Attended a friend’s wedding last weekend, held at the Quail Botanical Gardens in Encinitas (north of San Diego).
One constant feature of botanical gardens the world over is the collection of placards identifying each type of tree, shrub, or other plant. In the walled garden where the ceremony was held, they took it a step further:
The only problem is, you can’t be absolutely certain of where the home is and what direction it’s going at the same time.
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.
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Spotted on a school marquee:
Gee, I hope none of them ever runs for office. Some opposing PAC group will dig this up as evidence of constant flip-flopping!
I forget where we found this—I think it might have been Linens and Things. Katie (shown here with the pillow) took one look at it and said, “Made of genuine Muppet hide!” It reminded her of a certain sketch from The State.
The name of this restaurant reminds me of two things:
I really liked the last two Five For Fighting albums, America Town and The Battle for Everything. “Superman” was quite possibly the only song I’ve heard that made me run out and buy an album without checking other songs first. So I was eagerly awaiting “Two Lights.”
Unfortunately, after listening through twice, I only actually like two songs on the album: “California Justice” and “Policeman’s Xmas Party.” Everything else is just too…sappy.
And “The Riddle” is everywhere. Radio, supermarkets, fast food, shopping malls. I can’t escape it. Worse, it’s one of those tunes that worms its way into your mind and runs around in circles.
But here’s the odd thing: Does anyone else think the verse sounds a little bit like “Weird Al” Yankovic’s “The Night Santa Went Crazy?”
