For the second in my series of language rants, I've chosen an easy one: the mispronunciation of the word "nuclear" as "nucular." This pronunciation is perhaps most famously used by President Bush, but is also employed but such other luminaries as Homer Simpson. In fact, "nucular" is apparently listed in some dictionaries as a common, pronounciation, though not one that is considered correct by all. This pronunciation makes me feel like going "nuclular," though some linguists would tell me to calm down.
The point is, unless you want to sound like an ignorant bumpkin to many people, don't say "nucular." Just don't.
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While there's perhaps nothing I can sympathize more with than being a twitchy language elitist, it really depends on where you are. Here in the capital of nuclear science, we have a lot of guys from the south (many of them products of the Navy's nuclear programs), and no one around here gives a damn whether it's "nuclee-ar" or "nucular"; it's just regarded as a regionalism. The odds are long here that anyone you talk to is a long way away from an ignorant bumpkin no matter what they sound like, so no one makes the assumption unless they feel like getting schooled.
ReplyDeleteWe have plenty of foreign scientists with MUCH funnier accents, anyway.