Nuclear or Nukeular ... It's All Armageddon To Me!
Posted: Saturday, January 07, 2012
by Octavia Hansen
Octavia Hansen
Ever since George W was in the White House, I cringe when I hear the pronunciation . . . the world is 'nuclear' . . . it's NOT nuke - u - lar. it's New - clee - er. This was from a man who's wife is a school teacher and his finger is almost pressing the button!
No matter how they say it, or abuse saying it, it means the end of the world. People in power are so far away from the rest of us, physically and psychologically, and have the ability to end life on this planet faster than a commercial break, I like to believe that they have at least enough education to pronounce this correctly. I know that we are so very close to total destruction that pronunciation is only splitting hairs, but it means a lot to me. Since we are not at that point at this very minute (I'm still here, you're still here), I expect people to speak like they know what they are doing.
English is a rich and diverse language. We have made so many innovations and such progress with inventions and intellectual property that we have words for things that no one else could have ever thought. Did you know that "polyester" is not translated into any other language? Just look at film processing instructions written in any other language -- there it is -- polyester. Words for diverse things had to be invented because the English language (or anyone else's) up until then, didn't know what to call it.
Spelling is been a big issue, too, or at least it is with me and all the people I have ever been associated. Much like an ill-fitting suit or misusing the language verbally, spelling will make you look stupid fast. Being in the printing industry, when many of the companies I worked for would spot a type-error in a resume, it had to be thrown away and completely disregarded in future. When your business is printed communications, if it's not done right, then it's useless.
Few things will mark a person as stupid faster than flagrant and deliberate abuse of the spoken language. In the movie of "My Fair Lady," Rex Harrison delivers the line, asking "Why can't the English learn to speak?" There's a wise Chinese proverb that states: It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are stupid, than to open it an prove it. Clothes may not segregate classes the way they used to -- blue jeans are accepted just about anywhere -- but as soon as someone opens their mouth, they announce where they come from, their level of education and their social skills.
Don't get me started on cussing . . . it's not funny, it's not creative and as part of any vocabulary, it's so limited as to be meaningless. Kids think it's grown up. Grown ups show their lack of social ability. Everyone loses. I hate it in movies, I don't listen to in songs. If the television ever allows it, that'll be the end of my viewing . . . EVER! The only time I even come close to finding it humorous is on Comedy Central when a comedian is so uncreative as to fall back on standard cussing that every other word is bleeped. Can't follow the story, there is no theme, and there isn't one sentence said that makes any sense -- sometimes it's so bad, it's great!
I don't mind local accents and there is a certain quaintness to regional phrases. That does not make one stupid. Keeping an accent can be quaint but it forever makes one an outsider. At one time the highest paid actress in 30s Hollywood, Brazilian Bombshell Carmen Miranda did not agree with her studio and threatened, "One more word and I will lose my accent and I'll be just another actress."
Intelligence has a way of shining through -- what Albert Einstein lacked in social skills he made up for in sheer brain power. English theoretical physicist and cosmologist Stephen Hawking, agreed by many to be the smartest man on the planet, has to remind people that he is indeed English, only his computer communication device has an American accent. And one of my all-time favorite misleading regional accents is NOT Larry The Cable Guy, but Dr Red Duke (That's actually James Duke), the foremost trauma surgeon and professor at the University of Texas Health and Science Center at Houston will fool you every time. He sports a Texas-sized handle bar mustache and speaks with an accent so thick it just pours into your ear, and he sounds like he just fell off the back of a pick up on it's way into town . . . but that's just what you hear. Inside his head and in talented hands, he has saved lives and educated the public for more than thirty years.
And as for intelligence -- as it was pointed out to me many years ago, lack of specific knowledge should never be mistaken for low intelligence. That means if you are lost in a city, it doesn't make you stupid, you just don't have all the information. I have always considered an I.Q. as a sliding scale. Who made those tests? How can any test apply to everyone? Men and women think differently, young and old learn differently, different cultures value different things . . . how can an I.Q. be any kind of equal scale for everyone? Some people don't communicate very well yet in their specific field of interest, can be light years ahead of the entire world. Just because a child is a prodigy at school does not make then socially adjusted outside a classroom. I don't have an answer for this, but as usual, I have a lot of questions.
Did you know there are classes for executives to help them speak clearly? There are also lessons to help people lose their accent and choose their words and sentences carefully. Newsmen spend time learning international names of places and people, radio announcers constantly have to hone their skills in linguistics. As in most things . . . you have to practice to make it fluid and casual. Tongue twisters are good for practice, no matter what age, though most of the time, people only need to slow down and enunciate to be understood.
The Rev Martin Luther King Jr., the actor/director Orson Welles, and even comedian Gilbert Godfrey know the importance of projection and delivery when saying anything. It's rarely something people are born with, those I admire most recount days, months or even years in practice and rehearsal to achieve the verbal heights they are known for today. No one ever mumbled their way into a great speech. Abraham Lincoln also knew that brevity was necessary to be truly effective. The Gettysburg Address will continue to be quoted well into the next centuries for his ability to define and memorialize the historical crossroads of that decisive Civil War battle.
To revamp my initial sentiment . . . Leaders of the world: Get the words right! Enunciate the syllables. If it's the last thing I might hear, I at least want it to be correct. Thank you and good night.
This Article has been viewed 308 times. (Not updated in real-time.)
Top-level comments on this article: (1 total)Great title and outstanding ending AND some great "stuff" in the middle too. Thanks, I enjoyed it!
Steve
We want your comments! If you can read this, you don't have javascript enabled, so you can't use this comment system. Please enable javascript.