Sen. Bayh said "nu-cu-lar" 4 x!

[npincus]

Jesus! It's contagious!


on edit: I will not support any Dem candidate for prez. who cannot pronounce "nuclear".

[hippiechick]

1. He's an idiot.

Pretty boy spokesmodel/empty suit riding his daddy's coattails because he can't get a job of his own.
His opinions change depending on his audience.
The man believes in nothing but holding his finger to the wind.

I've said it a zillion times.
Hope people catch on before it's too late and we have another Dimson in the White House.

[maggiegault]

2. Senator Bayh Is Very Beloved...

...in my home state of Indiana, and in the heartland in general.

He did many wonderful things for Indiana as our governor, and unfortunately he is being painted with the Dan Quayle brush.

As for "nuke-you-lur," that's a regional pronunciation thing. I am a highly educated individual who owns her own business and has lived away from Indiana for over a decade, and I still pronounce the word that way, if I am not careful about it. You'll hear many, many native Hoosiers pronounce it that way. Just because AWOL is an idiot and pronounces the word that way doesn't mean that those who share his linguistic idiosyncrasy are idiots, too.

Bayh would never get my vote for president, as he lacks gravitas, but my experience as a resident of Indiana tells me that your assessment of Bayh is not entirely accurate.

[npincus]

12. welcome to DU

no offense intended, really. :)

I do distinguish between regional accents (I've got one.. I'm a native NOO YAWKER, my "r"s melt into "w"s when I tawk tawk tawk) and pronunciation of a word. I would hope when one rises to the level of US President that they could pronounce the actual word, the actual word spoken and understood by a plurality of regions and countries! I think presidents have to be held to a higher standard than jerks like me and respectable businesswomen like you! That's my peronal preference... another poster noted that Jimmy Carter also says "nu-cu-lar" and I have the utmost respect for him.

[maggiegault]

22. None taken whatsoever.

And I'm married to a man from Jersey, for heaven's sake. You should hear THAT accent when he gets going.

The problem with "nuke you lar" is that AWOL has made anyone who has a regional/Southern/hillbilly/"son of the soil" accent seem like a jackass, and that clearly is not the case. Still, perception is very often reality. Just one more reason to loathe the man.

As I said about Bayh, he lacks what is necessary to be President. He *was* an outstanding and beloved governor in Indiana for a long time. Now they have Mitch Daniels, Washington puke and Bushlover Extraordinaire, and it has been to my home state's detriment, believe me.

[nashville_brook]

25. he attacked fellow Dems for not "sufficiently" supporting Bush's war

other than that, what's he known for?

[maggiegault]

26. This, Especially If You Hail From Indiana

http://www.statelib.lib.in.us/www/ihb/govportraits/bayh.html

He was also one of the first Senators to put his a** on the line and speak out publicly against Rummy the Dummy. This was in early 2004, when it was not politically prudent to do so.

He has made a number of mistakes, for sure. But he is a good man, from what I saw of his tenure as Indiana's governor.

[hippiechick]

30. Uhmm, I'm in Indianapolis. I stand by my assessment.

n/t

[maggiegault]

32. "Uhmmm," is really obnoxious...

...and frankly, it negates your assessment.

[hippiechick]

38. So is pooh poohing other people's opinions

... based on the verbage of their post.

:eyes:

[WinkyDink]

34. No, a twang, or a drawl is one thing; a conscious mispronunciation

is another.

And Bayh has zero presence, let alone charisma.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

9. "He's an idiot ... Pretty boy spokesmodel/empty suit"

who went to UVa Law School.

Wikipedia, Evan Bayh

The younger Bayh graduated with honors in business, economics and public policy from the Indiana University Kelley School of Business in 1978, where he was a member of Phi Kappa Psi, and received his Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree from the University of Virginia in 1981. He clerked for a federal court judge and entered a private law practice in Indianapolis.

Why can't I be that stupid?

I have to admit that "nu-cu-lar" drives me up the wall. I propose that if you can't pronounce the word, you shouldn't be permitted to use the weapons.

[hippiechick]

31. I stand by my assessment.

n/t

[TexasProgresive]

3. I'm no fan of Bayh, but

if a common mispronouncement of a work is a major factor in who you choose to vote for then you are really small minded even at a nu-cu-lar level.:sarcasm: I'd say you are a quarkoid.

[npincus]

5. No, I'm an east-coast, limousine-liberal, latte-drinking elitist!

But thanks for axe-ing!

[Ariana Celeste]

4. Many in Indiana have accents

I understand Bayh isn't very loved on DU, but if the pronunciation of 'nuclear' is such a big deal that's kind of sad. I'm sure one can find many real things to criticize him for.

:shrug:

[Eugene]

6. Jimmy Carter pronounces it that way too.

And he's a nuclear engineer by training.

[npincus]

7. perhaps my hatred of U-NO-HOO has warped my mind.

I have a visceral reaction when I hear Chimpy say "NOO-CU-LAR"....

But Jimmy's a heckuva lot smarter than Chimp (and me).

[mahatmakanejeeves]

10. His pronunciation

is more of a "nook-ee-ur" sort of thing.

Still, you'd think....

[razorman]

20. Dwight Eisenhower also pronounced it that way.

[Bigmack]

8. Nu-klee-er....

It's easy, really.

After reading all these posts about how it's regional and not a big deal, I am more convinced than ever that pronouncing nuclear (and other words) properly is a requisite for President.

Dumbya has made the US... and especially Texas... the laughingstock of the world because of what he's done to the language.

Remember LBJ? "Mah fellah 'Murikans... ah come to yew tanite wiathe a hevvy hort!"

[kansasblue]

11. Nuclear N(Y)OO-klee-ur.

Nuclear N(Y)OO-klee-ur. For Pete’s sake, don’t say NOO-kyuh-lur.

In his introduction to the fourth edition of the NBC Handbook of Pronunciation (1984), veteran broadcaster and language commentator Edwin Newman remarks that when the nuclear age began in August 1945, so did the nucular age.

Ever since nuclear entered the national vocabulary (a hundred years after entering in the 1840s) it has been mispronounced by millions of educated and otherwise careful speakers, including scientists, lawyers, professors, and presidents of the United States. According to Newman, Dwight D. Eisenhower “could not get it right”; Jimmy Carter, who had been an officer aboard nuclear-powered submarines, pronounced it NOO-kee-ur; and Walter Mondale, in his 1984 bid for the presidency, repeatedly said NOO-kyuh-lur. “The word, correctly pronounced,” writes Newman, “somehow is too much for a fair part of the population, and education and experience seem to have nothing to do with it.” In The Diabolical Dictionary of Modern English, R.W. Jackson dryly echoes that sentiment by defining nuclear simply as “nucyaler.”


http://www.pbs.org/speak/speech/beastly/#Nuclear

[malaise]

13. Did that rat ever jump ship fast!

That was priceless.

[savemefromdumbya]

14. like Dracluar

[razorman]

15. It seems that about half the population pronounces it that way.

I find it almost as irritating as the morons who say "so-security" instead of "social security".

[vote 4 democracy]

16. there's nothing worse than real - uh- ter and

at least half of the US says that. Its like nails on a chalk board. C'mon everybody say "reeeeal - ter"

[razorman]

19. I agree.

These are minor things, but so annoying.

[Kelly Rupert]

24. Or ath-uh-leet.

[Hosnon]

33. And when enough people pronounce it a certain way, guess what..."that way" is a correct way. nt

[WinkyDink]

36. Language shifts are a bit more complex than that, no?

[Hosnon]

40. Overall language shifts like the Great Vowel Shift perhaps. But individual words shift all of the

time.

There is no great English Grammarian in the sky who keeps it in check. We, as English's speakers, create and modify it.

[WinkyDink]

35. Mine is "deteriate". Good grief. And don't get me started on "mis-chee-vee-us".

Then there's "nup-chu-als", when there's no second "u" in "nuptials".
I'll stop now.

[Eurobabe]

17. eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeHT

he's out. We don't need no more pResidents who mangle the English language.

[Igel]

18. Well, at least Ted Kennedy's not running.

And Kerry, well, a fair number of DUers didn't support him.

And his completely un-American pronunciation, "nucleah".

There's a long history of dialects and prescriptivism.

So, what do you think about the Northern Cities vowel shift? You know, dialects where the /ae/ (as in 'can', 'crab', and 'ran') gets raised and broken into something like 'ki-aen', 'cri-aeb', and 'ri-aen'? Not to mention what happens to other vowels.

Then there's AAEV.

[Bluebear]

29. 'And his completely un-American pronunciation'

:eyes:

[WinkyDink]

37. Dialects aren't the same as mispronunciation of individual words

without a pattern.

[Hoosier Dem]

21. It's and Indiana thing...

As a lifelong Hoosier who will NOT support Bayh for president, I think zeroing in on a percieved mis-pronounciation is a bit silly.

Indiana does have some accents, believe it or not. Southern Hoosiers speak with a slight Southern accent, while those of us in the northern industrial areas pick up what I call the "Chicago Accent". (Remember "Da Bears"?)

My father was a classic Hoosier in his pronunciations. A few classics being:

"Suh-ment" for "cement"
"Warsh" for "wash"
"Ruf" for "Roof"
"O-hi-uh" for "Ohio"
"ill-in-oize" for "illinois"
and "Ass-hole" for "Bush"

Just a differnce in speech. :hippie:

[Kelly Rupert]

23. If you withhold support from a candidate

because they use a regional pronounciation, then you probably should take a good look at your priorities. Which is more important to you: ensuring Americans have health care, or ensuring they can pronounce acetaminophen?

[Ron Green]

27. It IS contagious, because:

Many more words (secular, ocular, avuncular, vehicular) have the "nucular" pattern than have the "nuclear" one. It's just natural to slide into the "...cular" mode. I catch myself doing it, and I for sure know the difference.

[Initech]

28. I dont think you should be allowed to be against something until you can pronounce it.

I'm with Bill Hicks on this one!

[neebob]

39. Just the other day

I had occasion to call a high-level executive at a nuclear facility and got voicemail recorded by the executive's admin, who said nukular twice.