Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[missdaredevil]

A *pre-emptive* Amercian strike is to acquire nuclear weapons themselves.

The closest thing I could find is *law purchase: the act or process of purchasing something ( formal ) *.
Is that a new word?

[helen1]

Hmmm

I believe pre-emptive strike means attacking someone you think is a threat (i.e. will attack you), before they attack you

here however it seems the writer is referring to the 'threat' of owning nuclear weapons as being the pre-emptive strike.

Anyone got a different view?

[bud]

Yes, except the perceived threat is not necessarily limited to the acquistion of nuclear (or "newkyuler" to Bush) weapons by another country. The American acquisition of nuclear weapons is a pre-emptive strike against any threat by a non-nuclear nation.

[obelix]

And not just Bush - it seems to me that half the English-speaking world calls it newkyuler nowadays..

[missdaredevil]

[bud]

Yeah, I think you're right, Obelix... I was listening to a linguist on the radio some months back and, believe it or not, she stated that there is nothing wrong with that pronunciation. Her reason was that if it is widespread in some region, then it can be considered dialect. Same thing with y'all that many of our Southerners in the US say.

Missdaredevil - Do you mean explain newkyuler? It's a phonetic spelling, not a real spelling. It was an attempt to sound out the way many people pronounce the word.

For nuclear, some people say: NEW-clee-er (Capitalized syllable is stressed)
Others say: NEWK-you-ler (Many who say it the first way are annoyed to hear it the second way, as they believe it is incorrect.)

[missdaredevil]

Thanks for letting me know

[bud]

Happy to help.