Look, I’m eternally grateful that George Bush won instead of Al Gore, though I didn’t vote for him (of course, I didn’t vote for Gore either…). And I’ve always thought that picking on his elocution by the likes of Jay Leno and Saturday Night Live was silly, counterproductive, and not all that funny (the media apparently misunderestimated his strategery). And even I, as loquacious as I am, occasionally make a verbal misstep.

But can someone, anyone (Mary? Karl? Karen? Condi? Laura?) please teach him that it’s pronounced “noo-klee-ur” and not “noo-ku-lar,” and make him practice for a few minutes a day until he can get it consistently right, particularly when standing next to the President of Russia? It’s driving me right up the wall.

[Update]

A reader correctly points out that “Jimmy Carter couldn’t pronounce it either, and he was a nuclear engineer.”

This is true–I remember that. But maybe he wasn’t–maybe he was a nucular engineer. Is it some kind of southern thang?

Truly, as I said, I’m ecstatic that Bush is President instead of Gore or Clinton, and this is not a slam at his intelligence (he at least graduated from graduate school). I just wish that he could get this one right, since it’s a very common word lately.