And I repeat... If the mispronouncer doesn't "know better" how long does it take 'til it no longer qualifies as a mispronouciation? [blank stare]Here ya go, moose, er, muse...
If someone lives in a dark hollow up in the mountains and the handful of folks he communicates with understand him, and if he doesn't know it's a mispronunciation and none of
the other folks know its a mispronunciation and use it back...then it beomes a new word. Enlarging on this scenario, it is increasingly difficult in the modern world to coin a change in usage without the bulk of your listeners knowing it's a mispronunciation. So if everybody starts using nucular, not knowing its incorrect, because their leader chooses that usage, then it becomes a word...but the fly in the ointment is, the rest of the English-speaking world would have to fall in line, too. Since most people are NOT going to start using nucular instead of nuclear, and most people, in this case, are going to know nuclear is the correct pronunciation, then Bush is incorrect and the prospects for nucular becoming the new word for nuclear are almost nil. This, of course, would have to apply on a word to word basis...but I don't see this happening on a large scale anymore. With the influence of the mass media the proper option is always evident. Language is just not as vulnerable to the old verbal "pass the message along" aberrations, anymore. So, musick, when does a mispronunciation become a new word in this modern technological culture?...not likely anymore. Although, in the same respect, the rapidity of
new coinage now spreads with lightning-like fury.
