How do pronounce wheelbarrow?

[Crafter_Man]

I have always pronounced it "wheel barrel." I never knew it was spelled wheelbarrow.

Now I feel like an idiot.

[Hari Seldon]

Originally Posted by An Arky

Whee-ul Barrah. Cuz I tawk lock iyuss.

Me too, but what is "lock iyuss"? I tawk Philly.

[JKellyMap]

Originally Posted by Kenm

Desmond is credited with naming it. He had one in the marketplace because he bankrolled Molly who was a singer in a band. He put a big wheel on it to reflect his stature in the biz.

Wow, thank you! Ever since childhood, I pictured Desmond pushing a wheelbarrow around a mah-ketplace. Now I realize that had a stand, a stall, a booth. Apparently, "barrow" survived into '60s British English, long after it had died out in US English (except in a specialized sense among archaeologists).

I wonder if it's used for "market stall" in Jamaica, the supposed locale of Sir Paul's song (he was inspired by a Jamaican friend).

[Peremensoe]

Originally Posted by TriPolar

So you have a little accent affecting the proper pronunciation, which you know, so it's as good as saying wheelbarrow. Anyone who thinks it's actually pronounced wheelborrow, must not get out much, since that's also just some accent.

"Proper pronunciation"? "Actually pronounced"? You must not get out much.

Short of actual consonant substitution based on misunderstanding, per Ruken, there's nothing wrong with any of the versions suggested in the thread.

[TriPolar]

Originally Posted by Peremensoe

"Proper pronunciation"? "Actually pronounced"? You must not get out much.

Short of actual consonant substitution based on misunderstanding, per Ruken, there's nothing wrong with any of the versions suggested in the thread.

What are you talking about? I have no problem with peoples accents. If they borrow or burrow but know it's the word barrow, that's fine with me. It's people who think the word is barrel that seems to strange to me. But I also mentioned that I understand how such a misconception can occur. There are likely to be a lot of words used commonly by people under the age of 20 that I wouldn't know, or how to pronounce.

[JKellyMap]

More on "barrow"...as another poster hinted, before it meant a market stall (still a current meaning in England, apparently), it meant simply the wooden tray or shelf on which produce or wares can be so displayed (or, if fitted with a wheel, moved). That is, something you CARRY -- originally, a basket, as it turns out (Proto-Indo-European "bher-" = "carry", from which we also get "bear" -- not the animal, but the verb -- as well as words from Latin "ferre" and its derivatives -- "transfer", etc.).

[Becky2844]

Originally Posted by Hari Seldon

Me too, but what is "lock iyuss"? I tawk Philly.

Since Arky hasn't replied yet, I believe he means "like 'is (this.)"

[robardin]

The poll choices make no sense to me; if the point of the poll is to determine how people pronounce the "barrow" in "wheelbarrow", why is the first option "barrow/borrow" when the two words are not at all similar? I would never say "wheelbarrel", but "barrel" does sound more similar to "barrow" than "borrow". At least the A sound is the same.

Basically yeah, what they said, "wheelbarrow" rhymes with "narrow" or even better, "steel arrow".

If there is a regional dialect in the US that pronounces "barrow" and "borrow" the same, that's news to me, but I'm interested to find out where. And finding out how they'd pronounce "narrow", "arrow" and "sorrow", "tomorrow". All the same also?

[Quartz]

-barrow, never -borrow, and certainly not -barrel.

[Larry Mudd]

I am disturbed by the ".../borrow" in the poll.

It rhymes with "through streets broad and narrow."