# Pronunciation: "Harry" vs. "hairy" \[Password Plus clip\]

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-harry-vs-hairy-password-plus-clip/582301>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [May 18, 2011, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-harry-vs-hairy-password-plus-clip/582301 "2011-05-18T12:17:56Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\
**Post date:** [May 18, 2011, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-harry-vs-hairy-password-plus-clip/582301/1 "2011-05-18T12:17:56Z")

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[Clip](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKubhxnflYk) I actually can see how in some cases in speech the name syllables might be divided between “Ha-rry,” and the other as “hair-y,” but the diacritical marks they show at the end to buttress their remarks [circumflex ‘a’] don’t seem right, so either someone had a wacky dictionary, or there was a bad transcription. M-W indicates:  
hairy adj \ˈher-ē  
har·ry verb \*\ˈher-ē, ˈha-rē\   
Tom, Dick, and Har·ry noun \ˌtäm-ˌdik-ən(d)-\*_ˈha-rē\*_

\*M-W asserts that in their dictionary that the first listed pronunciation is not “preferred” and others “alternates,” but that all the pronunciations are valid, and that simply something has to come first.

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**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\
**Post date:** [May 18, 2011, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-harry-vs-hairy-password-plus-clip/582301/2 "2011-05-18T12:46:53Z")

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I agree completely.

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**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:** [May 18, 2011, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-harry-vs-hairy-password-plus-clip/582301/3 "2011-05-18T12:51:35Z")

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Kinda like merry, marry, Mary, Marie.

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**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\
**Post date:** [May 18, 2011, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-harry-vs-hairy-password-plus-clip/582301/4 "2011-05-18T12:55:58Z")

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Always useful to have another view on this.  
I don’t know about the USA but in the UK it is pretty universal that they are pronounced differently. So I’d imagine the OED would capture that.

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**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\
**Post date:** [May 18, 2011, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-harry-vs-hairy-password-plus-clip/582301/5 "2011-05-18T12:56:22Z")

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Bert Convy!

Marcia’s right that it’s a regional thing.

In some accents they’re the same, in some they’re different.

Harry [hæri] or [hærɪ]  
hairy [heɪri]

What’s funny is that Bert’s partner responded to “hirsute” with “dress.”

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**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\
**Post date:** [May 18, 2011, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-harry-vs-hairy-password-plus-clip/582301/6 "2011-05-18T13:03:31Z")

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Yeah, Bert gave an excellent clue that just whooshed the contestant.