# Dialect poll: How do you pronounce the simple past tense of "ring", as a bell? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 20, 2012, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dialect-poll-how-do-you-pronounce-the-simple-past-tense-of-ring-as-a-bell/628819 "2012-07-20T05:30:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2012, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dialect-poll-how-do-you-pronounce-the-simple-past-tense-of-ring-as-a-bell/628819/41 "2012-07-22T06:43:22Z")
I’ve lived in [northern] CA for almost 30 years, and I have never heard anyone from here pronounce it like raing. It’s rang, sang, bang, hang… all short a’s. I grew up in New England and never heard that long a there, either. I say rang with a short a. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2012, 6:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dialect-poll-how-do-you-pronounce-the-simple-past-tense-of-ring-as-a-bell/628819/42 "2012-07-22T06:51:48Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > I’ve lived in [northern] CA for almost 30 years, and I have never heard anyone from here pronounce it like raing. It’s rang, sang, bang, hang… all short a’s. Native Southern Californian. I agree; I’ve never heard a Californian say ‘rayng’. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2012, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dialect-poll-how-do-you-pronounce-the-simple-past-tense-of-ring-as-a-bell/628819/43 "2012-07-22T17:59:47Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > This raises another question. Does anyone pronounce “anger” with a long “a,” like “ainger”? I’ve always heard it with a short “a,” “anger.” :dubious: Didn’t you say you grew up/used to live in New York? I find it hard to believe that you are unfamiliar with the long a sound for rang. Rang, bang, clang, dang, sang, etc. they are all pronounced in New York with the same vowel sound as rain, main, pain, etc. Think of the song “The Rain in Spain” from My Fair Lady. All those words use the same vowel. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_T](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Gary\_T](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_T)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2012, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dialect-poll-how-do-you-pronounce-the-simple-past-tense-of-ring-as-a-bell/628819/44 "2012-07-22T18:58:10Z")
It’s a half-long _a_, not quite the long _a_ in “fate” but certainly not the short _a_ in “fan.” ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2012, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dialect-poll-how-do-you-pronounce-the-simple-past-tense-of-ring-as-a-bell/628819/45 "2012-07-22T19:56:42Z")
I say it like Lurch. ---
**Author:** ![StephenG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7feea3/32.png) [@StephenG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StephenG)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2012, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dialect-poll-how-do-you-pronounce-the-simple-past-tense-of-ring-as-a-bell/628819/46 "2012-07-22T22:35:27Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > > [@](#): > > > > Originally Posted by Colophon > > From the UK: > > > > “Rang” is pronounced like “ran” or “rag” except with a nasal “ng” sound (ŋ). It’s a short “a”, as in “cat”. > > Canada too. That’s quite the broad brush! Growing up in Boston, and living in Toronto, I’ve only heard – and can only imagine – “rang” to have the same sound as “rain”. To respond to others: that vowel sound is a diphthong, as **Johanna** notes, the sound commonly called “long a”. ---
**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:** [July 23, 2012, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dialect-poll-how-do-you-pronounce-the-simple-past-tense-of-ring-as-a-bell/628819/47 "2012-07-23T01:02:30Z")
To me they are as different as man and main. And I don’t think it is length, as in rider and writer. And while is does seem to be colored by the ng, there is no ng in man. From Philly, FWIW. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2012, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dialect-poll-how-do-you-pronounce-the-simple-past-tense-of-ring-as-a-bell/628819/48 "2012-07-23T01:04:55Z")
Southern Ontario here. “Rang” to be sounds exactly like the way the character Rango says his name, just leaving off the switch to a hard G and then the O. So it doesn’t rhyme with “rain.” It’s very, very close to “ran,” but the nasal sound of -ng upticks it a tiny bit. Stephen, if you live in Toronto, I’d be awfully surprised if you’ve never heard “rang” spoken without a long A sound. ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_K](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5ac83/32.png) [@Doug\_K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_K)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2012, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dialect-poll-how-do-you-pronounce-the-simple-past-tense-of-ring-as-a-bell/628819/49 "2012-07-23T05:09:27Z")
I’ve lived in the midwest all my life and until this thread, I’ve never even heard of anyone pronouncing it with other than a short a sound. Rhymes with sang, hang bang (and brang if you’re Neil Diamond). And Lurch didn’t say “You ræææææng?”, he said “You raaaangngngngng?” ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2012, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dialect-poll-how-do-you-pronounce-the-simple-past-tense-of-ring-as-a-bell/628819/50 "2012-07-23T05:41:48Z")
> [@Girl\_From\_Mars](#): > > Rang to rhyme with fang/tang, sounds like the a in fat. > Rain to rhyme with train, sounds more like fate. Has more of a ‘ray’ sound to it which I think comes from the i. > (Australian via NZ/UK/US). Wuhhuh? 😕 Out here in CA, Rang rimes with “bang, fang, tang, dang, wang”. But Fat rimes with cat, hat, bat… Maynard G (the “G” is silent) Krebs sez it exactly right. Check him out on Youtube somehwere, I am sure they have him saying “You _rang_?” Lurch is not quite right, but close. BtW that article is _so_ full of shit. And “ranG” cant rime with “raiN”, even tho the "a’ sounds are similar, as “G” does not rime with “N”. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2012, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dialect-poll-how-do-you-pronounce-the-simple-past-tense-of-ring-as-a-bell/628819/51 "2012-07-23T13:49:30Z")
> [@Doug\_K](#): > > I’ve lived in the midwest all my life and until this thread, I’ve never even heard of anyone pronouncing it with other than a short a sound. Rhymes with sang, hang bang (and brang if you’re Neil Diamond). And Lurch didn’t say “You ræææææng?”, he said “You raaaangngngngng?” Yes. [Lurch](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6Slm3wziAc) says it the way the OP would say it sounds like “rain.” I have heard other people say it the other way, now that I think of it, but only in a British accent. I unfortunately can’t think of anyone who says the word to find a video on YouTube. I find it very hard to believe that any American has not heard the “rain” pronunciation, as it’s used in broadcaster English. And, yes, I also say ainger, baink, ainchor, etc, and, again, that’s Standard American English. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2012, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dialect-poll-how-do-you-pronounce-the-simple-past-tense-of-ring-as-a-bell/628819/52 "2012-07-23T13:50:35Z")
> [@Crotalus](#): > > When I say ran and rang repeatedly, the sound as well as the shapes and motions of my mouth are the same until I hit the g. Your wife must love that! ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2012, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dialect-poll-how-do-you-pronounce-the-simple-past-tense-of-ring-as-a-bell/628819/53 "2012-07-23T14:16:57Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > I find it very hard to believe that any American has not heard the “rain” pronunciation, as it’s used in broadcaster English. > > And, yes, I also say ainger, baink, ainchor, etc, and, again, that’s Standard American English. No, it isn’t. [Dictionary.com](http://Dictionary.com) gives the (only) pronounciation for rang as “/ræŋ/”. According to their pronounciation key, the /æ/ sound is as found in “ **a** pple, c **a** n, h **a** t.” On the other hand, the sound used in “rain” is /eɪ/ as in **ai** d, h **a** te, d **ay**. Short “a” is the standard pronounciation. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2012, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dialect-poll-how-do-you-pronounce-the-simple-past-tense-of-ring-as-a-bell/628819/54 "2012-07-24T00:14:17Z")
> [@Skammer](#): > > No, it isn’t. > > [Dictionary.com](http://Dictionary.com) gives the (only) pronounciation for rang as “/ræŋ/”. According to their pronounciation key, the /æ/ sound is as found in “ **a** pple, c **a** n, h **a** t.” On the other hand, the sound used in “rain” is /eɪ/ as in **ai** d, h **a** te, d **ay**. > > Short “a” is the standard pronounciation. Curiosity question for those of you who consider rang to be pronounced with the same vowel sound as the one in ran: can you identify any word — any word whatsoever — that ends in “ng” and which has the same vowel sound as the a in “ate”, “fate”, “main”, and “plane”? (If you don’t consider those four to _have_ the same “a” sound say so and for purposes of this question go with the “a” sound in “fate”) ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2012, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dialect-poll-how-do-you-pronounce-the-simple-past-tense-of-ring-as-a-bell/628819/55 "2012-07-24T00:25:54Z")
> [@AHunter3](#): > > Curiosity question for those of you who consider rang to be pronounced with the same vowel sound as the one in ran: can you identify any word — any word whatsoever — that ends in “ng” and which has the same vowel sound as the a in “ate”, “fate”, “main”, and “plane”? I cannot think of any. ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2012, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dialect-poll-how-do-you-pronounce-the-simple-past-tense-of-ring-as-a-bell/628819/56 "2012-07-24T00:37:11Z")
> [@AHunter3](#): > > Curiosity question for those of you who consider rang to be pronounced with the same vowel sound as the one in ran: can you identify any word — any word whatsoever — that ends in “ng” and which has the same vowel sound as the a in “ate”, “fate”, “main”, and “plane”? No. I don’t seem to have any trouble enunciating “raing”, but I can’t think of any words that I actually pronounce like that. I can’t think of any occasion in which a diphthong is followed by /ŋ/ . [eta] hmm, what about “boing”? ---
**Author:** ![FrillyNettles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7ea924/32.png) [@FrillyNettles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FrillyNettles)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2012, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dialect-poll-how-do-you-pronounce-the-simple-past-tense-of-ring-as-a-bell/628819/57 "2012-07-24T01:16:32Z")
Color me surprised. I had no idea there was any pronunciation OTHER than RAYng. I grew up in California and am blown away that there are Californians claiming they hear it as RANg. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2012, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dialect-poll-how-do-you-pronounce-the-simple-past-tense-of-ring-as-a-bell/628819/58 "2012-07-24T03:19:44Z")
The answers I’m getting so far are feeding my suspicions. I am now thinking that some people HEAR (or THINK OF) rang as having the same vowel as the a in ran and other people HEAR (or THINK OF) it as having the same vowel as the a in Maine or fate. But it is probably best understood as being neither of those things precisely; we know the ŋ sound that follows it colors the vowel by making it nasalized. So I think what’s happening is that we’re being somewhat evenly split into those to whom that sound seems closer to the “a” in ran and those to hom that sound seems closer to the “a” in fate. _Note that in both cases, people can’t think of a single example of the other configuration_ and in many cases can’t even conjure up what such a sound would sound like. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2012, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dialect-poll-how-do-you-pronounce-the-simple-past-tense-of-ring-as-a-bell/628819/59 "2012-07-24T03:22:20Z")
> [@AHunter3](#): > > The answers I’m getting so far are feeding my suspicions. > > I am now thinking that some people HEAR (or THINK OF) rang as having the same vowel as the a in ran and other people HEAR (or THINK OF) it as having the same vowel as the a in Maine or fate. But it is probably best understood as being neither of those things precisely; we know the ŋ sound that follows it colors the vowel by making it nasalized. So I think what’s happening is that we’re being somewhat evenly split into those to whom that sound seems closer to the “a” in ran and those to hom that sound seems closer to the “a” in fate. _Note that in both cases, people can’t think of a single example of the other configuration_ and in many cases can’t even conjure up what such a sound would sound like. Which is a clear illustration of the difference between phoneme and allophone. However different the sounds produced in different dialects, they all share the same phonemic identity. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2012, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dialect-poll-how-do-you-pronounce-the-simple-past-tense-of-ring-as-a-bell/628819/60 "2012-07-24T05:30:48Z")
> [@Skammer](#): > > No, it isn’t. > > [Dictionary.com](http://Dictionary.com) gives the (only) pronounciation for rang as “/ræŋ/”. According to their pronounciation key, the /æ/ sound is as found in “ **a** pple, c **a** n, h **a** t.” On the other hand, the sound used in “rain” is /eɪ/ as in **ai** d, h **a** te, d **ay**. > > Short “a” is the standard pronounciation. One reason why the IP system is bullshit. [http://oald8.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/dictionary/ring\_3](http://oald8.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/dictionary/ring_3) rang ræŋ ræŋ Note that those two are written exactly the same, but when you clik on the sounds, they sound different. Rang rimes with wang, bang, gang, fang, etc. Never with ran, fan, ban, Dan. Oddly, both of those two drop the “G” sound mostly, which is a way I never hear it. But of the two the NAmE pronunciation is closest. So yeah, if you say “rain” but take away the N but add a G, that’s the way we say it around here. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dialect-poll-how-do-you-pronounce-the-simple-past-tense-of-ring-as-a-bell/628819.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dialect-poll-how-do-you-pronounce-the-simple-past-tense-of-ring-as-a-bell/628819.md?page=4)