Well...I think this is just a regional thing. I say "peninshula." And I have a PhD and a JD and know enough to know that Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld are Satan's trinity. So I actually think this is not at all worth posting. Now, if you want to talk about some terrible mistakes Bush has made there's a whole book to be written...

Haha!

What's the big deal? That's the way we say it in Australia. Perhaps he's been spending too much time with our Prime Minister. ;)

shibboleth

Hi there, yeah fellow Aussie here.

English and Australian people pronounce it that way and so in my mind Jimmy was the one who was mispronouncing it.

It's similar to the American nangling of the word Aluminium which they pronounce Aloominum and the rest or the world pronounces as Aluminium.

By the way I hate Bush and his whole ratfuck administration, just had to get that in.

That's not a 'Bushism'. That's just another (perfectly valid) way of pronouncing that word.

that is a legitimate way of pronouncing the word:

pen‧in‧su‧la  /pəˈnɪnsələ, -ˈnɪnsyələ/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[puh-nin-suh-luh, puh-nins-yuh-luh] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation –noun 1. an area of land almost completely surrounded by water except for an isthmus connecting it with the mainland. 2. the Peninsula, a. Spain and Portugal together; Iberian Peninsula; Iberia. b. a district in SE Virginia between the York and James rivers: Civil War battles. [Origin: 1530–40; < L paenīnsula, equiv. to paen- pen- + īnsula island]

There ya go again! Was is it you who said something like, "criticize the policy not the person." Lay off the cheap shots - there are more important things to focus on.

Do Americans pronounce it differently? In Denmark we've been tought to pronounce it like they say it in the clip anyway.

What other pronunciation is there? I ask this as someone who taught English as a second language for more than a decade. I really am just curious.

Sorry, guys - that's a valid pronunciation of the word.

http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/peninsula

I say "peninshula" as well. I don't know that it's a regional thing, though. I'm from the South and Bush is from Connecticut.

The word has no h. I believe most speakers of the english language pronounce it without the h, and if they don't they should. :)

Norm, you "believe"?? Don't put a smiley face, just admit it was a bad post and move on. :)

"Norm, you "believe"??" It's not faith based.

"What other pronunciation is there?"

Um, the host says it the other way near the start of the clip. (The way I am use to)

Yes thats not how you say it you idiots (not directed to foreigners.) hes saying peninchula thats not a word.

I am against attacks on superficial traits. My grandfather and grandmother, former southerners, talk like Bush and I have known a lot of other southerners that speak in a way similar to him. Maybe all prospective Democratic party candidates need to spend some time, a few years in the South learning the accent, drawl, and other things vocally Southern so they don't come off so scary to 'southern' or country bumpkin type voters, whatever that means, I do mean it kindly, just not sure how to say it less offensively.

The sh sound is a perfectly valid pronunciation of peninsula. /su/ can have an /h/ in it. Bush and his policies make me livid, but I can't believe this is what we're talking about. All you wordinistas keep on him, but I'll keep my penins(h)ula and my s(h)ugar.

Geez Norm, On a day when a "scientifically extremely strong paper" (http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB116052896787288831-zIkhR7ZgGRS2Bz9LXSKJsg43vQ20071010.html?mod=blogs) documents that G W Bush's Iraq war has led to the deaths of somewhere between 420,000 and 800,000 Iraqis (the >95% confidence interval), you are posting something about an ambiguous pronunciation of "peninsula"?

Let's focus on what's important: our president's arrogance, ignorance, lies, and incompetence have finally netted him his only success in life beyond his dubious electoral victories: Dubya has bested the ruthless killer Saddam Hussein for his ability to get Iraqis killed. Quite an achievement from a man who has been a failure at every other thing he's done.

As much as I hate to ever be possibly mistaken for defending Bush, I have to agree with the general sentiment: this is just picking on his accent. It's like the Cletus character on the Simpsons.

One of the reasons there is such a disconnect between red/blue states is the absolute merciless way that self-proclaimed liberals - particularly East Coast liberals - deride and mock anything from the South. Just because someone has a Southern accent does not mean that they are stupid. So why don't y'all just fuggedaboudit.

Stop it with the gross dishonesty. I am an American, born and raised - and only the most uneducated of Americans use that pronunciation - that's a FACT. Every Educated American knows this - which is why the clip is here - and why it is newsworthy.

Bush is an idiot.

It seems that today there are many wingnuts in here trying to spread disinformation - AGAIN.

"Stop it with the gross dishonesty. I am an American, born and raised - and only the most uneducated of Americans use that pronunciation."

Thank you for proving my point. I'm sure my philosophy and ethics professor - born and raised in Georgia and with one of the deepest Southern accents I've ever heard - would object to your ignorant assertion.

But please, do us all a favor and diagram for us how education changes your accent. I'm extremely anxious to see that.

The first one was not too bad in my foreign ears, but the second try was like "penitshula", which sounded quite weird. But I'm not a native speaker so it could be just me :)

Kiwi, Bush's version sounded ok to me.

I'm also from aotearoa (nz) and that is how I pronounce the word.

Norm, when a dictionary says the pronunciation is correct but you still say it is not, that does sound like a faith-based opinion.

love the site, btw

What I said was I believe most speakers of the english language pronounce it without the h, and if they don't they should. http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/peninsula

shows without the h as the first pronunciation which would indicate that it is the most common which is what I said.

It is definitely not faith based other than that Merriam Webster is a reliable authority on such matters in the United States.

Well then, I guess I should either move to Aussieland or admit I'm an idiot.

Growing up in the South, I never heard any other pronunciation, even from highly educated people. I'm pretty sure Bush picked up "peninshula" at the same time his handlers coached him to say "nukular."

These things can be deceptive, but as I examine the difference phonetically, I imagine the "sh" variant is a slightly degenerate instance of the same well-established variant found in the word "news," which is either "nooz" or "nyooz" depending largely on where you grew up. Saying "peninsyula" quickly degenerates to "peninshula."

As a side note, before you go to the M-W online dictionary to rationalize a particular pronunciation as valid, do please take note that it lists "nukyular" as a pronunciation for "nuclear."

Please-- Merriam Webster lists pronunciations from most common to least common. That doesn't mean one is more correct than the other. "Independent" was right on this point: it's this kind of snobbery that makes it difficult to reach out to people on issues that really matter such as war, education, health care, wages, etc. Bash Bush for a myriad of reasons, but not this. Because when you bash him for this, you're bashing us as well.

"It's similar to the American nangling of the word Aluminium which they pronounce Aloominum and the rest or the world pronounces as Aluminium."

This isn't an American nangling of the word. The word simply started out as Aluminum but was changed in Britain to the current form Aluminium to keep the naming scheme the same as the other elements. The Americans just refused to go with the update. Like soccer...

Yeah I meant to say "mangling" but hadn't noticed that I'd mistyped the bloody thing.

Also thanks for pointing out that it isn't actually a mangling but rather a luddite attitude such as that displayed by the unwillingness to convert from Imperial to Metric.

you say puh-nin-suh-luh, i say puh-nins-yuh-luh, let's call the whole thing off.