OK - to a Hoosier/Michigander gal…
carry, Harry & ferry all rhyme just fine - and shore & anymore rhyme with each other too — what am I missing?
I’m sorry, but that should be “don’t make me no nevermind”.
O.K., one more try. 
Carry should sound like “cat tree” without the “t” in the middle.
Harry should sound like “hat tree” without the “t” in the middle.
If you sound like me, you’re probably saying something more like “keh-ree” and “Heh-ree” to rhyme with “feh-ree”, instead of “ca-ree” and “Ha-ree”.
Now I’ve gotten so frustrated with the whole thing that I’ve started singing it as “Oh, they had to curry Hurry to the furry…”
Actually, I think the idea that something “should sound” a particular way is kind of silly. Because, really, “Harry,” “carry,” and “ferry” do sound alike in some parts of the country (and the world, I’m sure). There is no such thing as a standard pronunciation, or at least an official pronunciation. The only reason such varieties of English as Received Pronunciation and Standard American are considered the “correct” way of saying things is because they’re the overwhelmingly used broadcasting pronunciations.
There is no such thing as a “correct” pronunciation, within certain limits (if you pronounce “Shirley” as “Ralph”, you’ve got problems that have little to do with the way you were taught to speak :)…)
jayjay
As far as my pet peeves go on this subject (and they are legion)…
Why is it that some people insist on confusing lose with loose? I have a good friend who cannot seemingly make the distinction when chatting. “If I don’t get to just relax and hang lose, I may just loose my mind.” Sounds like it’s already happened!
And my dear mother continues (to this day) to call her birthplace “Warshington, D.C.”. I keep asking her to point out the “R” in the word “Washington”. Her reply is always, “Well, that’s just what everyone calls it there.” Mother, that still doesn’t make it right.
And she’s an English teacher!
Cisco - proper grammar dictates that you cannot end a sentence with a preposition. That’s what’s wrong with that sentence (me thinks 
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for the uninitiated… IRREGARDLESS is indeed a word in the english language.
Here is the definition of IRREGARDLESS as listed in the Oxford English Dictionary…
irregardless
adv : in spite of everything; without regard to drawbacks; “he carried on regardless of the difficulties” [syn: regardless, irrespective, disregardless, no matter, disregarding]
My daughter, a gifted child, will often use anyways, which will cause me to grind my teeth into flat plates.
Anyways, let’s get back to the point. No. No. No. It’s anyway.
How about the whole good versus well problem?
Or, kids, instead of children? I believe kids are baby goats and even though my children can be stubborn, they aren’t goats.
So then I was all like, “Don’t end a sentence with a preposition!”
…with this disclaimer from the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language:
Irregardless tops my list of words that annoy me.
Second on the list is utilize. Who decided that the word ‘use’ should be completely replaced by the word ‘utilize?’ Does the sentence sound more professional or important if we add a word with more syllables to it?
And as for regional pronounciations, I am kidded about mine all the time. I’m Canadian, and I work in Detroit, Michigan. So I now have this bizarre blend of a Detroit and Ontarian accent. When I’m at home, I’m told that I sound American; at work, I’m kidded about sounding Canadian.
Sigh.
It does keep things interesting.
I don’t spell well and my grammar is attrocious, however, one that I get to ping my husband on is the usage of “less or fewer”.
There is less money in the bank than I first thought.
There are fewer bills in my wallet.
If he says less bills, I asked them when they lost weight.
Which is much fun because he gets to pick on my about usage and spelling all the time.
So it appears that the debate regarding “irregardless” is a mute point.
MOOT, dammit! It’s a MOOT point!
Drives me nuts …
I really hate that one, too.
That, and the “myself” thing are my least favorite misuses of English. My husband wrote half of the thank you notes when we got married and he wrote “Caricci and myself want to thank you…” so much that I finally had to tell him I did not want my name on such atrocities. For some reason it hasn’t stopped him.
Ladies and gentlemen, the “Double Is…”
“What it is, is…”
Don’t you mean “it is?” If so, then say it.
What’s the problem?
The problem? What it is, is “is is.”
“the car needs washed” is a regionalism that is also found in Central Ohio. I started using it myself after hearing it while dating my now ex-husband. To pronouncee “wash” as “warsh”, “law” as “lore” have always been regionalisms to me also, since those were two words my Bronx-born father still had trouble with after 37 years in Cleveland.
I do go crazy about axe and flash. “Can I axe you where your flashes are?” is a torture for me to endure, day after day after day. I so want to say, “yes, you may ask where the flasks are kept.” I did tell one woman we didn’t sell flashlights, before I realized what she really meant. Why is that “sk” sound so difficult? If I pronounced something wrong as a child, my parents made me practice the word, not continue with the mistake. If you can say desk, why can’t you say flask? or ask?
One of my bosses drives me right up the wall with her mispronunciation of a word that our company drills into our heads…praline, pronounced prah-lin-ay. It’s on every training video that she makes us watch, but she consistently says par-lin-ay and never seems to notice, even when I asked “is that different from the prah-lin-ay?” I wouldn’t mind if she said pray-leen, since that’s a legitimate pronunciation.
Now, could someone please tell this ignorant, middle-aged white woman what “H to the izzo, V to the izzay” means? Even my teenager who listens to that song doesn’t know, and I’ve asked two black co-workers, to no avail.
was that justin guy on the first page kidding?
um, hello, kettle? it’s me, pot. YOU’RE BLACK!
Hey, Shirley Ujest, “Lemme hode a quarter”
I moved from New York to Central Florida after 6th grade, and I’ll never forget one day at the principal’s office. I worked there one period a day, at the desk. On this day, a kid came in, saw me and said “Lemme hode a quarter”. I didn’t know what the hell he was saying, so I made him repeat it multiple times. I never did figure out what he meant until a few months later, after I’d heard it a few more times. I kept wondering why in the world the kid just wanted to hold it. Why didn’t he want to use it?
My sister used to teach elementary school in Baltimore. When she first started (naive white girl from the 'burbs teaching poor inner-city black kids), they would come up to her and say, “Lemme hode a pence.” It took it her weeks to figure out they were saying, “I need to borrow a pencil.”
I have to weigh in here, because I am a picky snot who will correct anyone who will pretend to listen.
I tutor high school kids for the SAT II Writing test, which is all about this kind of stuff. Nothing will drive you to really understand something like needing to explain it to 15-year olds who will ask, “Why?” until they understand.
“I” is a subject. “I” does things or actions: “I drove the car.”
"Me is an object: " Things happen to and around “me”: “My dad drove me to school.”
Subjects: I, you, they, we, he, she.
Objects: Me, you, them, us, him, her.
So: “It’s from John and me.” Exactly correct. Notice that “me” is the object of a preposition here, namely, “from”.
But: “John and I gave the present.”
General rule: Just take John the heck out of there and see what’s right. Then stick John back in.
Oh, and I was a member of this ‘net dating site, and sent this one woman a pretty stinkin’ funny (if I do say so myself) letter about how I love doing doughnuts on govt lawns in my car and don’t like people to point out the fact that I smell bad, etc.
She wrote back, “You really through me for a loop.”
Goodbye, and thanks for playing. What do we have for her, Johnny?