NUCLEAR or NU-Q-LAR.. Why?? (analysis, similar, speech, quote)

[Murk]

It goes along with Wens-day, li-berry, and Feb-uary, etc.

People hear things the wrong way and it sticks. Mispronunciations are passed down through generations. People have lazy mouths and don't care about precision in speech.

[GearHeadDave]

Originally Posted by TheGrandK-Man

Why does it seem the majority of people, from ordinary citizens, to politicians, even a president, and even news anchors, have such trouble pronouncing something that is so obvious as to how it should be???

Why? Because most people aren't particularly wound around the axle about pronouncing words to perfection. The real question is whether the content of their message is useful or accurate, regardless of pronunciation or grammar.

Good example is working with people where English is their second language. I work with Chinese, French and Indian all the time where English is their second language. They mangle the pronunciation of English words frequently which can be challenging, but no one really cares - we are focused on the content not the style of delivery.

[TheGrandK-Man]

Originally Posted by GearHeadDave

Why? Because most people aren't particularly wound around the axle about pronouncing words to perfection. The real question is whether the content of their message is useful or accurate, regardless of pronunciation or grammar.

Good example is working with people where English is their second language. I work with Chinese, French and Indian all the time where English is their second language. They mangle the pronunciation of English words frequently, which can be challenging, but no one really cares - we are focused on the content not the style of delivery.

Funny how so many of those Asian, European, or Latino folks manage to not screw up NUCLEAR!

[Retriever]

Originally Posted by TheGrandK-Man

And by the way, you couldn't possibly miss a more recent White House occupant - Bush II - who consistently mispronounced nuclear as nu-q-ler.

I may well be older than you are, but I vividly recall being confused by Dwight Eisenhower's consistent mispronunciation of "nuclear", back in the '50s. Even though he pronounced it differently than I had been taught, I thought that The POTUS must be correct with his pronunciation, until my mother assured me that good old Ike was wrong.

A few years later, when I was in high school, l noticed that some of my Biology classmates pronounced nucleus as Nuke-U-Lus. The teacher's attempts at correcting their pronunciation were almost always unsuccessful.

[GearHeadDave]

Originally Posted by TheGrandK-Man

Funny how so many of those Asian, European, or Latino folks manage to not screw up NUCLEAR!

Maybe. I remember having a heat transfer class with an Indian professor talking about "steedy state" conditions, took a few rounds before I realized he meant "steady state". Point is that he understood heat transfer which is all any of us cared about, we were not worrying about his mangling of English pronunciation, we were focused on understanding the science (and passing his tests!).

[TheGrandK-Man]

Originally Posted by GearHeadDave

Maybe. I remember having a heat transfer class with an Indian professor talking about "steedy state" conditions, took a few rounds before I realized he meant "steady state". Point is that he understood heat transfer which is all any of us cared about, we were not worrying about his mangling of English pronunciation, we were focused on understanding the science (and passing his tests!).

I would not have given "steedy" state a second thought, unless someone next to me pointed it out.
But nu-q-ler.. Really?

[Lovehound]

Originally Posted by TheGrandK-Man

Thanks, Lovehound, for getting what others on this thread didn't. And by the way, you couldn't possibly miss a more recent White House occupant - Bush II - who consistently mispronounced nuclear as nu-q-ler.

As with you, proper grammar and pronunciation matters to me. I could also get started on that cringing redundancy I hear people mutter on their mobiles: "Where are you AT?", but given current global events, I think we'll just focus on nuclear, since we will all be hearing and using that word a lot more in coming weeks....

Thanks! I usually get it, because I'm constantly working on improving my knowledge and skills, particularly language skills since I'd like to do some professional writing.

Given the current global situation I hope we are able to hear about nuclear related matters, as opposed to experiencing them personally. I haven't seen the world situation this bad since the Cuban missile crisis, and given that two unstable countries are on the verge of becoming worldwide nuclear threats I'm not looking forward to what our future may be.

Thanks for the correction on the nuke-you-ler president Bush II.

[Copanut]

Woody Allen used this line in one of his movies 40 years ago.

[banjomike]

Originally Posted by TheGrandK-Man

The title is rhetorical, sarcastic. Of course I know how to pronounce nuclear. But do the majority of everyone else? The title thus asks a question which should not have to be asked in a society with enough brain cells to pronounce it properly.

Because 'nuke' is easy to say. So when the full word is used, it becomes nuke-cue-lare. With the accent on the 'cue'

New-clear is an odd phonetic thing in English. With the accent on the 'new'.

I used the first for years and years before I realized there was another way to say it.

Lots of folks still drop out the first R in February, too. English seems to favor lazy tongues. Few people ever say 'going to' anymore; it's always gonna.

I always marveled at how precise Marilyn Monroe's pronunciation was. She made it very sexy.

[TheGrandK-Man]

"before I realized there was another way to say it."

!

There is only one correct way to say it!