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President Donald Trump deserves credit for having one talent that many previous presidents have lacked: pronouncing the word "nuclear" correctly.

Commanders in chief from Dwight Eisenhower to Jimmy Carter to George Bushes I and II reshuffled the syllables of "nuclear" more often than their cabinets. Their most common renderings were "noo-kyuh-lur" and "noo-kyoo-lur" as opposed to the correct "noo-klee-ur."

But let's give them, and everyone else, a break. Mispronouncing "nuclear" might be an error, but it's a forgivable one. For one thing, we have very few similar words to give us practice pronouncing it.

As Webster's Dictionary of English Usage points out, no other common word in English ends with the sound "klee-ur." In fact, the only other word that does is "cochlear," pronounced "koh-klee-ur," referring to the shell-shaped component of the inner ear, as in "cochlear implant," and not used much beyond biology classrooms and audiologists' offices.

By contrast, words ending in a "kyoo-lur" sound are legion, e.g., "particular," "spectacular," "secular," "vernacular," "molecular." We're so accustomed to speaking these words that we naturally want to attach the same "kyoo-lur" sound to the end of the similar word "nuclear."

As the editors of Webster's Dictionary of English Usage put it, "Speakers have succumbed to the gravitational tug of a far more prevalent pattern."

They cite other mispronunciations based on the sounds of familiar words. People say "ek-set-truh" for "et cetera," for instance, because they're so accustomed to saying the "ek" sound in words such as "economic," "echo" and "excellent."

Likewise, others say "sim-yuh-lur" or "sim-yoo-lur" for "similar" ("sim-ih-lur") because they're recalling the sound of "cellular," "circular" and "regular." Still others make "nuptial" a three-syllable word ("nuhp-shoo-uhl") instead of the two-syllable "nuhp-sh'l" because they're married to the sound of "conceptual" and "intellectual."

My own observation is that some people know the correct pronunciation of "nuclear" but simply can't physically produce it. (BTW, one handy trick is to simply say "new clear," a two-syllable phrase that, when pronounced, sounds almost exactly like the three-syllable "noo-klee-ur." Try it.)

So, while this "noo-kyoo-lur" proliferation isn't correct, it's not necessarily a sign of ignorance or carelessness. Instead, it's an understandable, and for some of us, unavoidable mistake.

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Rob Kyff, a teacher and writer in West Hartford, Connecticut, invites your language sightings. His book, "Mark My Words," is available for $9.99 on Amazon.com. Send your reports of misuse and abuse, as well as examples of good writing, via email to WordGuy@aol.com or by regular mail to Rob Kyff, Creators Syndicate, 737 3rd Street, Hermosa Beach, CA 90254. COPYRIGHT 2025 CREATORS.COM

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