[FRIAM] metathesis

[Steve Smith]

Glen -

I appreciate that you shared with us your "handicap" which reminds me of 
your self-report a few years back of tryptophobia.

I also am triggered by both of these.   Your examples of Nukular/Nuclear 
and Axe/Ask are obviously pretty familiar.   I respond to them pretty 
pre-consciously without overtly reacting, which kicks me into a new 
register of reflective judgement: to whit "what does this 
choice/not-choice of this particular articulation imply about the 
character and values of this person?".

 From a 2002 article in the NYT 
<https://www.nytimes.com/2002/10/13/weekinreview/confronting-noo-kyuh-luhr-proliferation.html>:

    /Yet the use of ''NOO-kyuh-luhr'' is not uncommon, even among
    prominent and educated people, including four of the nation's last
    10 presidents: Dwight D. Eisenhower, who was widely admonished for
    it; Gerald R. Ford; Jimmy Carter, who did graduate work in nuclear
    physics, and also used ''NOO-kee-yer''; and now George W. Bush./

I was not particularly bothered by or aware of this mispronunciation 
until the constant hammering of GW Bush to the tune of his 
(Cheney/Rumsfeldt/Wolfowitz?) drumbeats leading up to the Iraq War.   I 
attributed it to a combination of his (affected or adopted?) Texas 
drawl/slang and his (apparent?) willful ignorance of science (as a 
dogwhistle to redneck/populists?)   I still hear it that way if the 
speaker is the least bit leaning toward that end of the spectrum.

I didn't notice the Axe/Ask division until my father started listening 
to Rush Limbaugh in the 90s and shifted from a mild (applauding Archie 
Bunker) populist white racist to a more convicted one.   "Axe" really 
triggered him when he heard it, and I think it was because it could be a 
marker of AAVE (aka "ebonics") which I think for him was more of a 
resentment of Urban Poverty (vs the Rural Poverty he came from) than 
specifically the racist implications (though it was baked into his 
upbringing/roots even if he preached anti-racist or at least 
pro-tolerance to me growing up).

Your bringing up of this phenomena (and in particular "metathesis") lead 
me (as it often does) to take a quick dive into a rabbit hole and "larn 
me some stuff".   Thank you.

In closing, I'm fascinated by the relationship between phobias and 
philias, which might be a reformulation of addictions vs allergies.    
Your tryptophobia exhibits as more of a tryptophilia in me... a 
fascination bordering (but I don't give over to) on fetish.   The dirty 
little corner of youtube dedicated to "pimple popping" and "blackhead 
removal", for example whispers to me when I trip into it's perimeters.

I also find unusual dialects of American (as well a the broad British 
Commonwealth) fascinating (bordering on philia if not fetish).    And I 
find most "southern Cracker" variants a marker of willful ignorance (or 
ignorant willfulness?) which I attribute to my main exposure coming 
through my Appalachian Cousins who are generally moderately educated 
(none failed to graduate HS that I know of and some even obtained 
PhDs).   To complement that, *most* are diehard born-again Xtian types 
who have to work "have you accepted Jesus Christ as your personal 
savior" into any extended encounter.   So when they lace their 
(otherwise educated or sophisticated) conversation with Southern 
American English pronunciations and idioms (e.g. all y'all) and 
"Jahysuz" references I cringe and lower my estimation of their 
character, intelligence, and general sensibilities by a notch or two...  
but the top half of my brain seems to know better and renormalizes as 
best it can...

I've a good friend who said it well: "Don't mistake an accent for a 
personality".  She wass mostly referencing her predilection for falling 
for men (and women) with exotic accents.


On 12/1/23 10:07 AM, glen wrote:
> I made the mistake of confessing my handicap to a friend. Now he 
> purposefully says nukular as a kind of Castañedan slap on the back, or 
> the master's whack with the stick. He knows it knocks me out of 
> whatever canal I was in. It's irritating, but a good thing overall.
>
> Actually, it started with the pronunciation of diacetyl, which most of 
> my friends at the brewery pronounce "die-ASS-uh-tul". That's another 
> one that doesn't give me the hiccups. My Mansplainer homunculus 
> doesn't even notice. But I did get a chance to discuss it with the 
> owner, wherein I suggested that "ASS-uh-tal" is a chemical group 
> that's fundamentally different from acetyl. And, even though there's 
> almost zero chance of anyone *ever* saying the word "diacetal", it's 
> still reasonable to prefer the more common "die-uh-SEE-tul". After 
> all, nobody says "ASS-uh-tul-kole-een" or "ASS-uh-tul-een torch". On 
> the other hand, hangovers are discussed a lot in places like breweries 
> ... with taprooms at least. And acetaldehyde is (almost) pronounced 
> like "ASS-uh-tul-dee-hide" (with some wiggle around "tul" vs "tal").  
> So, again, there is some slight reason prefer one pronunciation over 
> the other.
>
> No such luck with nukular. Any desire to correct someone when they say 
> it that way is empty (and actually false) pedantry. I still hate it, 
> though.
>
> On 12/1/23 07:28, Frank Wimberly wrote:
>> My dad was a nuclear engineer and nukular has always bothered me 
>> greatly.  I try to help people to say it right by telling them to 
>> think "new clear".  I'm not sure that would help Bush.
>>
>> ---
>> Frank C. Wimberly
>> 140 Calle Ojo Feliz,
>> Santa Fe, NM 87505
>>
>> 505 670-9918
>> Santa Fe, NM
>>
>> On Fri, Dec 1, 2023, 8:21 AM glen <gepropella at gmail.com 
>> <mailto:gepropella at gmail.com>> wrote:
>>
>>
>>     So, on the death of The War Criminal, I've been reflecting on the 
>> most irritating thing to me about George W Bush's stint: nukular. 
>> Sure. It's irritating that he started a war for no good reason. If we 
>> learn anything from Kissinger's treatment by the press, it's that 
>> those sorts of things don't actually matter.
>>
>>     But the way you pronounce "nuclear"? That matters ... to me, 
>> anyway. I've managed to grind off the burrs in my thinking when 
>> someone says "axe" instead of "ask", glottals their Ts, etc. But I 
>> just can't get over nukular. Every time someone says it that way, 
>> whatever it was I was doing or thinking goes straight out the fscking 
>> window. With, say, "axe", I can actually do it myself without feeling 
>> shame. Same with t-flapping. (And vocal fry.)
>>
>>     Wikipedia gives me a nice list of triggerable attributes of 
>> language: metathesis, elision, epenthesis, flapping, assimilation, 
>> dissimilation, etc. My request, here, is for examples from anyone 
>> that rankle you or that you've overcome. Presumably, the more aware I 
>> am with others' struggles with such, the less I'll be triggered by my 
>> own.
>>
>
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