Speaking English

[Scotman84]

I have come to terms with regional accents on the news, as I know that they are many and varied thoughout the country - but one word REALLY annoys me - NUCLEAR - will someone please tell the media that it is NOT pronounced 'NUCULAR' !!!! It really p's me off - or am I just nit-picking?

[Booldawg]

haha Scotsman I know what you mean. It annoys me when Americans say 'Rout' instead of 'Route'

[kev100]

New-clear

[Buenchico]

At least the reporters are one step ahead of Kev100. They recognise that 'nuclear' has three syllables and not two ;-)

The Oxford English Dictionary shows the the 'e' is distinct from the 'a'. (i.e. they don't form a compound sound). The guide to pronunciation states that the 'e' should be pronounced in the same way as it is in 'naked'. That means that, roughly, the correct pronunciation is 'new-clay-ar'.

Chris

[noxlumos]

George bush says Nucular and it drives me insane.
Fe cking muppet.

[andy-hughes]

All UK newsreaders say "Secetary" instead of "Secretary" - I don't mind Dubbya's mispronunciations - the guy is an idiot - this just underlines the fact.

[kev100]

Thanks buenchico for simplifing it for Scotman, I'm sure he will find your simple answer much more easy to understand than my complicated muddle of an answer.

[Yorkie580]

Everything George Bush says drives me insane...

[jno]

kev, I pronounce it your way. The -ea- sound comes out as a diphthong (a sort of combined vowel sound) rather than one or two sounds. But for most I suspect the mispronunciation isn't ignorance but difficulty getting a tongue around it. I know people who say 'fillum' instead of 'film' for the same reason. It may also be a regional thing, in which case there isn't much point complaining about it.

[Scotman84]

Thanks all - glad I'm not alone....

[brionon]

Violence Pronounced Vilence.
'Birds and Animals'--Birds ARE animals.

[Loosehead]

New-clee-ar , Chris not New-clay-ar

[SteveD]

Let's add "jewlery" and "ec-cetera".

[joko]

i hate 'lab rat ory' instead of 'laborat ry' - althpugh the first is actually more apt

fillum is an irish/scottish thing and therefore also a scouse thing

[curlyperm]

just going off the original topic slightly, but i HATE it when people say 'Get your hands off of me' instead of just 'Get your hands off me' Where the hell did that come from?? or need i ask. And thats another one.......... ' Can i ask you' NOT 'Can i Arks you'.............
By the way am i the only one on here tonight?? feels very quiet? xx

[zimzam]

oh heck Jno - you are talking dipthongs that I am reading early Xmas Day (well at 03.18 on Xmas day) must you be so crass? Nothing like a dipthong in the early hours, I can tell you from a female's point of view who lives alone. As to nuclear I keep hearing it pronounced as new clear and I wonder what new types of new Clear's have been invented.

[Quizmonster]

Curly, Shakespeare wrote "A fall off of a tree" in Henry VI Part II, so the phrase 'off of' has a long and honourable history. It may well be used nowadays only in some dialects rather than in 'standard' English, but that's no different from a host of other phrases.

[Llamatron]

I watched my XMen 3 DVD last week and had the audio commentary running, it took my mind off the ironing.
Somebody, instead of saying 'escape' said 'eXscape' . WTF? Where did they the 'X' from?
They said it several times so it wasn't a slip of the tongue.

[Llamatron]

Oops, I meant to say 'Where did they get the 'X' from?'

[Elfin]

The word "new" is problematic in itself.

I once was chosen for a voiceover job over another candidate because they couldn't say "New" properly (they pronounced it "noo"), whereas the company wanted it pronounced "nyew".

[jno]

zimzam, sometimes you just have to have a diphthong, especially under tight trousers. And obviously X-men are legally required to say X-scape, it's in their contracts.