# British people adding R at end of words **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 21, 2009, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-people-adding-r-at-end-of-words/486896 "2009-02-21T22:53:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2009, 7:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-people-adding-r-at-end-of-words/486896/21 "2009-02-22T07:02:17Z")
This is news to me. I thought adding "r"s to the ends of words was more of a New York / New Jersey thing. ---
**Author:** ![Vox\_Imperatoris](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Vox\_Imperatoris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vox_Imperatoris)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2009, 7:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-people-adding-r-at-end-of-words/486896/22 "2009-02-22T07:07:30Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > I have absolutely no idea what the hell any of you are talking about. Can you point to an online example? [Here you go](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g3C7DECI0jU), the video for “Champagne Supernova” mentioned upthread. Valete, Vox Imperatoris ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2009, 7:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-people-adding-r-at-end-of-words/486896/23 "2009-02-22T07:23:55Z")
Oh, okay. It’s all about how the lips are pursed when pronouncing a trailing vowel sound. ---
**Author:** ![Ellef](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8dc957/32.png) [@Ellef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellef)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2009, 8:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-people-adding-r-at-end-of-words/486896/24 "2009-02-22T08:46:18Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > I have absolutely no idea what the hell any of you are talking about. Can you point to an online example? Not an online example, but this might give you the idea - my local radio station is called “Invicta FM”, but all of the presenters pronounce it as “Invicta Reffem”. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2009, 8:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-people-adding-r-at-end-of-words/486896/25 "2009-02-22T08:52:06Z")
I used to find it funny the way Ireland was pronounced “Island” to my ears on the BBC. ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2009, 10:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-people-adding-r-at-end-of-words/486896/26 "2009-02-22T10:17:53Z")
> [@uglybeech](#): > > Same thing in Boston: > > That’s a spectacula idear! That’s not the same thing. The R is only inserted between vowels, so in your example there would be no R on the end. A nice example I remember from a previous thread on this subject is Captain Picard of Star Trek pronouncing “Data and I” as “Datar and I”. To a British speaker, the intervocalic rhoticization (to use the impressive technical term I seem to recall from that earlier thread) simply makes the words easier to say. Otherwise, you need a little stop between “Data” and “and”, as **scifisam2009** has said. ---
**Author:** ![PeskiPiksi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e495f1/32.png) [@PeskiPiksi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PeskiPiksi)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2009, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-people-adding-r-at-end-of-words/486896/27 "2009-02-22T15:35:25Z")
The first time I ever noticed this was when Princess Diana died. I remember thinking “Dianer? Who’s this Dianer person they keep talking about?” ---
**Author:** ![Fake\_Tales\_of\_San\_Francisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8491ac/32.png) [@Fake\_Tales\_of\_San\_Francisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fake_Tales_of_San_Francisco)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2009, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-people-adding-r-at-end-of-words/486896/28 "2009-02-22T15:53:32Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > It’s just normal pronunciation here - it’s not because people are being lazy or sloppy - it’s just the way things are different. Yeah. I’ve just spent a good few minutes frowning at this thread wondering what the hell everybody is talking about. We’re not adding an r at the end of words, it’s just how certain vowel sounds are actually pronounced. Like in the Oasis video linked to in this thread. The ‘r’ sound at the end of Supernova you all seem to be hearing, sounds very much like a lower case ‘a’ to me. Although in my accent it would sound more like an ‘uh’. ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2009, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-people-adding-r-at-end-of-words/486896/29 "2009-02-22T16:20:46Z")
I think the intrusive R is more noticable if you listen closely to the start of the next word. It sounds almost like “supernova rin the sky”, although not quite that obvious. But a song is probably not the best way of illustrating it, because the words are sung quite slowly. Saying something like “Diana is famous” I can feel my tongue making an R shape just before “is”. I would actually have to make a conscious effort to pronounce something like that the American way, with no intervocalic R. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2009, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-people-adding-r-at-end-of-words/486896/30 "2009-02-22T21:24:41Z")
> [@prolific9](#): > > I was watching Real Time /w Bill Maher yesterday and they had this British guest on. Words that ended with an A, she would add an extra R at the end. Obama would become Obamer, idea would become idear, etc. It’s being pronounced as a long **a** not a short **a** , and stressed to boot. Consider the word **aha** : we can pronounce it with two short **a** s (a-ha) or two long ones (ar-har). ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2009, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-people-adding-r-at-end-of-words/486896/31 "2009-02-23T00:18:28Z")
> [@uglybeech](#): > > Same thing in Boston: > > That’s a spectacula idear! Actually, I thought the letter R was banned in Boston. Everybody there drives a Ca (instead of a car) and they like to hang Aht (instead of art) on the wall and sometimes they go to Potties (known as parties in the rest if the USA). ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2009, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-people-adding-r-at-end-of-words/486896/32 "2009-02-23T03:34:32Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > “Lawr” and “Chiner” are the two I most notice on BBC. And “ideer” for “idea.” ---
**Author:** ![Santo\_Rugger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@Santo\_Rugger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Santo_Rugger)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2009, 6:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-people-adding-r-at-end-of-words/486896/33 "2009-02-23T06:22:50Z")
> [@Fish](#): > > Precisely. If you listen carefully, the R seems to be inserted in between vowels: between a word that ends in a vowel, and the next word beginning with a vowel. For instance, “America is” becomes “Americer is.” I don’t get it. My last name ends with an _a_, and is the name I generally go by. My rugby coach from New Zealand used to end my name with an _r_ sound, and used to say things like, “that’s a great ideer.” Does being at the end of a sentence have the same effect as being right before a vowel? In a similar vein, is not knowing the next word a criteria, too? For example, in the Oasis song, he says, “a champagne supernover… a champagne supernover in the sky,” ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2009, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-people-adding-r-at-end-of-words/486896/34 "2009-02-23T06:31:29Z")
“There were birds, in the sky, but I never sawr them winging…” ~Paul McCartney vocal on _Til There Was You_ ---
**Author:** ![Mk\_VII](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Mk\_VII](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mk_VII)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2009, 10:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-people-adding-r-at-end-of-words/486896/35 "2009-02-23T10:59:20Z")
To our ears the Boston Brahmin accent (like Major Charles Emerson Winchester III in _MASH_) sounds much closer to us than any Southern one. ---
**Author:** ![Walkabout](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/46a35a/32.png) [@Walkabout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walkabout)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2009, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-people-adding-r-at-end-of-words/486896/36 "2009-02-23T16:35:23Z")
My Australian grandparents were always known to us kids as “Grammar” and “Grampar”, because that’s what it sounded like when my mother said grandma and grandpa. ---
**Author:** ![Yodalicious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yodalicious/32/8195_2.png) [@Yodalicious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yodalicious)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2009, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-people-adding-r-at-end-of-words/486896/37 "2009-02-23T18:05:11Z")
I’ve never heard anyone in the south put an R at the end of a word that ends with an A unless they were raised in New York or New Jersey, like my parents. The best examples are the countries of Americer, Canader, and Chiner. Makes me laugh just thinking about it. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2009, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-people-adding-r-at-end-of-words/486896/38 "2009-02-23T18:15:21Z")
> [@Santo\_Rugger](#): > > I don’t get it. My last name ends with an _a_, and is the name I generally go by. My rugby coach from New Zealand used to end my name with an _r_ sound, and used to say things like, “that’s a great ideer.” Does being at the end of a sentence have the same effect as being right before a vowel? > > In a similar vein, is not knowing the next word a criteria, too? For example, in the Oasis song, he says, “a champagne supernover… a champagne supernover in the sky,” New Zealand accents are not the same as British accents. I don’t know about NZ accents, I’m afraid; I had thought they just had the intrusive r like Brits do, but perhaps they do add it more often. I just listened to that Oasis song for the first time in years, and he definitely doesn’t add an r to the end of Champagne Supernova when it’s not followed by a vowel. ---
**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:** [February 23, 2009, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-people-adding-r-at-end-of-words/486896/39 "2009-02-23T18:40:34Z")
> [@Vox\_Imperatoris](#): > > [Here you go](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g3C7DECI0jU), the video for “Champagne Supernova” mentioned upthread. > > Valete, > Vox Imperatoris Actually, that’s a good example, containing both the “r-less” and the “intrusive-r” pronunciations of “supernova,” depending on whether the word elides straight into a vowel sound. You can clearly hear it in the beginning, when it goes “caught beneath the landslide of a champagne supernova _pause_ a champagne supernov(er) in the sky.” ---
**Author:** ![Ogre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecb155/32.png) [@Ogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ogre)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2009, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-people-adding-r-at-end-of-words/486896/40 "2009-02-23T18:45:48Z")
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