Nucular

This is one of two contentious pronunciations that receive particular mention in the FAQ of the Merriam-Webster Dictionary:

Though disapproved of by many, pronunciations ending in \-kyə-lər\ have been found in widespread use among educated speakers, including scientists, lawyers, professors, congressmen, United States cabinet members, and at least two United States presidents and one vice president. While most common in the United States, these pronunciations have also been heard from British and Canadian speakers.{{cite web|url=http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/nuclear |title=nuclear - Definition from the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary |publisher=M-w.com |date=2012-08-31 |access-date=2013-12-06}}{{cite web

| url = http://www.m-w.com/help/faq/pronounce.htm

| title = Your pronunciations of "often" and "nuclear" are wrong! How can you say they are correct?

| publisher = Merriam-Webster online

| access-date = 2006-10-23

}}

The American Heritage Dictionary notes:

The pronunciation (noo'kyə-lər), which is generally considered incorrect, is an example of how a familiar phonological pattern can influence an unfamiliar one ... [since] much more common is the similar sequence (-kyə-lər), which occurs in words like particular, circular, spectacular, and in many scientific words like molecular, ocular, and vascular.{{cite web|url=http://ahdictionary.com/word/search.html?q=nuclear |title=Nuclear - Definition from the American Heritage Online Dictionary |publisher=Ahdictionary.com |date=2013-01-09 |access-date=2013-12-06}}

The Oxford English Dictionary notes:

The colloquial pronunciation British /ˈnjuːkjʊlə/, U.S. /ˈn(j)ukjələr/ (frequently rendered in written form as nucular[...]) has been criticized in usage guides since at least the mid 20th century [...] although it is now commonly given as a variant in modern dictionaries."[http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/128926 nuclear, adj. (and adv.) and n.]". OED Online. September 2013. Oxford University Press. Accessed 10 September 2013.

In his 1999 book The Big Book of Beastly Mispronunciations, logophile Charles Harrington Elster wrote that the vast majority of those he spoke to while writing his book as well as 99% of the 1985 usage panel of Morris & Morris's Harper Dictionary of Contemporary Usage specifically condemned the use of the word and characterized it as a mispronunciation. Elster's own view on the matter derives from the root of the word: "nucleus". Arguing by analogy, Elster suggests that "Molecular comes from molecule, and particular comes from particle, but there is no nucule to support nucular."Elster, Charles Harrington. The Big Book Of Beastly Mispronunciations: The Complete Opinionated Guide for the Careful Speaker. Houghton Mifflin. Pp.347-350. {{ISBN|978-0-618-42315-6}}. 2006.[https://www.pbs.org/speak/speech/beastly/#Nuclear Do you Speak American?] PBS. 2005.

The U.S. presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush{{cite news|url=http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/explainer/2002/09/why_does_bush_go_nucular.html|newspaper=Slate|title=Why Does Bush Go "Nucular"?|author=Kate Taylor|date=18 September 2002}} and vice president Walter Mondale used this pronunciation.Pinker, Steven. Pinker contra Nunberg re nuclear/nucular. LanguageLog. http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=730 In his 2005 book Going Nucular, linguist Geoffrey Nunberg suggested that the presidents' reasons for their differing pronunciations may be distinct. Whereas Eisenhower's pronunciation most likely arose from lack of familiarity (he first learned the word in midlife), Bush's usage may represent a calculated effort to appeal to populist sentiment,Nunberg, Geoffrey. Going Nucular: Language, Politics. and Culture in Confrontational Times. PublicAffairs. Pp.297-298. {{ISBN|1586483455}}. 2009. though Nunberg's theory here is rejected by linguist Steven Pinker. This analysis is repeated in the second edition of Elster's Big Book of Beastly Mispronunciations.

Oxford professor Marcus du Sautoy used this pronunciation in a BBC documentary,BBC documentary, "Faster Than the Speed of Light" and Orson Welles said "nucular" while speaking at the 1982 "No Nukes" rally in Central Park.{{citation needed|date=September 2014}}

The nuclear physicist Edward Teller, "father" of the American hydrogen bomb, supposedly used "nucular", and it does have some currency in the American nuclear research establishment.{{cite book|last=Muller|first=Richard A|title=Physics for Future Presidents: The Science behind the Headlines|year=2008|publisher=W.W. Norton & Co.|isbn=9780393066272|page=153|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ynStlj6R1lIC&q=teller%2C+nucular&pg=PA153}} But in a 1965 interview on Project Plowshare, Teller used the standard pronunciation.{{cite video|last=Teller|first=Edward |title=Project Plowshare|year=1965|publisher=Ohio State University|time=00:36|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oa-IqOHDr_k |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211221/Oa-IqOHDr_k |archive-date=2021-12-21 |url-status=live}}{{cbignore}}

The 17th U.S. Secretary of Energy, Chris Wright, said "nucular" several times in his welcome remarks on February 5, 2025.{{Cite web |url=https://www.energy.gov/articles/secretary-chris-wright-delivers-welcome-remarks-doe-staff |title=Secretary Chris Wright Delivers Welcome Remarks to DOE Staff |publisher=DOE |date=February 5, 2025|access-date=February 18, 2025}}

{{In popular culture|date=November 2017}}

In popular culture, this pronunciation has often been used to signify inferiority, low intellect or foolishness.

In Woody Allen's 1989 film Crimes and Misdemeanors, Mia Farrow's character says she could never fall for any man who says "nucular".{{cite web |last=Nunberg |first=Geoffrey |date=October 2, 2002 |title=Going Nucular |url=http://people.ischool.berkeley.edu/~nunberg/nucular.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080122154104/http://people.ischool.berkeley.edu/~nunberg/nucular.html |archive-date=22 Jan 2008 |access-date=23 November 2014}} The pronunciation is satirized in the 1996 science fiction film Mars Attacks!. It is used earnestly by Indiana Jones in the 2008 film Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull after he survives an atomic bomb test by crawling inside a lead-lined refrigerator. In Get Smart, also released in 2008, the President, a clear parody of George W. Bush, says "nucular", only for the exasperated Chief of CONTROL to loudly correct him.

In Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted, Skipper corrects Gloria's standard pronunciation of the word "nuclear" to "nucular".{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yBKHA87iITo |title=nuculer - nuclear (Madagascar 3) |date=2012-10-19 |last=Ricky Catto |access-date=2024-07-25 |via=YouTube}}

In Don Delillo's 1997 novel Underworld, Marvin mentions nuclear weapons and it is said "He pronounced it nucular".{{cite book|title=Underworld|isbn = 9781416595854|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ug3ArDMHLnQC&q=don+delillo+underworld+%22he+pronounced+it+nucular%22&pg=PA316|access-date=22 July 2015|last1 = Delillo|first1 = Don|date = November 2007| publisher=Simon and Schuster }}

Homer Simpson (a nuclear power plant employee) of the American animated TV series The Simpsons{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OoASZyihalc |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211221/OoASZyihalc |archive-date=2021-12-21 |url-status=live|title=Nucular |publisher=YouTube |date=2012-07-25 |access-date=2013-12-06}}{{cbignore}} and Peter Griffin of the animated comedy series Family Guy{{cite web|title=The 'S' is silent.|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tV6X73bGKD0 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211221/tV6X73bGKD0 |archive-date=2021-12-21 |url-status=live|publisher=YouTube|access-date=22 January 2014}}{{cbignore}} both say "nucular" (in these episodes, Homer and Peter both "correct" someone else's correct pronunciation of the word).

Pinker has proposed{{cite web |last=Pinker |first=Steven |url=http://pinker.wjh.harvard.edu/articles/media/2008_Palin_language.html |title=Everything You Heard Is Wrong |date=Oct 4, 2008 |access-date=2013-11-15}}{{dead link|date=January 2025}} a phonotactic explanation for the conversion of nuclear to nucular: the unusual and disfavored sequence {{IPA|[kli.ər]}} is gradually transformed to a more acceptable configuration via metathesis.{{citation needed|date=January 2013}} But Arnold Zwicky notes that {{IPA|[kli.ər]}} presents no difficulty for English speakers in words such as pricklier and deems the postulation of metathesis unnecessary. He suggests a morphological origin, combining the slang nuke with the common sequence -cular (molecular, particular, etc.).{{cite web |last=Zwicky |first=Arnold |url=http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/001999.html |title=Axe a stupid question |date=March 21, 2005 |access-date=2008-09-14}} Supporting Zwicky's hypothesis, Geoffrey Nunberg quotes a government weapons specialist:{{which|date=January 2025}} "Oh, I only say 'nucular' when I'm talking about nukes."{{cite web |last=Nunberg |first=Geoffrey |url=http://people.ischool.berkeley.edu/~nunberg/nucular.html |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20130308140207/http://people.ischool.berkeley.edu/~nunberg/nucular.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=2013-03-08 |title=Going Nucular |date=October 2, 2002 |access-date=2025-03-18}} Nunberg argues that this pronunciation by weapons specialists and by politicians such as Bush may be a deliberate choice. He suggests that the reasons for this choice are to assert authority or to sound folksy.

• Bushism
• Political gaffe

{{Spoken Wikipedia|Nucular.ogg|date=2006-01-20}}

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Category:English words and phrases

Category:Nuclear energy