WRITE4U - I am in total agreement with ASHTAYK - This word is NO HETERODYM . . . both meanings (whether referring to Paint of Schoolbook) come from the same latin word ‘Primarius’ . . . so their pronunciation should be the SAME ! . . . and THAT would be as in PRY-MER !
In case anyone noticed, I did have a ‘type-o’ in my previous post . . . (Heteronym is correct).
I say “at your LEH-zhur” and “LEE-zhur suit.” Is that ok?
My father was a professor of Education, with a specialty in History of Education. So he had some occasion to deal with, or least know about, textbooks. He often discussed education as it was in, say, colonial American times. He knew about things like McGuffy’s Reader, etc.
He always pronounced it “PRIMmer” so I guess there’s at least some credible amount of authority there.
Re-opening this thread because, upon doing some “housecleaning”, I just re-discovered my long-lost college dictionary!
It lists primer (the elementary textbook) vs. primer (first coat of paint, initial ignition charge for explosives, and a few other related meanings) as two separate words.
primer (the paint or explosive): Long i (as in kite). PRY-mer, rhymes with Skald the Rhymer.
primer (the book): British: Same as above. American: PRIM-mer, rhymes with grimmer, trimmer. So we see it depends which side of the Pond you’re on.
Both have accent on first syllable.
Source: Random House Webster’s College Dictionary, 1992, page 1072.
ETA: And as for any pronunciation arguments based on the spelling “primer” vs. “primmer” – Look, English is just plain idiosyncratic about spelling/pronunciation. Get used to it.
ACTUALLY dour rhymes with neither tour nor pour. It should be pronounced do-er.
I’m an American and I don’t recall ever hearing anyone call a book a “primmer”. I don’t and I shan’t.
Endorsing this. Have never heard the word ‘primmer’ and wouldn’t know what it was if someone said it to me.
Oh, and I’m British.
The only person I’ve ever heard IRL pronounce it PRIMmer is one of our analysts here at work and his first language is Russian so it’s understandable and not unpleasant at all. I’d expect many of our Brit friends to say it that way also but of the many I’ve known, none of them have done so. I’m very surprised that any U.S. folks say it that way.
Tis the season …
I heard both growing up. There may have been some context involved but if so I can’t spot it. These days all I hear is PRYmer.
I have heard big name reporters on NPR say “primmer.” It burns my ears!!
Pry-mer. Dour as an adjective rhymes with “power” but I had a friend whose last name was Dour and it was pronounced “doo-er”. Pour, poor, door, your, oar and or all rhyme to me. Tour sounds like something in between “doo-er” and “door”.
I always heard it (and pronounced it) as pry-mer growing up. Then, one day while in high school, I saw a stage production of Sherlock Holmes, played by Leonard Nimoy. One character told Holmes, “I suppose you think you can read me like a book.” And Holmes replied, “No. A primmer.” The house roared with laughter.
Ever since then, I can’t help pronouncing it primmer.
I think it’s another that depends where you’re from, to some extent. Many Scots (who ought to be experts in dourness) indeed pronounce it doo-er - but they might also pick floo-ers, and I doubt if you’ve picked any floo-ers lately. 
Same for me, except “your” is you + r, not yore.
And I’m surprised so many say PRIM-mer. I’ve never even heard that pronunciation, to my knowledge.
I’ve also never heard the supposedly “correct” pronunciation of “dour.” Always dower.
Oh, and I usually say LEE-zhur, though “at your leisure” sounds so British to me that I may sometimes say LEH-zhur.
Not in my hearing we don’t. Primer should always be pronounced with a long i - primmer - with a short i - is an entirely different word.
And I see I’ve fallen for a zombie thread.
This thread sure is di-VIE-sive.
It is sort of confusing that as an introductory text, primer is pronounced with a short I, but as a base coat of paint, it’s pronounced with a long I. The British pronounce both with a long I, by the way, so the protests that maybe that’s the way the British do it are wrong.
Language changes all the time and primer seems to be one of the words in flux. So what are NPR reporters and other public speakers supposed to do? Should they follow what American dictionaries say is correct, or poll their listeners and do what is more popular among them? The latter approach could lead to a long I primer, but also to using nonplussed to mean indifferent, literally to mean figuratively, and spelling the pronoun its like the contraction it’s. All those and many other popular misconceptions may, in fact, become standard English some day. Me, I’m not in a rush.