Re: Why is it....

[Ruth Sponsler <jk5554@YAHOO.COM>]

This latest concerning nuclear, unclear, and

mispronounciations, made me chuckle and I had to write

with a personal story. 



My father was a high school English teacher and a

graduate of the University of Chicago.  He pronouned

'nuclear' the proper way, but always asserted that

things that happened 'under the stands' [at Stagg

Field] were 'unclear' to him.  He was very skeptical

of 'unclear' things.  The reason was that he was a

Philosophy major!



My mother, on the other hand, worked many years ago

(after WWII in the late 1940s or early 1950s) as a

technical secretary in the University of Chicago

Chemistry Department, although she was a sociology

major.  She worked for Dr. Harkins.  The Physics

building was next door to Chemistry at that time.  She

was acquaintances with (blush!) Leo Szilard and the

MAN himself, Enrico Fermi.  Well, not every cat with a

perfect pedigree shows in the Championship Ring, and

my mother went on to live out in California and to

raise me.



I, too, have watched the decline in our language. 

This decline happened concurrently with the decline in

manners that started during the late 1960's as

'informality' spread everywhere.  My father was one of

the last faculty members at his school to stop wearing

a suit to school. A few years later, he was one of the

last to stop sporting a tie.



I agree that dictionaries should be written as

standards to follow, and not mere descriptions of

'current usage' that include improper speech and

grammar.



~Ruth Sponsler aka Ruth 2





--- John Johnson <idias@interchange.ubc.ca> wrote:

> All

> 

> I was taught as a student in Canada that "nuclear"

> was "unclear" with the "n" and "u" exchanged. I've

> used the same pronouncation in the US, and everybody

> understood me!

> 

> John Johnson; PhD in "Unclear" Physics :)

> Vancouver, BC





__________________________________________________

Do You Yahoo!?

Great stuff seeking new owners in Yahoo! Auctions! 

http://auctions.yahoo.com

************************************************************************

You are currently subscribed to the Radsafe mailing list. To unsubscribe,

send an e-mail to Majordomo@list.vanderbilt.edu  Put the text "unsubscribe

radsafe" (no quote marks) in the body of the e-mail, with no subject line. You can view the Radsafe archives at http://www.vanderbilt.edu/radsafe/