# American pronuncation of "Bury" - Why did Pres. Obama pronounce it as "Burr-y"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 6, 2016, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-pronuncation-of-bury-why-did-pres-obama-pronounce-it-as-burr-y/742280 "2016-01-06T00:37:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Cabbage](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f07891/32.png) [@Cabbage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cabbage)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2016, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-pronuncation-of-bury-why-did-pres-obama-pronounce-it-as-burr-y/742280/21 "2016-01-06T12:34:25Z")
This is simply how Kenyans pronounce the word. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2016, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-pronuncation-of-bury-why-did-pres-obama-pronounce-it-as-burr-y/742280/22 "2016-01-06T12:36:31Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > “Barry” uses a flat A sound, like in “cat”. So does “berry”, for me and a lot of others. [I’ll link to this Wikipedia page, which explains a number of mergers.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English-language_vowel_changes_before_historic_/r/) The one we’re talking about is the “Mary–marry–merry merger”, which my dialect has, which means I pronounce all three of those words the same way. The article has audio files, so we won’t need to use the nasty precise notation actual linguists use to discuss phonology, which has been a bone of contention here in the past. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2016, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-pronuncation-of-bury-why-did-pres-obama-pronounce-it-as-burr-y/742280/23 "2016-01-06T12:42:27Z")
His English vowels are influenced by his native Arabic. ---
**Author:** ![campp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@campp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/campp)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2016, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-pronuncation-of-bury-why-did-pres-obama-pronounce-it-as-burr-y/742280/24 "2016-01-06T12:53:48Z")
John Wayne pronounces it “burry”. My cite is True Grit. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2016, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-pronuncation-of-bury-why-did-pres-obama-pronounce-it-as-burr-y/742280/25 "2016-01-06T14:10:24Z")
From Philadelphia. (I wish all the posters on this thread had identified their origins.) For me, “bury” and “berry” are indeed homophonous, but “burr-y” describes them both. As for “Mary”, “marry”, “merry”, all three are distinct, but the last is the same as “Murray” and sounds like “murr-y”. This has got to be the most variable sound in English. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2016, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-pronuncation-of-bury-why-did-pres-obama-pronounce-it-as-burr-y/742280/26 "2016-01-06T14:16:58Z")
> [@Ambivalid](#): > > I still don’t see how “Barry” is pronounced any different than “Berry”. My dialect merges the two vowels into the same sound, and I bet yours does too, but the difference in dialects that don’t have the Mary-marry-merry merger is between an /ae/ and /e/ sound as the vowel in the first syllable. Note the spelling difference and two different written vowels. ---
**Author:** ![Pai325](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Pai325](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pai325)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2016, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-pronuncation-of-bury-why-did-pres-obama-pronounce-it-as-burr-y/742280/27 "2016-01-06T15:30:29Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > It’s most often “burr-y” in Chicago. He wasn’t born and raised here, but he spent enough time here that his dialect is pretty Chicago. It’s perfectly normal to me, although I’m also familiar with “barry”. I just don’t use it. Burr-y 'em at their burr-ial. I’m from Chicago and so is my husband. Neither of us have ever heard the burry pronunciation, so I’m curious. What part of the city are you from? ---
**Author:** ![CC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f1d935/32.png) [@CC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CC)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2016, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-pronuncation-of-bury-why-did-pres-obama-pronounce-it-as-burr-y/742280/28 "2016-01-06T15:41:29Z")
Am I the only one who feels something hinky about the prominent mention of the term,\* American,\* in the OP? Maybe **Cabbage** did, too. ---
**Author:** ![DrCube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a3d4f5/32.png) [@DrCube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrCube)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2016, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-pronuncation-of-bury-why-did-pres-obama-pronounce-it-as-burr-y/742280/29 "2016-01-06T15:48:21Z")
In my experience this is a dialect difference between black and white people. In general, black people say “burry” and white people say “berry”. See also Ambalance/Ambyulance (for “ambulance”), Ant/Awnt (for “aunt”), etc. I could be mistaken and this is an urban/suburban issue, rather than racial. I hear it mostly from rap songs guys I know from the city. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2016, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-pronuncation-of-bury-why-did-pres-obama-pronounce-it-as-burr-y/742280/30 "2016-01-06T16:29:50Z")
> [@DrCube](#): > > In my experience this is a dialect difference between black and white people. In general, black people say “burry” and white people say “berry”. See also Ambalance/Ambyulance (for “ambulance”), Ant/Awnt (for “aunt”), etc. > > I could be mistaken and this is an urban/suburban issue, rather than racial. I hear it mostly from rap songs guys I know from the city. Awnt was the standard pronunciation in New England. My Connecticut wife grew up saying it. It’s a regionalism, not black/white or urban/suburban. I’m pretty sure that ambalance/ambyulance is also regional. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2016, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-pronuncation-of-bury-why-did-pres-obama-pronounce-it-as-burr-y/742280/31 "2016-01-06T16:55:37Z")
> [@Ambivalid](#): > > I still don’t see how “Barry” is pronounced any different than “Berry”. I bet you pronounce “marry,” “merry” and “Mary” the same, too. Right? ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2016, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-pronuncation-of-bury-why-did-pres-obama-pronounce-it-as-burr-y/742280/32 "2016-01-06T17:42:22Z")
> [@Pai325](#): > > I’m from Chicago and so is my husband. Neither of us have ever heard the burry pronunciation, so I’m curious. What part of the city are you from? Born and raised in Tinley Park (a suburb, not Chicago proper, for those who aren’t local) to parents from Mount Greenwood and…I don’t know the name of Dad’s neighborhood. That part southeast of Roseland that’s almost Indiana. I’ve lived on the North Side (first Rogers Park, now Irving Park) for, holy cats, 16 years now. I do spend a lot of time talking with Black people living on the South Side, though, so that may influence things. ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2016, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-pronuncation-of-bury-why-did-pres-obama-pronounce-it-as-burr-y/742280/33 "2016-01-06T17:58:52Z")
I have heard “bury” pronounced by Americans in at least three ways. Trying to use words/vowels that will be good examples for most all American English speakers: 1. First vowel as the vowel in b **e** t, wr **e** ck, l **e** d. 2. First vowel as the r-colored vowel in b **ir** d, c **ur** t, v **er** b. 3. First vowel as the vowel in b **u** ck, m **u** d, n **u** t. My own pronunciation is the first, as I hail from the New Orleans metro area. We also do _cot/caught_ as separate pronunciations, and merge _Mary/merry_ with _marry_ being separate. ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2016, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-pronuncation-of-bury-why-did-pres-obama-pronounce-it-as-burr-y/742280/34 "2016-01-06T18:30:56Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > I bet you pronounce “marry,” “merry” and “Mary” the same, too. Right? Uh…yes I do? ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2016, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-pronuncation-of-bury-why-did-pres-obama-pronounce-it-as-burr-y/742280/35 "2016-01-06T18:43:01Z")
> [@Ambivalid](#): > > Uh…yes I do? Then you are part of the aforementioned Mary-marry-merry merger. [Here’s a map](http://www4.uwm.edu/FLL/linguistics/dialect/staticmaps/q_15.html). Approximately 55% of people in that survey did pronounce them all the same. Meaning, of course, that 45% of folks did not (some pronouncing all three differently, some with two of the three different.) ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2016, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-pronuncation-of-bury-why-did-pres-obama-pronounce-it-as-burr-y/742280/36 "2016-01-06T18:50:53Z")
[This thread has some recordings of dopers saying some of the more common merger word pairs.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=445112) ---
**Author:** ![Pai325](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Pai325](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pai325)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2016, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-pronuncation-of-bury-why-did-pres-obama-pronounce-it-as-burr-y/742280/37 "2016-01-06T20:32:27Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > Born and raised in Tinley Park (a suburb, not Chicago proper, for those who aren’t local) to parents from Mount Greenwood and…I don’t know the name of Dad’s neighborhood. That part southeast of Roseland that’s almost Indiana. > > I’ve lived on the North Side (first Rogers Park, now Irving Park) for, holy cats, 16 years now. I do spend a lot of time talking with Black people living on the South Side, though, so that may influence things. It might. My mother’s family was from Elmhurst and the Austin HS area, my dad’s from the northern suburbs, and my husband the southwest side - Marquette Park area. It’s a big city and with people from all over, there are a lot of different pronumciations, aren’t there? ---
**Author:** ![Geek\_Mecha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecae2f/32.png) [@Geek\_Mecha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Geek_Mecha)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2016, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-pronuncation-of-bury-why-did-pres-obama-pronounce-it-as-burr-y/742280/38 "2016-01-06T21:08:15Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > American English, as spoken in Hawaii, has a lot of local variation that puts it somewhat distinct from mainland English pronunciation. Is it possible that he’s bringing some of his Hawaiian dialect into his speech? No. In Hawaii, \*bury \*would be a homonym with _berry_, in both standard and pidgin English. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2016, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-pronuncation-of-bury-why-did-pres-obama-pronounce-it-as-burr-y/742280/39 "2016-01-07T05:11:05Z")
I pronounce Mary, merry and marry all differently from one another, but do merge berry and bury (with an eh sound). Barry rhymes with marry (like cat). And Mary - Carey Merry - Kerry Marry - Carrie ---
**Author:** ![upend](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/b3f665/32.png) [@upend](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/upend)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2016, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-pronuncation-of-bury-why-did-pres-obama-pronounce-it-as-burr-y/742280/40 "2016-01-07T13:34:23Z")
if you’re from the North of England, you pronounce it thusly. (Bury is a Town in Greater Manchester). [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/z7Fu0tBOd4c/hqdefault.jpg "The Fall- Bury Pts. 1 + 3") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7Fu0tBOd4c) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-pronuncation-of-bury-why-did-pres-obama-pronounce-it-as-burr-y/742280.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-pronuncation-of-bury-why-did-pres-obama-pronounce-it-as-burr-y/742280.md?page=3)