Why can't many Americans pronounce "Nuclear"?
368137
First, the pronunciation "nucular" is considered non-standard by Americans.  You hear about it because some prominent people have used it this way. (Bush-bashers like to act like he came up with it on his own.  They also somehow have failed to notice that Jimmy Carter --who was a nuclear engineer in the Navy!!-- has always said it that way too!  I'm also told Eisenhower said it this way.)\n\nSecond, it is 'stoopid' to assume something about someone' intelligence from their accent, regionalisms, use of 'nonstandard forms' or even outright personal mispronunciations.  There are brilliant folk who 'sound like hicks' to others of us, and people of quite "refined speech" who are dim bulbs.\n\nFinally, this sort of inversion of sounds (the linguistic term is "metathesis") is a fairly natural occurrence in languages of all sorts.  (I used to think this sort of thing was "wrong", until I studied Hebrew and learned about the regular metathesis of certain verb forms [in this case, reflected in the spelling].) There are lots of reasons for this, though perhaps the main one is that the inversion of sounds makes it much easier to pronounce.\n\nA fun example is seen in the way young children often do this, as in saying 'pisghetti' for 'spaghetti', or my own daugher's 'chicken' for 'kitchen', but adults do it too.  Some result in dialectal or nonstandard forms (e.g., saying /ax/ for the word "ask", though this is actually a very old variant, reflected in Chaucer!).  Some are widely accepted, sometimes even THE standard pronunciation (e.g., saying /comf-ter-ble/ for "comfortable".  In fact, if not for this sort of inversion we'd still be saying  'brid' rather than the (corrupted?) form 'bird', and 'thrid' instead of 'third'!  It also accounts for why we say "tornado" though the word is derived from Spanish "tronada".\n\nIn the case of 'nuclear', the ending -ular is much more common in English, and there is a tendency to adopt words to sounds and patterns elsewhere in the language.  But even more basic than that -- 'nucular' allows you to use two "back vowels" /oo/ and /uh/ (i.e., vowel-sounds made in the back of the throat), which is easier than switching to the front vowel /ee/.
642064
I have to chuckle....It's funny but true..We Americans did steal it and can't speak it....Spelling is even a whole nother gummy bag. You can tell that from reading some of the questions and answers posted here.
233273
I take acception to the one who said we couldn't pronounce ruin or ruined.  You are definitely entitled to your opinion but some of us rednecks are just as educated as the next fellow is.  Just because we have an accent doesn't make us an ignorant lot.  I am a redneck and very proud of it.
638635
It seems to me that just about every major nation has a national tongue but the US. Why not? English is the international business language, and the predominant language spoken in the U.S.
480258
Because we as Americans will not accept the fact that we cannot use our language and adapting said language to pronounce words are they are pronounce for other languages, we are just idiots
655196
Texas residents claim that's how they all talk down there.  Rubbish.  When you are the leader of the free world, you should probably use proper english, not good-ole-boy english.
649744
Are you Israeli?  In America (where most of the members live), they won't have any idea what you mean if you don't say "pork".
721126
I think the answers you've received thus far pretty much answer your question.  Many people pronounce it "Off-ten" because there is a "t" in the middle and they assume that it is correct to pronounce the t.  Many people who have not taken speech or looked the word up in the dictionary assume that they are correct, sometimes even superior, when the pronounce every letter in "often".  \n\nYou, however, are correct that the "t" should be silent.  This is why the word makes the list of 100 most commonly mispronounced words.
531390
Interesting question.  Let's see.\n\nTruman used the first nuclear weapons on civilian targets.  He then presided over our entry into the first Cold War police action in Korea that is still not resolved.\n\nBush pronounces nuclear the same way as Jimmy Carter.  He has NEVER VETOED A SPENDING BILL.  He has not asked Congress to pass the FairTax bill.  He does not communicate well.  But his daughters are hot.\n\nSo take your pick.
713774
I don't know but Americans also have horrible terms for everyone.\nAs an American, I can tell you that "Yank" never bothered me much, if it makes you feel better.  I figure we all need to relax a little bit about these things...but I understand your angst.
864766
The question is yes the US army is readily but unfornally, US ciztiens are not prepared for the end of the world by nuclear bombs, if any country including the US launched nuclear weapons, all other counties would then fire there weapons in case of attack plus everyone loses.
625163
Yes, people in the UK use 'ain't'!!\n\nBut I think you'll have trouble proving that it's an American expression - cockney kids have been saying it for centuries!!
570654
I don't know. Does a fifth grader know how to pronounce the word NUCLEAR?
761251
Actually, one can pronounce it either way...and a couple other ways in addition. It's nothing more than a phonological difference in dialect.
375930
as a matter of fact, the US indeed have arsenals for nuclear bombs. The US Gov't has to maintain nuclear bombs, simply because, it wanted to stay as the world's most powerful and influential nation.
670541
I would also venture to say that "atomic" is much less prone to mispronounciation that "nuclear" (or, as I have heard, "nuculer" and "nucler", although that last was in certain parts of Tennessee and the movie "Dr. Strangelove").
573473
No man, they don't. To them it is whiny. It might be different if they didn't hear it all the time on TV and in movies. Now most western english speaking countries are desensitized to the American accent...it has lost its novelty. Quite the opposite for the pomes and ozzies when they come to the states. Man, what a pantydropper that is. Just not fair.