posted
I say nuclear wrong. I know I do because people have told me so. It's a good thing, too, because I honestly can't hear a difference between the two pronunciations. Sure, if someone exaggerates what they're saying, I can hear it. I can even say it right if I completely stop the flow of the conversation and say it in my head before forcing the exaggerated version out of my mouth. However, in a normal conversation with everyone speaking as normal I honestly could not tell you if the person I'm talking to is saying it correctly.
I find this extremely frustrating because mispronouncing this word seems to automatically lower your IQ by at least 50 points. In fact, mispronouncing this word can, simply on its own merit be sufficient proof that you're an idiot for people to dismiss you from then on.
Now, I won’t say I’m particularly intelligent. I’m insecure enough about myself that I have no idea how smart or stupid I am. However, I can’t see how mispronouncing nuclear would have any effect on that. I can’t pronounce bag correctly, either, but I’ve never had someone say that I was unintelligent because of that. What’s so special about nuclear that makes mispronouncing it such a stigma?
Posts: 4655 | Registered: Jan 2002
| IP: Logged |
posted
Because George W. mispronounced it and people used his regional pronunciation as evident proof of his stupidity because that's what they wanted to believe. I said it incorrectly for years before that and nobody ever batted an eye.
I feel for you on this issue. For the most part, I don't have any accent. But there are some words I absolutely can't say correctly without thinking very hard about it. And no matter how hard I try, I have never been able to hear a difference between "Mail" and "Male".
Posts: 1947 | Registered: Aug 2002
| IP: Logged |
posted
It's probably because it's a sciency word—a word that intelligent people should know—so if you mispronounce it, then you must not know it and must be unintelligent. It's a stupid stigma, of course.
Edit: The stigma has been around for much longer than George W. Bush has been in office. Eisenhower, Kennedy, Ford, Carter, and Clinton all said it, too, along with hosts of other well-educated people.
Posts: 9945 | Registered: Sep 2002
| IP: Logged |
posted
There isn't a difference between mail and mail (hah!)
Anyways, it's always fun to mix up some things, femail, various other ones: Think webmail site that is popular and has the word hot in it with dot com. I wouldn't recommend going there, but man when I worked at MSN that was a horror story waiting to happen.
Honestly, it's to the point where so many people mispronounce it that it's going to be another 'correct' way to say it soon. I would argue that it doesn't drop your IQ, but it might show someone how much you've read or not read. I personally don't care either way, nor would I look down on you (much) for a mispronunciation.
Posts: 1132 | Registered: Jul 2002
| IP: Logged |
posted
"My astronomy professor says "Nucular." Why does it even matter?"
quote:...1. [My astronomy professor] showed up the first day and told us his lesson plan was 25 years old, that he wasn't too keen on technology so there would be no visuals, and he wasn't going to read the homework or give essay questions on tests. 2. He enouraged us not to study so that the curve would be low and we would have an easier time getting ok grades. he was NOT kidding... ...5. He suggested we not bother reading the book- he certainly never had.
posted
I think it's because that particular mispronunciation is one of a few words that seem to be more prevalent among rural, (and presumably less educated) people. Others would be "lie-berry" for "library" and "warsh" for "wash".
And this was so, at least in my experience, long before GWB came into public prominence.
Posts: 6394 | Registered: Dec 1999
| IP: Logged |
quote:Originally posted by Amanecer: And no matter how hard I try, I have never been able to hear a difference between "Mail" and "Male".
There is no difference between those two words.
The reason "nukyuler" sounds dumb to a lot of people is that there's a bias in the US against southern accents, and nukyuler sounds southern.
I'm an elitist midwestern snob, and nukyuler, liberry, Feb-you-arry and jewlery all make me squirm. The funny thing to me is hearing people who say the last two making fun of people who say nukyuler.
Posts: 12266 | Registered: Jul 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
It's really difficult for me to say nuclear correctly. But I try really hard to over-emphasize the cleee-arrrr because people, no matter how close they are to you, apparently get really, really angry. >_<
quote: Feb-you-arry
Wait... uh... then how do you say it?
Posts: 3636 | Registered: Oct 2001
| IP: Logged |
quote:Originally posted by MyrddinFyre: It's really difficult for me to say nuclear correctly. But I try really hard to over-emphasize the cleee-arrrr because people, no matter how close they are to you, apparently get really, really angry. >_<
Just think of it as an adjective or an adverb. How do atom bombs explode? Nukely. Nukely, nukelier, nukeliest. The middle one is how you pronounce nuclear.
posted
Read the usage note. While I've always heard it with the first "r" pronounced, it's apparently ok either way.
Posts: 4519 | Registered: Sep 2003
| IP: Logged |
posted
My pet peeve about pronounciation is really the way so many people pronounce an "h" like a "y" in words like "humor", "huge", "humongous".
When I was a freshman in high school, we were doing a unit on optics, and the book gave little pronunciation guides for the technical terms. It actually said that "humor" (as in aqueous and vitreous) was pronounced "YOO-mer". For years, I thought that pronunciation was specific to humor in the context of eyeball juice. I didn't realize that it was just a dialect thing.
Posts: 12266 | Registered: Jul 2005
| IP: Logged |
quote:Originally posted by Corwin: Read the usage note. While I've always heard it with the first "r" pronounced, it's apparently ok either way.
Huh. I'm surprised they don't have jewlery as an alternate pronunciation, in that case. It's just as common. They do have LIE-bree as an educated usage of library, but they frown on lie-berry (which sounds like a breakfast cereal to me).
I think whoever did this page just put his or her own personal preferences in. It seems awfully arbitrary. Or should that be "arbitree"?
Posts: 12266 | Registered: Jul 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
And... is this a midwest thing? My little brother, and about half the people I went to school with, pronounced "milk" as "melk". Anyone else run into this?
Posts: 12266 | Registered: Jul 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
If it makes you feel any better, I'm a very smart person, but I can't stop myself most of the time from pronouncing "creek" as "crick." It's because I was raised in Idaho, where everybody says "crick."
If you want to have a little mnemonic device for pronouncing "nuclear" correctly, then remember that it refers to the nucleus of an atom...so nuclEEus, nuclEEar. That helps me, anyway!
Lisa, yes - the "melk" thing I've noticed a lot, but I've noticed it with native Washingtonians, who also tend to call their state Warshington and to write with a pin instead of a pen. heehee.
Posts: 1006 | Registered: Jun 2006
| IP: Logged |
I'm an elitist midwestern snob, and nukyuler, liberry, Feb-you-arry and jewlery all make me squirm. The funny thing to me is hearing people who say the last two making fun of people who say nukyuler.
Everybody in my family hates it when I say February instead of Febyooary. But they're all originally from either rural Washington (Warshington) or rural Idaho, so I guess I can understand. I think they think I'm trying to be an elitist snob. I'm not; I'm just trying to be correct. At least I'm still on board with them with "crick."
...But then, most members of my family also call a calculator a counculator and the attic the addict.
Posts: 1006 | Registered: Jun 2006
| IP: Logged |
quote:For the same reason that mispronouncing any word matters. Because it's wrong.
Of course. Anybody who doesn't speak with [insert MY accent here] is wrong. End of story.
I think there's a difference between accents and mispronounciations. Accents change how you say vowels and how you inflect. They don't change how words are spelled. That is, unless your accent is due to having a different first language from English. Even then, you're still pronouncing words incorrectly.
I freely admit that I'm dead wrong in pronouncing "creek" as "crick." Wrong, wrong, wrong. It has nothing to do with any accent. People from Idaho generally aren't thought to have an accent, unless it's your standard west-coast accent.
Posts: 1006 | Registered: Jun 2006
| IP: Logged |
posted
I think the only reason I know the difference between nuclear and nucular is because of The Simpsons, and for that reason I almost always pronounce it wrong, sometimes intentionaly, sometimes not.
That way, when I say "nucular" and someone corrects me, I get to pretend they are the dumb one and correct them a la Homer Simpson: "It's nu-CU-lar". And then, when they try to correct me again I get to prove how ultra-cooler-than-them I am, because they don't get the reference. Oh yeah, using my own idiocy to make me look cool. Oh yeah.
Edit to add: And I don't get it about jewlery. What am I missing?
Posts: 2596 | Registered: Jan 2006
| IP: Logged |
posted
Me neither. I saw jewel-ree... I have no idea if that's right or not.
In elementary school, we were specifically taught that the first r in February was silent. I had no idea that it wasn't so in some places. That just boggles my mind.
And nuclear isn't a memory thing so much as the sounds are difficult for me to put together. But I don't want to get into the "it's hard to pronounce things near r's" thing again Posts: 3636 | Registered: Oct 2001
| IP: Logged |
quote:And I don't get it about jewlery. What am I missing?
Well, there's "jew-el-ry" (which is how I say it), or there's "jew-ler-y" (which I guess according to Lisa is wrong), or there's "jew-el-ler-y" (which seems like overkill).
Or there's the easiest way: "joolry".
And I'm not exactly sure how I say February. As a child I used to say Feb-you-ary, and was shocked when I learned that there was another "R" in there. But even now I'm not sure I really pronounce the "R", unless I'm thinking about it and being very careful. When I speak fast it's more like "Febooary" or "Febwary". It just takes a long time to fit all those letters in. Posts: 1522 | Registered: Nov 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
Because otherwise I'd be saying Nucleah. The e or the a sounds (like the o sound) do not transition into the r around these here parts. U sounds (as well as i and ea (like in clear) sounds) do. I do like to keep my dignity and say my r's
posted
I say "joolry." And I do say February, but it's a trained pronunciation; when I was little, I said Feb-yoo-ary. Definitely nuclear and I know it's snobbish but I do cringe when I hear "nuke-you-ler." I don't know why I have such a bias about that and I don't like myself for it.
My good friend from Idaho says "yooj" for huge. I think I say the "h"s on all those words, but when I thought about the Good Humor truck I realized I don't say the "h" on that one!
How 'bout Realtor? Ree-al-tor or Reel-i-tor? (since it's a made up word I don't know that it matters much anyway . . . but the second seems to be by far the more common pronunciation and I don't get why.)
Posts: 3149 | Registered: Jul 2005
| IP: Logged |
quote:In elementary school, we were specifically taught that the first r in February was silent. I had no idea that it wasn't so in some places. That just boggles my mind.
Me too. I was also taught to pronounce the third day of the work week as Wensday. Am I gonna find out I'm really supposed to pronounce it Wed-nes-day now? Because I ain't gonna do it, to darn hard, not gonna happen. It is and forever will be Feb-you-ary, Wensday and Mall-boro.
Posts: 2596 | Registered: Jan 2006
| IP: Logged |
posted
Same for me, with the silent r in February. And while I am from the south, I'm not from the rural south.
Posts: 4077 | Registered: Jun 2003
| IP: Logged |
quote:Am I gonna find out I'm really supposed to pronounce it Wed-nes-day now?
Whoa there! Back to your roots. The day is named after the Norse god Woden. Woden's day or Wedn's day. Then Thor's day, then Fria's day.
Posts: 1167 | Registered: Oct 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
I am not guilty of any of those mistakes, but I do INTENTIONALLY say words wrong in conversation, but its obvious I am doing it. Its just more fun that way.
Ill pronounce the silent letters in words, because usually people pick up on it better. After awhile I forget about them and move on to new words and start saying the old ones right again. Or I just come up with alternate ways to say things, for the heck of it.
Right Now:
Birth Control = Baby Control (it just sounds funnier)
Sandwich = Sammich,
Yesterday I cracked myself up by using the word "Curry" as in the food, and "Curry" as in to "Curry Favor" in the same sentence.
and pretty much any word not spelled the way it sounds gets literalist treatment.
Well I am done going on and on.
Posts: 14316 | Registered: Jul 2005
| IP: Logged |
quote:Originally posted by Libbie: If you want to have a little mnemonic device for pronouncing "nuclear" correctly, then remember that it refers to the nucleus of an atom...so nuclEEus, nuclEEar. That helps me, anyway!
Of course, if you say "nukyulus", that won't help. <grin>
Posts: 12266 | Registered: Jul 2005
| IP: Logged |
quote:Originally posted by vonk: I was also taught to pronounce the third day of the work week as Wensday.
Really? I pronounce it "Wends-day". Still wrong, but marginally less so.
And yeah, I actually have this vague memory from when I was in 1st grade, or so, when I first saw that "r" in February. I think that was when I started pronouncing it. I think most of my family doesn't.
And what about OSC's rant from a few months ago where he claimed that you don't pronounce the first "c" in "arctic", and that doing so is actually wrong? He said it with such authority, but I haven't been able to find any backing for it.
Posts: 12266 | Registered: Jul 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
I do sometimes say "k'nife". But it's probably mostly just to be obnoxious. And "k'nee", too.
Posts: 12266 | Registered: Jul 2005
| IP: Logged |
Ow! And the like. I don't think anyone made those up... they just sort of happened when the first person stubbed his or her toe.
Posts: 12266 | Registered: Jul 2005
| IP: Logged |
quote:Originally posted by vonk: I was also taught to pronounce the third day of the work week as Wensday.
Really? I pronounce it "Wends-day". Still wrong, but marginally less so.
And yeah, I actually have this vague memory from when I was in 1st grade, or so, when I first saw that "r" in February. I think that was when I started pronouncing it. I think most of my family doesn't.
And what about OSC's rant from a few months ago where he claimed that you don't pronounce the first "c" in "arctic", and that doing so is actually wrong? He said it with such authority, but I haven't been able to find any backing for it.
I still pronounce the the c in Arctic, Whoops
I say February with the r on purpose, but I just as often pronounce it correctly.
I can't stand people from Utah who say their days of the week with an "ee" sound instead of a "ay" sound at the end
Sundee, Mondee, Tuesdee, Wednesdee, Thursdee, Fridee (usually friday is still called friday), and saturdee. WHERE DID THIS COME FROM?!
Posts: 14316 | Registered: Jul 2005
| IP: Logged |
edit: Merriam Webster and American Heritage both think both are fine, and list the one with the c pronounced first.
Posts: 15770 | Registered: Dec 2001
| IP: Logged |
quote:Originally posted by BlackBlade: I can't stand people from Utah who say their days of the week with an "ee" sound instead of a "ay" sound at the end
Sundee, Mondee, Tuesdee, Wednesdee, Thursdee, Fridee (usually friday is still called friday), and saturdee. WHERE DID THIS COME FROM?!
Actually, it's that sort of speech that led to the ridiculous pronunciation of "Mizzoura" for Missouri. It's like calling soda pop "sody pop", or calling Florida "Floridee" or Iowa "Ioway". People in Missouri started to think that Missouri sounded declassé the way those words do, so they hypercorrected to Mizzoura.
After 4 years in college there, I learned to pronounce it as "misery", but that's just me.
Posts: 12266 | Registered: Jul 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
Where I grew up,(Utah)the Arctic Circle (with a glotal stop)was on the globe. The Arctic Circle (no stop) was where you got fry sauce with your frys
Posts: 1167 | Registered: Oct 2005
| IP: Logged |
quote:Originally posted by suminonA: People that pronounce "nuclear" as "nucular" really (no kidding) make me wonder: How are are able to read the word "clear"?
I see "nuclear" as "nu"+"clear".
A.
Because unless it's over exagerrated, I can't hear the difference between the two. When people say them in conversation, I have absolutely no idea whether it's being pronounced correctly. Not because I don't know which is correct, but because I can't hear the difference.
Likewise, it's not a memory thing, as I said, if I stop and think about it, I can pronounce it correctly. It's that pronouncing it correctly takes a great deal of work on my part because I don't hear the difference.
Posts: 4655 | Registered: Jan 2002
| IP: Logged |
posted
I think I've heard Jimmy Carter (who served on a nuclear submarine) say both noo-clee-ur and noo-kue-ler. Though in the most recent clip I saw, I could swear he pronounced it nook-[inaudible]-ur. I think I've heard Gore (another southerner) kind of fudge it, too.
The strategic mumble. It's an option!
Posts: 431 | Registered: Oct 2003
| IP: Logged |
Edit: The stigma has been around for much longer than George W. Bush has been in office. Eisenhower, Kennedy, Ford, Carter, and Clinton all said it, too, along with hosts of other well-educated people.
What Jon Boy said.
Ironically, my physics instructor in college pronounced nuclear wrong. It always struck me as very odd, as it was clear she was very well-educated - especially in physics!
Posts: 5771 | Registered: Nov 2000
| IP: Logged |
posted
the funny thing with my group of friends is that as we get more drunk we actually pronounce margarita more correctly. As a very ingrained joke, when sober we tend to call them mardagritas, but we kinda forget the joke as the alcomohol kicks in =p
Posts: 1038 | Registered: Feb 2006
| IP: Logged |
quote:In elementary school, we were specifically taught that the first r in February was silent. I had no idea that it wasn't so in some places. That just boggles my mind.
Me too. I was also taught to pronounce the third day of the work week as Wensday. Am I gonna find out I'm really supposed to pronounce it Wed-nes-day now? Because I ain't gonna do it, to darn hard, not gonna happen. It is and forever will be Feb-you-ary, Wensday and Mall-boro.
I know I SAY Wed-nes-day, but unless I'm speaking VERY SLOWLY (which is rare), it sounds like Wensday. Kind of like how I actually do write all the letters in my name when I sign checks, but it all comes out in a swoopy squiggle.
Posts: 1006 | Registered: Jun 2006
| IP: Logged |
quote:Originally posted by PUNJABEE: Noo-Kyoo-Lur is not correct.
Noo-Klee-Ur is correct.
The "NOO" sound can also be pronounced "New" if you want to get really specific.
In my neck of the woods, "noo" and "new" are pronounced exactly the same. Possibly the only way to discern the West Coast accent from other toned-down accents. Posts: 1006 | Registered: Jun 2006
| IP: Logged |
Printer-friendly view of this topic
![[Blushing]](graemlins/blushing.gif)
![[Cool]](cool.gif)
Oh yeah.![[Smile]](smile.gif)
![[Wink]](wink.gif)
![[Confused]](confused.gif)
![[ROFL]](graemlins/rofl.gif)
