K-Squared Ramblings

The Origin of “Nukular”

After a great deal of painstaking research^[1], I have uncovered the true^[2] origins of the “nucular” pronunciation of the word nuclear.

Nukular turns out to be an abbreviation of “Nuke-you-la’r,” a traditional Texan leave-taking^[3]. The phrase is a contraction of “Nuke you later,” and refers to the intense heat of a Texas barbecue grill. Essentially, one is saying that the other person is always welcome at a barbecue.

The word appears to have become conflated with nuclear due to their similarity, much as many people confuse affect and effect, or use infer when they obviously mean imply^[4].

Nukular in its original sense has fallen out of use except in some rural parts of Texas, and most speakers are no longer aware of the saying.

—

1. In other words, 30 seconds of making stuff up.
2. No, not really.
3. Or greeting. It’s kind of like aloha in Hawaiian: it can be used for both hello and goodbye.
4. This isn’t hand grenades, after all.

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