chaise longue and nuclear (new-kew-lar as our you-know-who says it)

[Marti L.]

> > montims:
> > while we're ranting...
> > How on earth did "chaise longue" become "chaise lounge" in 
> > America?

> > At first, I thought it was just a common seller's spelling 
> > error, like the greengrocer's apostrophe, but I've heard it 
> > pronounced as lounge in tv programmes and furniture commercials. 
> > It doesn't even make sense that way...


Chaise longue is French for long chair.   See:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaise_longue
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaise_longue>

where it says that chaise lounge is used in the furniture business 
and it's in dictionaries.  Americans think of their long beach chairs 
as lounge chairs. This usage doesn't bother me.

However, GWB's "new-kew-lar" makes my skin crawl. Say it once, 
OK, but don't keep making the same error over and over again, 
Mr. President. A few presidents have said it that way, but it 
was a slip and they didn't consistently make the same mistake. 
Why make an easy-to-pronounce word difficult with such a manner 
of speaking?

Marti