At 4:41 PM 09/13/03, David H. Bailey wrote: >[...] >We just didn't happen to be around when green-witch changed into >gren-itch and we ARE around when nuclear is changing in to nucular.
I'm not so sure of that. I think it more likely that the "nucular" pronunciation has been around as long as the word has, which is to say about 150 years. I fully agree with your point that there are numerous words which have evolved new pronunciations over the years, but in the case of "nucular" I don't think it's so much a matter of the old way and the new way so much as a regional dialect. The communities in which the "nucular" pronunciation predominates are strongly correlated with a certain geographic region (ie, the American south). This also answers your second question ... >But >why do people get so upset about it and brand the nucular pronouncer as >somehow more ignorant? There are plenty of other regions of the country which have distinctive variant pronunciations for certain words, but those regions don't suffer from the same cultural bias against them. When a Bostonian pronounces a word peculiarly, the usual response is to accuse him of snobbishness or putting on airs. When a rural Southerner pronounces a word peculiarly, the usual response is to brand him an uneducated fool. This sort of thing has been going on for centuries. In any era for which there is sufficient written record, there is always some cultural region of their world which is ridiculed for its supposed lack of education. mdl _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
