Midwesterner all my life. Agree with Ghanima and velvetjones.
Southerner (Tennessee) for all my life sans the last eleven months and I’m with **Ghanima **except for the cherry part.
I’m more than a little amused that someone from Long Island is critiquing someone else’s diction and pronunciation too. My mom’s originally from NYC (not sure which burrough) and her accent slips through every now and then and it’s as comically bad as any Southern accent I’ve ever heard.
No offense to any New Yorkers or Southerners intended, of course. 
I’m with Mrs. Jones on this one. Harry and hairy are not the same (unless Harry is particularly hirsute)
I guess we could argue the “correctness” of the various pronounciations 'til we’re blue in the face. If I try to pronounce it like he does it sounds contrived and silly to me so while he’s still arguing that the nuns taught him the proper way to pronounce short and long vowels which explains why they should not rhyme I’m stuck with the way I say it.
Westbury. His parents are still there. We went up for a visit this summer and I met them for the first time.
Strange, for me Harry = hairy, route = root but Don (rhymes with on, yon, con) and Dawn (fawn, lawn, yawn) are different. Yes, it is indeed a funny language.
Yes, well, questions about my sanity will have to be saved for another thread. 
It’s all just a bit of good natured ribbing about our accents or his mostly. Like I said, you can tell the moment he opens his mouth that he’s from NY. I don’t sound like I’m from anyplace most of the time though the Wisconsin/Minnesota twange sneaks in occasionaly. I blame it on my mother.
From England, living in Ireland.
In both places, “Harry”, “hairy”, and “merry” do not rhyme.
Harry - the vowel is very short, as in ‘cat’ or ‘hat’.
Hairy - the vowel is a longer ‘eh’ - same as in ‘care’.
Merry - the vowel is a short ‘e’ as in ‘let’.
Ohioan here, born and bred, with a few years in Georgia…they rhyme.
“Harry” and “hairy” rhyme for me, although I could be persuaded to change how I say “Harry” for the right inducement. All bribes gratefully received.
The strangest difference in pronunciation I’ve encountered in England was the discovery that “fear” and “year” don’t rhyme, the latter being more like “yuh”. Go figure.
And where I grew up, half the people pronounced “route” like “root” and half like “rout”. And the half who say “rout” pronounce “root” to rhyme with “foot”. It’s very confusing.
I read the OP and was going to respond with these words exactly! :smack:
But I can’t say too much, to be honest… I was born and raised in NB, Canada, and I say:
Harry sounds like parry, marry, Larry
Hairy sounds like airy, fairy
Merry sounds like cherry, berry
All very distinct. Though I know many people who actually rhyme them all. It might be just because my father taught from a very early age to pronounce my words properly. And so, sadly, chickmunk became chipmunk, and chree became tree. My “sure” has a very slight “s” sound, too, almost, almost a lisp… or an aborted whistle sound… and does NOT rhyme with “shore!” (I don’t care if it’s proper or not, for some reason “shore” drives me nuts).
Sometimes I rebel.
Harry = hairy
Born and raised in Ohio, live in LA.
Glad to hear from someone from England where we got this silly language in the first place. My husband will feel vindicated that you and he pronounce them much the same (though I doubt he’ll ever sound british).
Harry != hairy.
Born and raised in the Great White North, eh.
Does, too. My Dad’s name is Harry, and we’ve always made the Harry/Hairy/Fuzzy pun. That’s his nickname with the nieces and nephews–Uncle Fuzzy.
Harry is pronounced the same as hairy, berry, mary, etc …
(Stainz - born & raised in Western Canada).
I do believe every single person I know would agree with me.
You 'merkins really are as mad as badgers, aren’t you 
You’ve got at least three different vowel sounds there:
- Hairy, Fairy, Dairy, Nary, Vary, Wary
- Harry, Larry, Carrie, Carry, Parry
- Very, Cherry, Berry, Jerry
The question remains, of course - do you pronounce “Harry” like “Hairy”, or “Hairy” like “Harry”? 
When you watch Harry Pottery films, does his name sound like “Hairy Potter” to you, or like some alien word with vowels never before encountered?
(BTW: “year” does rhyme with “fear”, unless you are vair posh…)
I know this is IMHO, but did it occur to anyone to look it up?
They even have a thingy where a pleasant-sounding lady pronounces it for you if click on it.
People from NY are NOT a good guide for pronounciation; neither are southerners, which I am one.
Not wanting to start a shit-storm here…OK maybe I do…
What about bury?
Which category is that one in? 'Cause here in 'merka (western region) it sounds like carry, berry, vary and very.
:smack:
That might have been a good idea.
Mirriam Webster has them both pronounced the same so I may win this little argument after all. He does have the nuns on his side though, they can be formidable.
These are all acceptable regional variations.
I’m originally from eastern Long Island (which is different, culturally and pronunciation-wise from western Long Island). Harry and Hairy are two different words. Hairy is pronounced as hair+ee
We also differentiate between merry, marry, and Mary.
Another language shibboleth is “murderer.” I pronouce it with three distinct syllables and all r’s pronounced: mer-der-er. Others use two syllables: murdrer.
None of these are “wrong,” BTW, and no dictionary would call them so. At best, they would just indicate they are variations.
Yes, I know it’s spelled Merriam, I was just testing you…
I just let Mr. Jones know what the online dictionary says. His response:
“How can they do that? It’s so irresponsible! Little children use that web site and they’re teaching them the wrong way to say things!”
After that there was some grumbling about a letter writing campaign and a vow to put Merriam-Webster out of business.