Prescriptivism, descriptivism, piss-against-the-wallitism...
Dubya sounds like a dunce saying nukyooler.
I had a principal long ago who always said, "pacific" instead of "specific." He was a really sweet guy--and we teachers used to chuckle everytime he said "pacific" meaning "specific." I doubt any of us would have corrected him because of the big fish/small pond environment. Besides, we liked him.
But with Dubya it's different. Very big fish; very big pond...memories of someone out there having misspelled the very basic potato.
And it ain't a big deal to learn how to pronounce nuclear. Hasn't each of us here thought some word somewhere was pronounced a certain way only to learn later we were incorrect? And was it a big deal to plug in the correct pronunication? No. No big deal. But everytime Dubya gets in front of a TV camera, he's reaching a huge audience--and his nukyooler falls upon the ears of either wincing know-better's or innocents who might imitate him. If he doesn't care about refining his use of the language, then he sets no example. He shows that sloppiness is tolerable, he shows that there is no need to be curious about the progression of the language, he shows that there is no need to improve one's command of the language, and he makes me (a guppy in a shot glass) just plain mad.
