PSA

[jaina]

Dear government and military officials,

The word you're looking for is NUCLEAR. NUKE-LEE-ER. Not, I repeat, NOT, nook-you-lar. Please learn to pronounce it properly, because you sound like a FUCKING MORON. The fact that you are in charge of anything remotely nuclear-weapon-related when you can't even say it right *terrifies* me.

Jeebus.

Comments

[portnoyslp.livejournal.com]

It used to annoy me, too, but I've decided it's a southern thing; perhaps only a Texas thing. Heck, I've heard locals pronounce the word "here" like it has two syllables, so who am I to judge?

"Nucular" has a long and storied history, going back to President Eisenhower. Because people really liked Ike, many kids of that time were actually taught the "Duck and Cover" method to protect against the "nucular" fallout, and learned the (mis)pronunciation at an early age. Heck, Kennedy, Ford, Carter, Clinton, and Bush Jr. have all been caught pronouncing it the "wrong" way. (Whereas Bush Sr. has always pronounced it correctly, showing off his Yale heritage.)