Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Hooked On Phonics Works for Him!

I saw this last night, and couldn't decide if it was hilarious, or if I was embarrassed that this man is the leader of our country:

When Words Get In the Way, Bush Goes Phonetic

Ok, some of those countries are hard to pronounce, y'all. Never mind that he's been president for an excruciating almost 7 years now (Dear Lord, thank you that it's almost over), and that he's seen and said these words how many times? And who wouldn't need the phonetic pronunciation for Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president? Well, except for most of us, because as far as I can tell, it's pronounced just like it's spelled. Here's what I can't figure out: If they can give him phonetic spellings for names and places that are too hard for him to pronounce, then why in the name of all that is good and holy can't they phonetically spell out nuclear for him? NU-KLEE-ER.

The other day, I was picking up all the cards from the Balderdash game off the floor (because Kylie thinks it's fun to get random games out of the closet and scatter the cards everywhere), and I was reading a few of them. I came across this word: Mumpsimus - Noun 1. "Adherence to or persistence in an erroneous use of language, memorization, practice, belief, etc., out of habit or obstinacy." Our illustrious leader and his continued mispronunciation of the word "nuclear" leapt immediately to mind. The question becomes, is it habit, or obstinacy? Or perhaps stupidity? In any case, I learned a new word, so I have fulfilled my brain quota for the day. Woohoo!

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hello from Scottsdale :-). So fun to hear from someone local. As far as I can tell there are now officially two bloggers in the Valley!

This was a hilarious post! I'm really cutting back on my blogging and blog reading, but just the same look forward to adding you to my Google Reader to sneak a quick peak.

Only supposed to be 99 tomorrow. Woohoo!

Shelley said...

Hi! Chandler here.

I can understand about the cutting back...I'm just a newbie, but it gets addictive! I can sit for hours reading other people's stuff...there are some funny and talented people out there.

Thanks for adding me...I subscribed to your blog as well, I love it!

99, woohoo! Pretty soon we'll be able to do things outside without sweating. Must be fall. :)

Anonymous said...

Actually, check out this article about the pronunciation of nuclear. I say it the more common way myself. :)

http://slate.com/id/2071155/

Alice

Anonymous said...

Oh, and note that Jimmy Carter is one who pronounces it 'nucular' and he's a Nuclear Physicist. :)

Alice

Shelley said...

Well, I'd give Jimmy Carter a pass on just about anything, simply because he's an awesome human being. :) Seriously though, tomato, tomato. Hmmm those both look the same in print, even though I pronounced one with a long a and the other with a short a. In any case, you've got to admit that mumpsimus is a pretty awesome word. ;)