Word Chain - The Simpsons

Ahhh, i was half right. I stand corrected though.

Up and at 'em, Atom Ant

“I’ll field that one. Let me ask you a question. Why would a grown man whose shirt says ‘Genius at Work’ spend all his time watching a children’s cartoon show?"

No. Just no. Nuclear, as in relating to the Nucleus of an atom. Just because you and others mispronounce the word, doesn't mean you're right.

I highly suggest that if you aren't a big Simpsons fan that you don't reply to comments on Simpsons quizzes, as they are full of jokes from the show. That being said, noo-kyoo-luhr is a perfectly cromulent pronunciation.

Findlay- Nope, it's pronounced nucular.

Nucular.

Plattitude, are you saying Gassu69 fails English? That's un-possible!

Plattitude with a major swing and a miss here. Not a great look.

Ha, I think I had forgotten what quiz I was commenting on :) I regularly teach Nuclear Science to teenage groups, and one of the first rules of the class is that if they say 'nucular' they will have to memorize the periodic table to pass the class. Only one kid has mispronounced it after that warning, because he already had it memorized, and he did it constantly. Micah, if you're out there, I still hate you.

Alternatively, you could open your mind a bit and consider the effect of linguistic prescriptivism in education. Judging people lesser for their speech, and gatekeeping education based on dialect markers, has a long history, and it's not a good one.

See Merriam-Webster's FAQ on nuclear.

I could, and in general I'm very open to linguistic shifts. However, when working with teenagers in this scientific field, there are some very tangible reasons to be hard nosed about this pronunciation. Kicking off the class talking about the correct pronunciation does a few things for me including defining the scope of the subject, establishing a level of precision and nuance, and setting the tone for a TON of other linguistic and etymological conversations we'll have throughout the course.

There was a study I came across a few years ago that looked at people's opinions on nuclear power. It found a statistically significant correlation (I don't recall the exact figures) that people who pronounced it 'nucular' were more likely to be opposed to nuclear power plants, and people who pronounced it 'nuclear' were more likely to be comfortable with them.

After all this explanation how nucular is an in-joke…

True. I guessed Wiggum right off the bat this time, so obviously not a big deal.