267/16 "2003-03-18T15:58:04Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Hobie the One \* > \*\*I suppose that if enough people start doing something incorrectly, it’s not worth correcting. \*\* Who’s to say it’s incorrect? Who says it’s a problem? There are plenty of words in the English language that are not pronounced by anyone the way they are spelt. ---
**Author:** ![racekarl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6bbea6/32.png) [@racekarl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racekarl)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2003, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-word-so-hard-to-pronounce-correctly/162267/17 "2003-03-18T16:02:37Z")
**Hobie** , First, welcome to the boards, sorry I forgot to say it earlier. Second, you’ve gotten answers to your original question as well as your follow up questions… > [@](#): > > The word is clearly spelled and shouldn’t be all that hard to say. As I said, spelling has NOTHING to do with determining how a word should be pronounced. Spoken language is primary, written language is secondary. > [@](#): > > I suppose that if enough people start doing something incorrectly, it’s not worth correcting. Hate to break it to you, but in the case of spoken language that is generally right. Saying spoken words are “incorrect” is a slippery subject. Do the British pronounce “Aluminum” incorrectly, or do the Americans? Language evolves over time: the meanings and pronunciations of words change. Does anyone say “ye” any more? English is a living language, now if you were talking about mis-pronunciation of Latin, you might have a stronger case 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2003, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-word-so-hard-to-pronounce-correctly/162267/18 "2003-03-18T16:03:02Z")
Hobie the One, What’s your question? We have already said that this is a common pronunciation for the word. (Perhaps it’s more common in some regions than others, but it is common.) Yes, it’s generally considered to be a “non-standard” pronunciation, but that hasn’t stopped people from saying it that way. As to why that pronunciation has arisen, it’s because frequently vowel combinations that are hard to say are simplified by inverting sounds and inserting or deleting vowels. What else are you asking? If you want to get into a debate on whether and to what extent dictionaries should discourage some pronunciations, go to Great Debates and start a thread there. We’ve discussed this several times there, and it’s not really a General Question anymore when people start offering their opinion on what a dictionary should be. If you want to start a thread on the mental abilities of Bush, that should also go in Great Debates ---
**Author:** ![Dravin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/da6949/32.png) [@Dravin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dravin)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2003, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-word-so-hard-to-pronounce-correctly/162267/19 "2003-03-18T16:04:37Z")
Yeah, just the other day I saw a _knight_ riding a horse and he was carrying a rather large _knife_. Sadly he died of _pneumonia_ and I had to call the police on a pay _phone_. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2003, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-word-so-hard-to-pronounce-correctly/162267/20 "2003-03-18T16:11:20Z")
Yeh, just the othur day I saw uh _nyt_ ryding a hors and he wuz carring a rathur larj _nyf_. Sadly he dyd of _newmoania_ and I had to corl the pulees on a pay _fohn_. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-word-so-hard-to-pronounce-correctly/162267.md?page=2)