# Reely. Really? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 9, 2023, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reely-really/989823 "2023-09-09T02:43:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2023, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reely-really/989823/1 "2023-09-09T02:43:24Z")
Agatha Christie spells a character’s use of “really” as “reely” in one of her books. Not a typo: she repeats it to indicate some kind of an accent, presumably a lower-class one. In American English “reely” is the only pronunciation I’ve ever heard. How would British upper-class speakers pronounce it differently? Three syllables? Rawly? What kind of lower-class origin is Christie implying? The book is from 1930, if that makes a difference. ---
**Author:** ![Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b487fb/32.png) [@Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walken_After_Midnight)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2023, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reely-really/989823/2 "2023-09-09T03:00:14Z")
Wiktionary describes it as a pronunciation spelling of _really_ and supplies literary quotations, all of which seem to use it in the vernacular or in common speech: [https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/reely](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/reely) ---
**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:** [September 9, 2023, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reely-really/989823/3 "2023-09-09T03:12:56Z")
I think I’ve heard it as sort of like “Rally”, but not quite that strong, in some old b&w English films. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2023, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reely-really/989823/4 "2023-09-09T03:13:25Z")
I’ve seen Brit dramas and the upper crust character says “Really, my dear” or something close to that. They say _really_ like _rally_. _Reely_ would maybe be how the help or lower class would say the word. Ninja’d ---
**Author:** ![Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b487fb/32.png) [@Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walken_After_Midnight)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2023, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reely-really/989823/5 "2023-09-09T03:34:02Z")
[Queen Elizabeth II saying “really”.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBRP-o6Q85s&t=83s&ab_channel=TheRoyalFamily) ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2023, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reely-really/989823/6 "2023-09-09T03:45:23Z")
> [@Walken\_After\_Midnight](#): > > [Queen Elizabeth II saying “really”.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBRP-o6Q85s&t=83s&ab_channel=TheRoyalFamily)- I hear it as close to “relly”. ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2023, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reely-really/989823/7 "2023-09-09T04:08:38Z")
May I ask which book it was, and which character? Christie was an unregenerate class snob who didn’t have any qualms about mocking those in the lower classes, especially the ones who didn’t know their place. So I would not be surprised if she wasn’t drawing attention to the character’s lack of “breeding” (you know, like horses and dogs) and the right education. Knowing which character would help determine if this observation is on the right track in this case. ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2023, 6:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reely-really/989823/8 "2023-09-09T06:03:43Z")
By the standards of Christie’s class and time: “Common” - relatively long drawn-out “ee” “Posh” - more clipped, and closer to the “i” in “hit” Nowadays, younger upper-crust folk tend to what an older generation would have considered slacker vowels. Tone of voice and usage made a difference - as between, say, a housemaid using the word as an intensifier (“really really nice”, which would make a posh snob wince) and Lady Bracknell raising a sceptical/dismissive eyebrow. ---
**Author:** ![pjd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pjd/32/3009_2.png) [@pjd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pjd)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2023, 10:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reely-really/989823/9 "2023-09-09T10:22:47Z")
Which book was it ? There’s probably a bbc adaptation somewhere… ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2023, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reely-really/989823/10 "2023-09-09T14:19:31Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > In American English “reely” is the only pronunciation I’ve ever heard. I say “rilly.” Michigan born and bred. ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2023, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reely-really/989823/11 "2023-09-09T15:49:57Z")
> [@pjd](#): > > Which book was it ? A Pocket Full of Rye. > Miss Grosvenor, collapsed in a chair, wailed in a voice whose accent was noticeably less Mayfair than usual, “I made the tea just as usual - _reely_ I did - there couldn’t have been anything wrong in it.” So, it looks as if AC wanted to illustrate the change of accents. I am sure it would have made more sense in the 1940s than it does today. There are many other examples of the use of “reely” in older literature. ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2023, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reely-really/989823/12 "2023-09-09T16:41:41Z")
> [@bob\_2](#): > > So, it looks as if AC wanted to illustrate the change of accents. Absolutely: Miss Grosvenor lets slip that she’s not quite as upper crust as she’d been presenting. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2023, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reely-really/989823/13 "2023-09-09T16:46:23Z")
Actually, the book I found it in was _Murder at the Vicarage_, the first Miss Marple book. The character is a young woman assisting an archaeologist with a dig at a local barrow. The point was, I’m sure, to make her stand out from the locals who all have servants even when they aren’t rich. Interesting that “reely” was such a class marker that Christie used it in more than one book. I’m only halfway through so I don’t want to say more because there are hints that “not all is what it seems.” But this is the one and only word so far that is respelled this way. No other dialect is used, making this example stand out. ---
**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:** [September 9, 2023, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reely-really/989823/14 "2023-09-09T16:55:51Z")
There were some “marker” words that were a short hand to signal class in novels (similar to how some USians on these very boards use some marker words to identify Canadians). Another was if someone was said to pronounce “girl” as “gurl”. In Wodehouse, Aunt Agatha and Aunt Dahlia generally say “gairl”. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2023, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reely-really/989823/15 "2023-09-09T16:55:53Z")
_Rather_ is used as a marker as well. I love the way it’s said in those old Dramas. Hastings in the Poirot series actually uses it as an exclamation. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2023, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reely-really/989823/16 "2023-09-09T17:03:41Z")
Most other British novels of the time use heavy amounts of dialect for servants, rustics, or other non-educated speakers. Worked the other way too, with some authors dropping the g in goin’, sayin’, or other words to indicate true posh. John Dickson Carr’s Sir Henry Merrivale, holder of the oldest baronetcy in England, doctor, lawyer, early equivalent of Bond’s M, always spoke this way. Christie’s limiting it to just one word is unusual in my experience. Because it’s a mystery and anything might be a clue I took notice. Or it could just be a nuanced way of giving background to a character. Christie actually could write when she wasn’t grinding out Poirot nonsense. ---
**Author:** ![Schnitte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/schnitte/32/9033_2.png) [@Schnitte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schnitte)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2023, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reely-really/989823/17 "2023-09-09T17:30:02Z")
The showing-off word to describe what you call “marker word” is shibboleth, based on a biblical story (Judges 12:5-6) where a person’s pronunciation of this Hebrew word is used to tell friend from foe. ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2023, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reely-really/989823/18 "2023-09-09T19:40:19Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > In Wodehouse, Aunt Agatha and Aunt Dahlia generally say “gairl”. Traditionally, more likely “gels”. “Gairl” would be Miss Jean Brodie - her “crème de la crème”! ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2023, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reely-really/989823/19 "2023-09-10T00:09:45Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > Actually, the book I found it in was _Murder at the Vicarage_, the first Miss Marple book. I just read that! It was my first Agatha Christie. That lady for all her prejudices can really spin a good yarn! I ended up buying the whole box set and I’m on the third one now. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2023, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reely-really/989823/20 "2023-09-10T00:25:45Z")
> [@Spice\_Weasel](#): > > > [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > > > In American English “reely” is the only pronunciation I’ve ever heard. > > I say “rilly.” > > Michigan born and bred. I also say rilly. Northern New England. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reely-really/989823.md?page=2)