U.S. presidents who have used this pronunciation include Dwight D. Eisenhower, Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush as well as U.S. vice president Walter Mondale. In his 2005 book, Going Nucular, linguist Geoffrey Nunberg suggests that the reasons underlying the differing pronunciations of this word may be different from president to president. Whereas Eisenhower's pronunciation most likely arose from his lack of familiarity with the word, Bush's usage may represent a calculated effort to appeal topopulist sentiment, though this theory is rejected by linguist Steven Pinker. This analysis is repeated in the second edition of Charles Harrington Elster's The Big Book of Beastly Mispronunciations. Oxford professor Marcus du Sautoy was heard to use it in a BBC documentary. The actor and narrator Orson Welles said "nucular" while speaking at the 1982 "No Nukes" rally in New York City's Central Park. Edward Teller, "father" of the Americanhydrogen bomb, supposedly used this particular pronunciation, and this usage is a limited tradition within the American nuclear research establishment. In a 1965 interview with Teller on the ill-fated Project Plowshare, Teller can be heard pronouncing the word correctly.
In popular culture, the "nucular" pronunciation has often been used to signify inferiority, low intellect or foolishness. In Woody Allen's 1989 filmCrimes and Misdemeanors, Mia Farrow's character says she could never fall for any man who says "nucular". The pronunciation was satirized in the 1996 science fiction filmMars Attacks!. Later, the pronunciation was utilized earnestly by the titular character in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull after Indiana survives an atomic bomb test by crawling inside a lead-lined refrigerator. This pronunciation was also used in the 2012 animated family filmMadagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted. In Don Delillo's 1997 novel Underworld, Marvin mentions nuclear weapons and it is said "He pronounced it nucular". Homer Simpson of the popular American animated TV seriesThe Simpsons and Peter Griffin of the animated comedy series Family Guy both pronounce nuclear this way. In Get Smart, the President, in a clear parody of George W. Bush, says "nucular", only for the exasperated Chief of CONTROL to loudly correct him. In , Skipper corrects Gloria's correct pronunciation of the word "nuclear" with "nucular."
Motivation
has proposed a phonotactic explanation for the conversion of nuclear to nucular: the unusual and disfavored sequence is gradually transformed to a more acceptable configuration via metathesis. However, Arnold Zwicky notes that presents no difficulty for English speakers in words such as pricklier. He also regards the proposition of metathesis as unnecessary. Zwicky suggests a morphological origin, combining the slang with the common sequence -cular. Supporting Zwicky's hypothesis, Geoffrey Nunberg quotes a government weapons specialist: "Oh, I only say 'nucular' when I'm talking about nukes." Nunberg argues that this pronunciation by weapons specialists and by politicians such as Bush – who are aware of the correct pronunciation – may be a deliberate choice. He suggests that the reasons for this choice are to assert authority or to sound folksy.
