My vote is for colloquial. I don't stop to think about it often, but I'm fairly certain that I also say "nu-cu-ler" (actually "new-q-lur") instead of "nu-cle-ar". I'm also fairly certain that most people I know (from around here) do so as well.
That would be the only thing that I have in common with Bush, by the way. <grin> Paul Smith Alverno College Milwaukee ----- Original Message ----- From: Beth Benoit <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Saturday, February 08, 2003 10:02 AM Subject: Nu-cu-ler > I know this may be a stretch to relate to psychology, but I'll try... > > Our President drives me absolutely crazy with his continual, embarrassing > mispronunciation of "nuclear." There has been much mentioning of it in the > press, so it seems hardly likely that he's not aware of it. > > My husband insists it's a speech defect, which sounds unlikely to me. Who > can pronounce "clean," but can't pronounce "nuclear"? Some suggest it's > coloquial, which is also bizarre since it doesn't seem to be the case with > some of his fellow Texans. My sister, who is not an expert, insists Bush > has a learning disability which prevents him from saying it correctly. (But > then she pronounced it "nu-cu-lar" also, and hadn't realized it was > incorrect, so I rest my case there.) > > I think it may be a simple case of having not learned it correctly, and > finding it difficult to say correctly. When attempting to do so, he must > attend to the pronunciation. When trying to give a State of the Union > speech, for example, he probably doesn't welcome the cognitive distraction > of attending to pronunciation matters. (There's my psychology hook.) > Perhaps polls show that many other Americans still pronounce it the way Ike > did, and thus it's not worth the effort on Bush's part. > > Any suggestions? Is there such a thing as a learning disability that makes > a person unable to pronounce a particular word? Could it be just a case of > Texan stubborness? > > Beth Benoit > University System of New Hampshire > > > --- > You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] > --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
