Did any of you pick up on those interesting verbalizations by the VP candidates in the debate? While talking about the past war in Bosnia, Biden called Bosians ‘Bosniacs’ while Palin constantly used Bush’s illiterate pronunciation of the word nuclear.
While it struck many as odd or funny, it turns out Bosniac or Bosniak is an actual term for those from the region, so Professor Biden was correct in his use of it.
On the other hand, I wonder if Palin’s pronunciation of nuclear as “nuke-u-lar” was accidental or on purpose. Since Bush pronounces the word that way, was she mimicking him to subconsciously tie herself to Bush and his related policies for those who know the correct way? Or is it just that, like Bush, she doesn’t know any better?
Whatever the reason, it stuck out like a sore thumb when she said it. Over and over and …
Uncle Dave sputtered, “while Palin constantly used Bush’s illiterate pronunciation of the word nuclear.”
I know. I remember that JFK could hardly pronounce anything word correctly.. He would say Cah instead of car, Cuber instead of Cuba. In one speech he said something that sounded like, doe-ah. I finally figured out that he was trying, unsuccessfully, to say the word “door”.
#27, Pimply,
I live in Northwestern Indiana. I often travel to Northern Illinois, Ohio, Iowa, and Southern Michigan. I don’t hear that accent.
Chicago is different as there is such a polyglot of international accents and slang.
Carter is quite intelligent and has a typical Georgian accent. But even he pronounced it NEW-clear.
John Kennedy had a Boston accent which often adds an “er” to the word ending in a vowel. John Kerry has largely eliminated that from his speech but if you listen carefully, you will hear the occasional lapse.
Lynden Johnson had a mixed “Eastern Seaboard” and “educated Dallas” accent. Depending upon his mood, he would switch between the two as it suited him.
Franklyn Roosevelt spoke with an Oxford accent, as was the norm during that period. Watch some early 1930s movies, that was the standard speech. Even a couple of John Wayne’s first movies have him speaking like that as did Clark Gable, Cary Grant, John Barrymore, William Powell, W.C. Fields, etc. Even Ronald Reagan sported an Oxford accent in his earlier films.
I think it is quite lame to pick on people for their pronunciation. There are so many other things to point out that the current administration does wrong that focusing on one word just smacks of elitism to me and a focus on style over substance.
I don’t understand how mispronouncing a word makes you stupid. For the life of me I cannot pronounce the word “Sixth.”
No matter how hard I try, my tongue ties up. I am still smart and capable at what I do. I just can’t pronounce a word…so what?
The fact remains that Palin is not qualified. Putting lipstick on her just makes her pretty unqualified. Get rational folks! You saw the real uncoached Palin in the Couric interviews. Are you so easily fooled by acting? Oops, that’s right, the GOP is constantly fooled by liars and actors as Ronnie Ray-Gun and W have proven over and over and over again. Mission Accomplished!
#30, Cow-Paddy,
But Kennedy never claimed the Constitution forbade Congress from regulating wages.
I can accept an accent, but mispronouncing nuclear and calling it nukular has nothing to do with accents. Ignorance maybe?
A lot of illiterate Americans don’t know how to pronounce “nuclear” properly and a lot of other words too. They’re called the Republican base and they’re apparently easily fooled!
#29 “Now, that same idiot is claiming Democrats got “hustled”.”
I never knew that Ruben Navarrette posted here.
Can you point to his posts?
My family also comes from the northwest, from a low-income/middle-class background. So while I’m familiar with the expressions and folksyisms that Palin uses, it grates on my nerves to see someone in her position using them. MY family uses those because they don’t know any better, because they never got an education beyond the 5th grade. MY family uses them because some of them don’t know the difference between the two words.
Next, I want to hear her call the electoral college the “ELECTRICAL COLLEGE.” That’s my favorite.
I went to Navy Nuclear Power Training Command when I was in the Navy. Half the instructors pronounced it as nu-cu-lar. This was before anyone had heard about George W. Bush. Apparently not knowing how to pronounce ‘nuclear’ is not a detriment to understanding nuclear power.
Fusion, You need to go the the U.P. of Michigan, this is where you will find both moose and the “Yooper” accent. Unless a Yooper is visiting “down state” you won’t hear that accent. My point is that other respected Democrats can have their own accents and not be criticized. OK, one exception…Jimmy Carter is a retarded redneck hillbilly. If a Republican dare have a regional accent they are branded as illiterate.
#22
I heard Palin say O’Biden twice adn Gwen Ifill said it once (!)
#34, But Kennedy never claimed the Constitution forbade Congress from regulating wages.
Yeah, when you get the Supreme Court to totally reinvent things like the Contract and Commerce Clauses so that nearly anything can now be regulated, modified or nullified to suits the government’s interests, it gets harder and harder to call anything “unconstitutional” these days. Even though a century ago, they certainly would have been.
Funny how nothing ever actually gets amended though, reinterpretation seems to do the trick all by itself.
And let’s not forget JFK declaring himself to be a doughnut!
#44
Hello, Mr. Fusion is not available at the moment to comment. Once his medication has taken effect he’ll post a response.
this nuclear thing is really bugging me since I’ve heard it so much I always stop myself before I pronounce the word out of fear that I’ll say knuckler or god knows what.
I heard her husband had something or other to do with fission, so she probably should know better.
NPR had a thing about nuke-u-lar and as much as it bothers me, this is a correct pronunciation for the term, odd as it seems.
So, we have a pres that fakes the cowboy stuff since he’s actually been living a privileged life with a silver spoon (up his nose) since birth. This doesn’t mean he isn’t dumb though, he is.
Now we have this buffoon of a governor that may just be a much a hooplehead as she acts.
Guys, even if you agree with their politics (dear God I hope not), it is obvious now that electing chuckle headed idiots to office results disasters: Iraq War, Removing Civil Rights under the guise of fighting terrorism, response to N.O. hurricanes, raping of the U.S. treasury under the guise of less (evil) regulation resulting in the housing bubble and collapse and unemployment skyrocketing along with value of the dollar shot and price of oil way too high.
Get a clue and elect the one (of the two main) candidates that actually thinks, no McBain and Crew. Even if you don’t like their politics they will at least try to fix this mess with reason and science, not by massively stuffing their pockets with our money.
Who’s being an idiot? Us for picking on her hackneyed regional speech and apparent (complete) lack of brains, or the repubs who think they can win because she’s a she with looks and “charm”? Puh-leeze. If you vote for McCain because of her, you should have your voter registration revoked. Maybe even your citizenship.
Now she’s going to stick to conservative news interviews to avoid the possibility of a tough (for her) question. If you’re a repub, how can you not feel used?
Bosniac, a word only a blogniac would question. Only raised to give balance to New Klee Yar.
#50 “Now she’s going to stick to conservative news interviews to avoid the possibility of a tough (for her) question.”
I know. Just like Obama only went on one conservative show interview and now won’t go near them because he was asked tough questions that the MSM lib media wouldn’t ask…
Don’t libs feel used?
Bosniac is actually a correct term used to distinguish Bosnian-Muslim ethnicity from the Bosnian-Serbs and Bosnian Croats.
Although it’s spelled Bosniak, not Bosniac.
#48 mthrnite – That’s fishin not fission. Her husband knows a lot about fishin not fission
52, it’s easy to google the proof that you’re categorically wrong so I’ll let you do it yourself.
Can someone please tell the Kennedys that Harvard Yard is not pronounced ‘Hahvahd Yahd’ It’s really grating to my ears. And very provincial. We can’t have that. They sound so, well…illiterate…
#49 – gmk
>>NPR had a thing about nuke-u-lar and as much as
>>it bothers me, this is a correct pronunciation
>>for the term, odd as it seems.
Is that some kind of Ebonics thing, or what? Or like Brett “FAHRve””
A 1961 Merriam-Webster’s edition was the first to include “nucular”; the editors received so many indignant letters that they added a usage note in the 1983 version, pointing out its “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.” They even noted its prominence among “British and Canadian speakers.”
Jimmy Carter pronounced nuclear like this:
nookyer. It used to gall me.
There are other words that are routinely mispronounced:
realtor – real-a-tor
jewelry – jew-ler-ry
library – li-berry
larynx – lar-i-nex
prostate – prostrate
Nuclear: 1. Of or forming a nucleus 2. Of or relating to atomic nuclei.
Thats New-kle-us or new-kle-i
Not nuke-u-lous or nuke-u-lie or nuke-u-lur
Its simply people being to lazy to educate themselves to speak correctly.
Any scientists that actually know what a nucleus is, pronounce it correctly.