Borowitz: Obama's Obscure Pronunciation of "Nuclear" Breaks with Tradition

[Contrary1]

Little Heard Since Carter Presidency, Historians Say

WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report) - In what some are calling the boldest move of his Presidency, Barack Obama broke with a time-honored tradition observed by several U.S. Presidents including George W. Bush by pronouncing the word "nuclear" as it appears in the dictionary.

Announcing the new weapons pact with Russia today, Mr. Obama repeatedly pronounced the word "nuclear" in a way that has rarely been used by a U.S. President since Jimmy Carter was in the White House.

But according to Davis Logsdon, a professor of international relations at the University of Minnesota, Mr. Obama's pronunciation of "nuclear" may have been key to the diplomatic breakthrough: "The Russians have heard Presidents pronounce it "nucular" for so long, they may have thought he was offering something new."

Mr. Obama's obscure pronunciation of "nuclear" drew harsh reactions from members of the Tea Party movement, who see the President's obsession with correct English usage as an attempt to make the nation more European.

A sign at a recent Teabagger rally read, "Obama Wants to Disconnect Your Granma (sic) and Correct Your Gramar (sic)."

Elsewhere, Sarah Palin campaigned for John McCain today in a bid to shore up his support among morons.

[NRaleighLiberal]

1. Weird...on PBS Newshour, Jim Lehrer struggled with the pronunciation,

and it came out as some sort of mangled hybrid!

[old mark]

2. Carter used the "nucular" word, too, which is amazing considering

he graduated from Anapolis and was an engineer on a nuclear submarine....
I guess no one ever bothered to correct any of these people, who obviously have problems with English as a first language.


mark

[yellerpup]

3. To me, it sounded like Carter said, "Nuke-ee-er"

Almost right, but not nuclear. Hearing well has never been a strong point with me, though...

[old mark]

5. He was saying "Nucular" with a Georgia accent.....nt

[Thothmes]

15. Old wives tale

President Carter resigned his commission in the Navy in 1953. Americas first nuclear powered submarine was not commissioned until 1955.

[Gabi Hayes]

4. carter pronounced it nucular. always bugged me

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OnFvxyM9EAQ

[Tempest]

6. Carter's was from a southern accent

Bush is a northerner and probably mentally challenged.

[Odin2005]

7. It's a VERY common mispronunciation, and has nothing to do with being uneducated.

I actually catch myself doing it a lot.

[rhett o rick]

8. And that's your proof? jk nm

[frustrated_lefty]

9. The suffix is to blame.

Sort of...someone correct me if I'm wrong, but there aren't that many commonly used words in the English language which end in -clear (yes, I realize the suffix is actually "lear"). The next most commonly used words which include c, l, r and some vowels include particular, molecular, spectacular, perpendicular, reticular, testicular, etc.

Mispronunciation of nuclear annoys the hell out of me, but I think it's more a consequence of a verbal dyslexia, incurable once entrenched within the victim's mind.

[Odin2005]

10. I thought it had to do with the unstressed "-clear", but couldn't figure out why, thanks!

:hi:

[muriel_volestrangler]

11. I can't find any rhyming words, ending in '-lear', that are more common than 'nuclear'

about the only one (apart from ones derived from nuclear, like thermonuclear) that I recognise is 'cochlear'.

http://www.onelook.com/?w=%2Alear&loc=scworef&scwo=1&sswo=1&ls=a

[morningglory]

18. My husband is a writer and perfectionist who speaks the language well.

He has always been completely snooty about people who mispronounce words like nuclear. However, he has aged and now says klor-esterol. He can not pronounce cholesterol. I slap my knee and hoot when he mispronounces it.

[marmar]

12. NOO-CLEE-UHR really isn't that hard to pronounce and it's phonetic....

.... I really don't understand why it's so often mispronounced.

[etherealtruth]

13. Sarah Palin campaigned for John McCain today in a bid to shore up his support among moron

LOL ... Oh, God that line killed me.

[Sheepshank]

14. Bush taught very many to say it that way

just as the ditzy preschool teacher taught her class to say lye-berry instead of library. My neighbors kids also had to do some un-learning

[yellowwood]

16. Elitist

Obviously just another example of elitist showoff behavior. "Talking educated."

[rucky]

17. I just started following Borowitz on Twitter

his one-liners are hilarious.