Glen -
I appreciate that you shared with us your "handicap" which reminds me of
your self-report a few years back of tryptophobia.
I also am triggered by both of these. Your examples of Nukular/Nuclear
and Axe/Ask are obviously pretty familiar. I respond to them pretty
pre-consciously without overtly reacting, which kicks me into a new
register of reflective judgement: to whit "what does this
choice/not-choice of this particular articulation imply about the
character and values of this person?".
From a 2002 article in the NYT
<https://www.nytimes.com/2002/10/13/weekinreview/confronting-noo-kyuh-luhr-proliferation.html>:
/Yet the use of ''NOO-kyuh-luhr'' is not uncommon, even among
prominent and educated people, including four of the nation's last
10 presidents: Dwight D. Eisenhower, who was widely admonished for
it; Gerald R. Ford; Jimmy Carter, who did graduate work in nuclear
physics, and also used ''NOO-kee-yer''; and now George W. Bush./
I was not particularly bothered by or aware of this mispronunciation
until the constant hammering of GW Bush to the tune of his
(Cheney/Rumsfeldt/Wolfowitz?) drumbeats leading up to the Iraq War. I
attributed it to a combination of his (affected or adopted?) Texas
drawl/slang and his (apparent?) willful ignorance of science (as a
dogwhistle to redneck/populists?) I still hear it that way if the
speaker is the least bit leaning toward that end of the spectrum.
I didn't notice the Axe/Ask division until my father started listening
to Rush Limbaugh in the 90s and shifted from a mild (applauding Archie
Bunker) populist white racist to a more convicted one. "Axe" really
triggered him when he heard it, and I think it was because it could be a
marker of AAVE (aka "ebonics") which I think for him was more of a
resentment of Urban Poverty (vs the Rural Poverty he came from) than
specifically the racist implications (though it was baked into his
upbringing/roots even if he preached anti-racist or at least
pro-tolerance to me growing up).
Your bringing up of this phenomena (and in particular "metathesis") lead
me (as it often does) to take a quick dive into a rabbit hole and "larn
me some stuff". Thank you.
In closing, I'm fascinated by the relationship between phobias and
philias, which might be a reformulation of addictions vs allergies.
Your tryptophobia exhibits as more of a tryptophilia in me... a
fascination bordering (but I don't give over to) on fetish. The dirty
little corner of youtube dedicated to "pimple popping" and "blackhead
removal", for example whispers to me when I trip into it's perimeters.
I also find unusual dialects of American (as well a the broad British
Commonwealth) fascinating (bordering on philia if not fetish). And I
find most "southern Cracker" variants a marker of willful ignorance (or
ignorant willfulness?) which I attribute to my main exposure coming
through my Appalachian Cousins who are generally moderately educated
(none failed to graduate HS that I know of and some even obtained
PhDs). To complement that, *most* are diehard born-again Xtian types
who have to work "have you accepted Jesus Christ as your personal
savior" into any extended encounter. So when they lace their
(otherwise educated or sophisticated) conversation with Southern
American English pronunciations and idioms (e.g. all y'all) and
"Jahysuz" references I cringe and lower my estimation of their
character, intelligence, and general sensibilities by a notch or two...
but the top half of my brain seems to know better and renormalizes as
best it can...
I've a good friend who said it well: "Don't mistake an accent for a
personality". She wass mostly referencing her predilection for falling
for men (and women) with exotic accents.
On 12/1/23 10:07 AM, glen wrote:
I made the mistake of confessing my handicap to a friend. Now he
purposefully says nukular as a kind of Castañedan slap on the back, or
the master's whack with the stick. He knows it knocks me out of
whatever canal I was in. It's irritating, but a good thing overall.
Actually, it started with the pronunciation of diacetyl, which most of
my friends at the brewery pronounce "die-ASS-uh-tul". That's another
one that doesn't give me the hiccups. My Mansplainer homunculus
doesn't even notice. But I did get a chance to discuss it with the
owner, wherein I suggested that "ASS-uh-tal" is a chemical group
that's fundamentally different from acetyl. And, even though there's
almost zero chance of anyone *ever* saying the word "diacetal", it's
still reasonable to prefer the more common "die-uh-SEE-tul". After
all, nobody says "ASS-uh-tul-kole-een" or "ASS-uh-tul-een torch". On
the other hand, hangovers are discussed a lot in places like breweries
... with taprooms at least. And acetaldehyde is (almost) pronounced
like "ASS-uh-tul-dee-hide" (with some wiggle around "tul" vs "tal").
So, again, there is some slight reason prefer one pronunciation over
the other.
No such luck with nukular. Any desire to correct someone when they say
it that way is empty (and actually false) pedantry. I still hate it,
though.
On 12/1/23 07:28, Frank Wimberly wrote:
My dad was a nuclear engineer and nukular has always bothered me
greatly. I try to help people to say it right by telling them to
think "new clear". I'm not sure that would help Bush.
---
Frank C. Wimberly
140 Calle Ojo Feliz,
Santa Fe, NM 87505
505 670-9918
Santa Fe, NM
On Fri, Dec 1, 2023, 8:21 AM glen <geprope...@gmail.com
<mailto:geprope...@gmail.com>> wrote:
So, on the death of The War Criminal, I've been reflecting on the
most irritating thing to me about George W Bush's stint: nukular.
Sure. It's irritating that he started a war for no good reason. If we
learn anything from Kissinger's treatment by the press, it's that
those sorts of things don't actually matter.
But the way you pronounce "nuclear"? That matters ... to me,
anyway. I've managed to grind off the burrs in my thinking when
someone says "axe" instead of "ask", glottals their Ts, etc. But I
just can't get over nukular. Every time someone says it that way,
whatever it was I was doing or thinking goes straight out the fscking
window. With, say, "axe", I can actually do it myself without feeling
shame. Same with t-flapping. (And vocal fry.)
Wikipedia gives me a nice list of triggerable attributes of
language: metathesis, elision, epenthesis, flapping, assimilation,
dissimilation, etc. My request, here, is for examples from anyone
that rankle you or that you've overcome. Presumably, the more aware I
am with others' struggles with such, the less I'll be triggered by my
own.
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