nuke
Explanation
The Joke
A character corrects someone's pronunciation, insisting that "nuclear" should be pronounced "nuclear" (presumably correcting the common mispronunciation "nucular"). The other character is told to "look in an etymological dictionary" — the word comes from "nucleus," from the Latin "nuculeus," from the diminutive form of "nux," meaning "nut." The point being that the correct pronunciation follows directly from the word's Latin roots.
The character being lectured responds that "you people have been pronouncing it wrong for 500 years!" — suggesting that the "correct" pronunciation has actually been the minority usage for centuries.
The final panels show someone gleefully shouting "NUUUU CUUUU LARRRRRRRR!" while others look on in dismay, with a character noting "They know. They know!" — implying that the mispronuncers are fully aware of the "correct" pronunciation and are choosing to say it wrong anyway, perhaps out of spite.
The Humor
The joke plays on one of the most well-known pronunciation debates in English. The word "nuclear" is famously mispronounced as "nucular" by many people, including several U.S. presidents (most notably George W. Bush and Dwight Eisenhower). Linguists and pedants have been correcting this pronunciation for decades, and the comic dramatizes this conflict as an escalating war.
The humor comes from the reversal of the usual dynamic. Typically, the pronunciation pedant is presented as the reasonable one and the "nucular" sayer as ignorant. Here, the comic suggests that the mispronuncers may actually have historical momentum on their side — they have been saying it "wrong" for centuries and they know it drives people crazy, which only makes them do it more. The gleeful, exaggerated "NUUUU CUUUU LARRRRRRRR" suggests not ignorance but deliberate provocation.
The final "They know. They know!" is the comedic peak — the horrified realization that the mispronunciation is not an error to be corrected but a conscious choice, perhaps even an act of linguistic rebellion. This transforms the pronunciation pedant from a helpful educator into a powerless observer of deliberate chaos.
Context
The "nuclear" vs. "nucular" pronunciation debate is a perennial topic in English usage discussions. The word derives from Latin "nucleus" (kernel), which itself comes from "nucula," the diminutive of "nux" (nut). The "nucular" pronunciation likely arises from a common English phonological process called metathesis, where sounds are reordered. Linguist Steven Pinker has noted that this mispronunciation follows a natural pattern in English (similar to how "comfortable" often becomes "comfterble"). Despite its logical linguistic origins, "nucular" remains stigmatized, and correcting it remains a favorite pastime of language prescriptivists.