The Pronunciation Thread

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I say all the merry and kerry things the same.
(haha, yeah, I kind of unintentionally elongated the a in pasta, I think. Also: I think I now have to do a podcast b/c I found that way too fun.)

― rrrobyn (rrrobyn), Monday, 6 February 2006 23:51 (eighteen years ago) link

carry, Carey (as in Jim)

Er...Jim Carrey is Carrey, not Carey, and it's pronounced carry.

― JimD (JimD), Monday, 6 February 2006 23:55 (eighteen years ago) link

Pasta/Vase/Fillet/Filet/Foyer in Britain

― Alba (Alba), Monday, 6 February 2006 23:58 (eighteen years ago) link

I interrupted someone in conversation the other night after I heard her say something was "harrible" and I said, "Wait, where are you from?" She said, "Ann Arbor." I was like, "That's what I thought." She explained that she had lived in New York for a while.

― jaymc (jaymc), Monday, 6 February 2006 23:58 (eighteen years ago) link

Re: kerry, merry, etc.

Isn't this kind of weird? I only picked up when I worked with some Americans a few years ago. Presumably, Americans differentiate between 'bag' and 'beg', and 'bad' and 'bed', and 'man' and 'men' etc., but once you add 'rry' to an 'a' or an 'e' they end up sounding the same.

― Tehrannosaurus HoBB (the pirate king), Monday, 6 February 2006 23:58 (eighteen years ago) link

(What did you use to record that, Robyn? I want to do a Podcast, too.)

― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 7 February 2006 00:00 (eighteen years ago) link

Bwahahahah. Nick, Robyn can correct me here, but Canadians I have known say "drama" to rhyme with "grandma" (heard among "the kidz" while I was in MI at Christmas: "save the drama for your gramma" -- as opposed to the other prounuciation, which would have to be "save the drama for your mama"). The difficulty here is that you probably pronounce BOTH words with the drawn-out "a" so I don't know what another good illustration word would be. Grand? Drab? The way an American would say them, if you can imagine.

― Laurel (Laurel), Tuesday, 7 February 2006 00:03 (eighteen years ago) link

I used to think Jim Carrey's surname was pronounced Carrey, but recently whenever I've heard anyone talking about him it's always been pronounced Carey. Possibly because that's how it's pronounced in America?

Drandma?

― ailsa (ailsa), Tuesday, 7 February 2006 00:04 (eighteen years ago) link

Er...Jim Carrey is Carrey, not Carey, and it's pronounced carry.

As opposed to what (seeing as the whole of America just told me that marry/merry/Mary sound identical in Teh USA)?

― Tehrannosaurus HoBB (the pirate king), Tuesday, 7 February 2006 00:04 (eighteen years ago) link

that was cute, Alba. Everyone should do one.
I used my ir1ver IFP-790 mp3 player - it has a voice recording function! Then I plugged it into my computator, uploaded it, and changed it into mp3 using the ir1ver program thingy. Simple!

― rrrobyn (rrrobyn), Tuesday, 7 February 2006 00:06 (eighteen years ago) link

We don't say graarndma, that would be ridiculous.

The funniest pronunciation story I heard lately was that the much-mocked "Coe-lin Powell" thing is all a misunderstanding that can be traced back to George Bush Snr's incompetence.

― Alba (Alba), Tuesday, 7 February 2006 00:08 (eighteen years ago) link

I thought it was pronounced Carey (as in rhymes with Mary, as in the way Mary is pronounced here if that's different to how Americans pronounce it).

― ailsa (ailsa), Tuesday, 7 February 2006 00:09 (eighteen years ago) link

One important point that Alba's mp3 raises! Is Thea's name pronounced Thee-a or Thay-a? (Soft th I should expect, but it's the vowel sound that's contentious here!)

― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 7 February 2006 00:09 (eighteen years ago) link

As opposed to what?

Well, I'm not american, I talk proper(*), so carrey rhymes with marry and carey would rhyme with hairy.

recently whenever I've heard anyone talking about him it's always been pronounced Carey

Really? Hmm, maybe I'm wrong then, I'm not sure now.

(*) I don't really, I'm from manchester. :-)

― JimD (JimD), Tuesday, 7 February 2006 00:09 (eighteen years ago) link

lady bracknell says graarndma -- except that she actually says graarndmamma

― mark s (mark s), Tuesday, 7 February 2006 00:09 (eighteen years ago) link

Well, I'm not american, I talk proper(*), so carrey rhymes with marry and carey would rhyme with hairy.

Wtf, these are all pronounced the same. We need more sound clips.

― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 7 February 2006 00:10 (eighteen years ago) link

See, Americans can make jokes about 'Hairy Potter' and 'Mary Christmas' that don't make any sense here. There's a whole world of fun we're missing out on.

― Tehrannosaurus HoBB (the pirate king), Tuesday, 7 February 2006 00:12 (eighteen years ago) link

(Markelby to thread about pasta, obviously)

Please no.

-- jaymc (jmcunnin...), February 6th, 2006 11:02 PM. (jaymc) (later)

Oi.

― Markelby (Mark C), Tuesday, 7 February 2006 00:12 (eighteen years ago) link

Thea is Thee-a over here, not Thay-a. Lady Bracknell may demur, but she's full of it.

― Alba (Alba), Tuesday, 7 February 2006 00:12 (eighteen years ago) link

Your best friend Harry has a brother Larry
In five days from now he's gonna marry
He's hopin' you can make it there if you can
'Cause in the ceremony you'll be the best man

― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 7 February 2006 00:14 (eighteen years ago) link

The alternative begins, I think, like Carr's water crackers. Or "car" or "bar" without the extra letters on. Which might work for a surname like Carrey, but surely not for the word "marry"!! You say "mah-ry" as in, "willie, dear, don't mar the door"??

― Laurel (Laurel), Tuesday, 7 February 2006 00:14 (eighteen years ago) link

She's theatrical! Thea-Trical DO YOU SEE.

Thea wd be Thay-a if she had Greek relatives.

― mark s (mark s), Tuesday, 7 February 2006 00:15 (eighteen years ago) link

We need more sound clips

Ha, I'm too embarrassed to sit talking into my computer, my flatmates will hear me and think I'm mental.

Oh, and while I'm here, can somebody tell me how to pronounce Faure (the composer)? I think knew, once, and I seem to remember it sounding like it had a 'v' in there or something. But I've forgotten and now it confuses me.

― JimD (JimD), Tuesday, 7 February 2006 00:16 (eighteen years ago) link

Thea wd be Thay-a if she had Greek relatives.

Yeah, I'm realizing that the Thea I know is of Greek extraction, so maybe that's why she pronounces it as such, but it never occurred to me that other pronunciations were viable.

― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 7 February 2006 00:18 (eighteen years ago) link

carr = car = cah (or caah if ur v.languid and effete) (a scot wd roll the double r) (or triple in rrrobyn's case)

carey = like care-ee (same as in america)

but carry = like cat-tree but w/o any ts in it
(lady bracknell also pronounces carry and kerry the same, like kedgeree w/o the dge)

― mark s (mark s), Tuesday, 7 February 2006 00:19 (eighteen years ago) link

Fauré = foray defrenchified -- there's a buncha frnech names like lefebvre and lefebre and lefebure which are all pron. much the same in french, maybe that's what yr thinkin of (except that has a 'v' written but NOT said, so maybe not)

― mark s (mark s), Tuesday, 7 February 2006 00:21 (eighteen years ago) link

bah cat-tree won't work for jaymc cz americans say cat and ket so nearly the same

english carry really IS more like curry than carey

― mark s (mark s), Tuesday, 7 February 2006 00:23 (eighteen years ago) link

My impression is that it's tall in the mouth, if that makes any sense. As opposed to the Michigander way, which is wide and thin in the mouth. Does that make any sense?

― Laurel (Laurel), Tuesday, 7 February 2006 00:26 (eighteen years ago) link

ah, yes. It's great when Americans ask for directions to Rene Levesque street. No, really, it's great.
xpost

yes, more voice clips, no matter the mental label.
Last one from me, I can't help it.

― rrrobyn (rrrobyn), Tuesday, 7 February 2006 00:27 (eighteen years ago) link

http://media.putfile.com/marry-Mary-merry

Click above for a 4-second mp3 of "marry...Mary...merry" (with unintentional delay effect).

― Tehrannosaurus HoBB (the pirate king), Tuesday, 7 February 2006 00:27 (eighteen years ago) link

That was just weird!

― rrrobyn (rrrobyn), Tuesday, 7 February 2006 00:28 (eighteen years ago) link

mr hobb is currently working as a companion in the tardis (pr.tah-dis)

― mark s (mark s), Tuesday, 7 February 2006 00:29 (eighteen years ago) link

The "pawdcast"?

― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 7 February 2006 00:33 (eighteen years ago) link

the carry/curry thing only works in the south of england also :(

― mark s (mark s), Tuesday, 7 February 2006 00:33 (eighteen years ago) link

haha, apparently so. West coast vowel drawl? I'm told so anyway.
xpost

― rrrobyn (rrrobyn), Tuesday, 7 February 2006 00:35 (eighteen years ago) link

I've heard your voice before, obv., but now I am just going to be nit-picky.

― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 7 February 2006 00:37 (eighteen years ago) link

EXACTLY. Time for you to put your voice on the internet, my friend, see how the scrutiny feels! (haha, obv I don't mind all that much anyway.)

― rrrobyn (rrrobyn), Tuesday, 7 February 2006 00:38 (eighteen years ago) link

dr ian paisley prounces that "nut-pucky"

― mark s (mark s), Tuesday, 7 February 2006 00:39 (eighteen years ago) link

unless yr in the north of england

― mark s (mark s), Tuesday, 7 February 2006 00:47 (eighteen years ago) link

Ok- I should have been more clear...I was poking fun at my sister and questioning her pronunciation, not trying to tell anybody how things are pronounced. I'm just a dumb Canuck but sis' re-born posh accent is too tempting not to tease. Thanks to Alba for the clarification. Dunno where she got this VAYSE thing from as I say VAHZ myself!

Yerz (as they say in LA),

Thea-trickle
(a nickname from when I was a child. xpost to mark s)

― Thea (Thea), Tuesday, 7 February 2006 02:00 (eighteen years ago) link

bruschetta?

ch = k sound, no? why does everyone prounounce it like it's german?

― Elliot (Elliot), Tuesday, 7 February 2006 02:09 (eighteen years ago) link

'cause they're thinking "Schmidt", the dumb Angles! I mean Saxons

― Thea (Thea), Tuesday, 7 February 2006 02:11 (eighteen years ago) link

Thea, you haven't cleared up how you pronounce your name!

― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 7 February 2006 05:51 (eighteen years ago) link

Dunno where she got this VAYSE thing

I have heard people say VAYSE (or more, VAYZE, really) but not British people. Some Americans, I thought.

― Alba (Alba), Tuesday, 7 February 2006 07:55 (eighteen years ago) link

Like me, Nick -- I say "vayse"! Also, ant/aunt sound the same in my book. And Robyn, I can't say the d in grandma, either.

― Laurel (Laurel), Tuesday, 7 February 2006 17:54 (eighteen years ago) link

"Thea, you haven't cleared up how you pronounce your name!"

I'm "Thea" in a non-Greek-sounding way, jay. Rhymes with "see ya!"

― Thea (Thea), Tuesday, 7 February 2006 19:11 (eighteen years ago) link

Ah, see, that's weird to me. But the only Thea I've ever known in real life is definitely of Greek extraction, so that's what I'm used to.

― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 7 February 2006 19:12 (eighteen years ago) link

four months pass...

i'm having the 'scone' conversation at work.

i had always thought 'scoan' was a northern thing but apparently not.

― Roughage Crew (Enrique), Thursday, 22 June 2006 09:18 (seventeen years ago) link

I say skon

how do people say "vista"?

― RJG (RJG), Thursday, 22 June 2006 09:49 (seventeen years ago) link

er, 'vista'. how else can it be pronounced?

― Roughage Crew (Enrique), Thursday, 22 June 2006 09:51 (seventeen years ago) link

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