# Bush goes "nucular"



## Everness

The other day Laura Bush said about the president, _I'm quiet, he's talkative; I'm introverted, he's extroverted; I can pronounce 'nuclear.' _ 

And it's true. The other day I listened to W on public radio and he can't pronounce _nuclear _ correctly. He changes "nu-clee-ar" into "nu-cu-lar." 

Does anyone know why? 

The following article makes reference to this phenomenon. I wonder what stops W from correcting his metathesis.  

http://slate.msn.com/id/2071155/#ContinueArticle


----------



## fetchezlavache

i'm currently watching season 4 of the tv show '24'. they _all _ say nucular. it's appalling. granted, a series isn't the place where one should expect correct pronunciation, but still...


----------



## Agnès E.

Publicity people make about it!
Better bad publicity than not being quoted...


----------



## Artrella

"Nucular" is wrong, even if Bush say it or the other Presidents pronounced it in this way.  Wrong is wrong, and what Merriam-Webster's says...well according to them everything is possible, everything is "educated" ... so I wonder why do we need dictionaries then?

Everness, the article is really interesting...and it deals with "spelling reform" ... I like this idea... I wrote a thread about "Reforma ortográfica in Spanish" and in that aspect I agree whith M-W about the pronunciation of the "c" in "electrical/electricity/electrician".


----------



## Helicopta

Not that I'd ever want to align myself with ol' dubya but I think that 'nucular' just rolls off the tongue easier than 'nuclear'. I can pronounce 'nuclear' but in everyday speech, if I wasn't concentrating, it'd probably come out as 'nucular'.  
Or maybe it's just something I've unwittingly picked up... I'd never say 'nuculus' instead of 'nucleus'.

I wonder if Laura can pronounce terrorist? I cringe when I hear GW say 'terrrrrst'


----------



## cuchuflete

President Vush doesn't waste time talking about orthographic changes, he implements them!

Laura Bush had more to say about George: "He's learned a lot about ranching since that first year when he tried to milk the horse. What's worse, it was a male horse."

This is more serious by far than mispronouncing a word.  We can't blame everything on orthography.

Can you imagine W trying to say that word? Orthogra what!? It would be so hard for him that he might confuse it with Viagra.    





> "Who could have possibly envisioned an erection — an election in Iraq at this point in history?"  —George W. Bush, at the white House, Washington, D.C., Jan. 10, 2005



Before we over-intellectualize all of this, just remember what George had to say recently:     





> "I want to thank you for the importance that you've shown for education and literacy." —George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., April 13, 2005


----------



## Agnès E.

Well, Cuchu, one generally admires what one is unable to reach, don't you think, hehehe?


----------



## LadyBlakeney

Today I am shedding more tears for my pronunciation than ever in my life...

Now I am not even sure how to pronounce nuclear the "non-Bush" way! Let's see:

nu- : Is it as in n*ew * or as in man*oeu*vre?

-clear : Is it as in cl*ea*r or as in p*ea*r?

Please, give me some peace of mind! 

Thank you in advance.


----------



## Benjy

LadyBlakeney said:
			
		

> Today I am shedding more tears for my pronunciation than ever in my life...
> 
> Now I am not even sure how to pronounce nuclear the "non-Bush" way! Let's see:
> 
> nu- : Is it as in n*ew * or as in man*oeu*vre?
> 
> -clear : Is it as in cl*ea*r or as in p*ea*r?
> 
> Please, give me some peace of mind!
> 
> Thank you in advance.



i just pronounce it new-clear. but im sure in the states its noeu-cle-ar which makes more sense (for the syllable count) really but meh...


----------



## Helicopta

As I can't always say it properly myself, maybe I shouldn't be offering advice but I would say (if I was concentrating!) new-clee-ar. Definitely 3 syllables.


----------



## cuchuflete

How should I pronounce "meh"?  Is there an official translation to French or Spanish?

Is Benjy's pronunciation what the phoneticists call a truncated dipthong?  What happens to the syllable that gets lost when you truncate or compress a dipthong?


----------



## Benjy

cuchuflete said:
			
		

> How should I pronounce "meh"?  Is there an official translation to French or Spanish?
> 
> Is Benjy's pronunciation what the phoneticists call a truncated dipthong?  What happens to the syllable that gets lost when you truncate or compress a dipthong?



meh translates quite well to bof in french. i dont know about spanish


----------



## LadyBlakeney

What is "meh"? Is it like "bah" or "bua" in Spanish?

Thanks again.


----------



## Benjy

LadyBlakeney said:
			
		

> What is "meh"? Is it like "bah" or "bua" in Spanish?
> 
> Thanks again.



meh = expression of utter indifference. i dont know if i am the only person that says it


----------



## LadyBlakeney

Then it is like "bah", "buah" and so in Spanish. Thanks!


----------



## Artrella

Benjy said:
			
		

> meh = expression of utter indifference. i dont know if i am the only person that says it




Meh! = Boh! (Italian)= Bah! (Spanish)....what else??   

*Benjy's "meh" *


----------



## lainyn

Here is a phonetic transcription of how I pronounce "nuclear" [njukliər]. For those that don't read the IPA, that's pronounced "new-clee-er" Where clee rhymes with key, and new is pronounced with a slight y influence after the n. 

I will not offer my opinion on Bush, but suffice it to say I haven't much of one.


----------



## timpeac

I hadn't seen meh before. Actually, Benjy, I assumed you were using a French expression since I thought I saw Fetchez use it!! Maybe I'm misremembering, or she learnt it from you.

I wonder if some people pronounce nuclear "noocehlah" by anology with other words such as "molecular" "secular" "vernacular" and "circular" etc etc. There seems to be many more words in this form than ones ending "leeah".


----------



## Everness

Thank you for your responses. 

What I don't understand is why can't Bush practice the correct pronounciation of the word "nuclear"? If he has been faithfully conveying Cheney and Rumsfeld's ideas since 9/11 to the extent that they seem his own ideas, I can't understand his inability to practice and pronounce correctly this word. Does he have a learning disability or speech impediment? Does he do it on purpose so his wife has material for her pathetic and overrehearsed stand-up routines? Does he think it's cute and funny?

I know that W isn't Tony Blair in terms of looks and oratory capabilities, but I think he could do somewhat better.


----------



## beatrizg

Everness said:
			
		

> Does he do it on purpose so his wife has material for her pathetic and overrehearsed stand-up routines? .



 Yo creo que por ahi va la cosa.  
Although I also think the guy has a speech (and mental) problem.


----------



## Everness

beatrizg said:
			
		

> Yo creo que por ahi va la cosa.
> Although I also think the guy has a speech (and mental) problem.



I watched the First Lady's performance on TV just once and it was more than enough. It was absolutely embarrasing even for people like me who find this administration, to put it mildly, distasteful.

I think Bush should fire the geniuses who wrote the supposedly comic script for his wife. We have enough tragedy with the policies they are devising and implementing.


----------



## Cath.S.

> Does he do it on purpose so his wife has material for her pathetic and overrehearsed stand-up routines?


Probably so, and also so people discuss his "funny" mispronunciations and blunders instead of his politics that are much dodgier imho.
There's no business
like show business!


----------



## Cathurian

Well, I come from the deep south, so let me tell you: here on the Georgia-Tennessee border, we all say it like Bush. It's not uncommon and it's not just him. Case in point, I've both said and heard it said like either "noo-cə-lər" or "new-clee-ər" since I was young.

Then again, I also thought my relatives "Warren" and "Doris" were "Warn" (rhymes with yarn) and "Darce" (rhymes with farce).

 It's a dialect thing.


----------



## Benjy

Everness said:
			
		

> I know that W isn't Tony Blair in terms of looks and oratory capabilities, but I think he could do somewhat better.



tony blair is horrible. but i have to admire him. the fact that he has any credibility left with the english people is a testament to his acting skills...


----------



## beatrizg

Everness said:
			
		

> I watched the First Lady's performance on TV just once and it was more than enough. It was absolutely embarrasing even for people like me who find this administration, to put it mildly, distasteful.
> 
> I think Bush should fire the geniuses who wrote the supposedly comic script for his wife. We have enough tragedy with the policies they are devising and implementing.


 
I agree. It looked completely staged! And here in Greece it was shown over and over.  Now, I don’t know if behind the whole thing there is plain stupidity or something else… most probably both.


----------



## lainyn

You don't have to be intelligent to be the "most powerful man in the world" (arguably), IF your father's friends help you out and you belong to what has become almost a dynasty of Bush. I know this is a political statement, but I think others have made them as well. 

~Lainyn


----------



## te gato

I personally think The Guy is an Idiot..with a capital I..
and someone should fire his 'speech writers'..
and as for the rest of my views on him..I shall keep them to myself..they can not be said in public..and I would be something like this: I think that he is an beeeeeep..and he should just beeeep..and beeeeeep..so I will refrain..

tg


----------



## Everness

Benjy said:
			
		

> tony blair is horrible. but i have to admire him. the fact that he has any credibility left with the english people is a testament to his acting skills...



Horrible compared to what? Just looking at Bush's face is stressful. He's a character who escaped from Mad magazine. And you are right about Blair's ability to convince people through his oratory skills. I was and I'm against the war in Iraq. Before the war started, I would listen to Bush and would puke. Later on that same day I'd listen to Blair, and I'd find his arguments convincing. It's not what you say but how you say it. If the US had Blair as president on 9/11, half of Asia would now be under American rule.


----------



## cuchuflete

Everness said:
			
		

> Horrible compared to what? Just looking at Bush's face is stressful. He's a character who escaped from Mad magazine. And you are right about Blair's ability to convince people through his oratory skills. I was and I'm against the war in Iraq. Before the war started, I would listen to Bush and would puke. Later on that same day I'd listen to Blair, and I'd find his arguments convincing. It's not what you say but how you say it. If the US had Blair as president on 9/11, half of Asia would now be under American rule.



Would that be good?  I think not!

I think that this thread has come to the end of its useful life.

If people would like to continue bush-bashing in another thread, please open one.  Also, be prepared to offer intelligent alternatives.  It's too easy to just say "That guy stinks!" and then walk away.

If you disagree with one or more of W's policies, please present your own policy proposal, and then explain why it is any of:

-more practical
-more feasible
-better for the human race
-less costly
-more 'politically kerrect'!

or whatever you please...

My thoughts about W are no secret, but continuous slamming with nothing positive offered in return is getting boring.

What about the regime in North Korea?  It is starving its citizens to death while building nukes.  W, rather than invading, is using diplomatic means to try to address this.  Why has there been not a single word of praise from those who say that diplomacy is the right way to address problems?

See you all in another thread.  

cheers,
Cuchuflete


----------



## Benjy

because he is dishonest. so dishonest its unreal. i will give you an example of how lovely mr blair is. ever heard of david kelly? scientist and expert in weapons of mass destruction. the gov didnt like his opinions on iraq so tony and his cronies started briefing agaisnt him till the poor guy committed suicide. then lied about it. then admitted it. and people still voted him in.... 



			
				Everness said:
			
		

> Horrible compared to what? Just looking at Bush's face is stressful. He's a character who escaped from Mad magazine. And you are right about Blair's ability to convince people through his oratory skills. I was and I'm against the war in Iraq. Before the war started, I would listen to Bush and would puke. Later on that same day I'd listen to Blair, and I'd find his arguments convincing. It's not what you say but how you say it. If the US had Blair as president on 9/11, half of Asia would now be under American rule.


*
 Shall we change the name of the thread to "Benjy goes Nukeyoular"?  cheers, Cuchu
*


----------

