Bridget
07-28-2009, 10:54 PM
Geoff Nunberg, linguist, has claimed this about the pronunciation of nuclear as "nucular":
"this disaffectation is not uncommon among Pentagon and DOD types when they're referring to weapons, though not when they're referring to families or medicine."
http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=673 (http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=673)
Can that be true? Do they pronounce it as nucular in one context, but not in another?
"this disaffectation is not uncommon among Pentagon and DOD types when they're referring to weapons, though not when they're referring to families or medicine."
http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=673 (http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=673)
Can that be true? Do they pronounce it as nucular in one context, but not in another?