verbingnouns

I didn't hear the Union Address but apparently he needs to go back to elementary school with Quayle.

"Sheesh! Why do Reformed blogs always have to be so disrespectful?" he asked with a grin.

Actually, I always think it's a good sign when someone confidently corrects an authority - with both humor and honor. (And I think good authorities would agree with me.) But, of course, I know not of what I speak.

look at it from the other side. how many people would've understood what he was saying if he hadn't said nuc-ular? maybe he opted for the incorrect pronunciation just for sake of ensuring clarity with the multitudes of people in these united states who wouldn't know the distinction if it bit them on the nose.

i wonder what the ratio is? do you suppose 1 in 3 people say "nuclear" correctly?

another thought. he says "err" instead of "are" and "dearing" instead of "during," just like some south carolinians i know. odd, i thought, since he's texan.

maybe "nucular" is another one of those region-wide misunderstandings that comes with whatever territory we call home. i realize there's a difference between out and out phonics and a southern accent. but i'm wondering to what extent upbringing determines / clouds our perception of how certain words should be pronounced.

sorry for the rambling layman's dissertation. i don't even know what i'm talking about.

I was waiting for this post. Congratulations on being the first.

Dictionary be damned, isn't it more proper to pronounce it new-clear rather than new-klee-ar or new-klee-ur? In my world it is.
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EmDub's usage note: 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

"New-clear" would be fine, The Dane. It's the ever-popular "nucular" that I have a problem with.

So were you comfortable with your definition of the word "is" when good ol' Slick Willy asked what the definition of "is" is? Isn't it easy to pick on something so obvious??? Preach to the unwashed masses. I think you are all smarter than that (I hope).

I predict that soon, "nucular" will become officially a variant spelling.

Bush isn't a texan, he's a yankee from somewhere and so I hope that means he's not worth defending anymore.

;P

As Dr. Wildeman said in Linguistics today, there are no "right" or "wrong" pronunciations, only standard and non-standard. You're marked by the way you speak, true, so Bush should watch himself, but we can't exactly come down on him for what most Americans do anyway. As non-standard pronunciations go, I pronounce "Virginia" with an initial "f." So it goes. That's just how I was brought up.

Charleson is right. The Bush family comes from Connecticut, I believe.

All I want is wise leadership, and if they can't pronounce 3 syllable words in proper standard form, then that should give us pause. But wait, what am I saying? Democracy(even republican democracy) means voting for a man of the people(which means a man of equal intelligence as the populace he comes from; he can't be smarter, that would be elitist thinking, akin to oligarchy).

So, you see Christin? The fact that he says, "nu-cu-lar", shows he hasn't lost touch with the people who pulled those levers and punched those ballots. Whew, and for a second there I thought democracy was flawed...Thank God.

*Bows in the direction of Paris, and says a quick prayer of repentance to the gods of the French Enlightenment, and kisses his Victor Hugo night-light*

Sorry to be so late in adding a hearty Amen to your correction of our cheif executive, but a hearty Amen I add nonetheless. Isn't nonetheless a cool word?

Nonetheless is a cool word. But not as cool as "heretofore."

You speak well! However heretofore hasn't been on mind for some time.

Speaking of democracy, Nathan, that reminds me of Chesterton's quip: if we really wanted "a man of the people," we would never have a democratic system. With a democracy, you vote for somebody who sticks out. It's only with hereditary forms of government that you get a good chance that your representative is really representative.

That is not, of course, to say that with democracy you get a superior representative. More camera-friendly, perhaps.