I know the South Park character, and I understand the distinction you’re making… but I cannot for the life of me hear the difference.
IOW, I know you’re talking about /krɛɡ/ vs /kreɪɡ/, but I only really hear the latter in all cases.
Really? Interesting.
The way they say Craig in SP clearly rhymes with peg to my ear. But Daniel’s surname clearly rhymes (or rather, should) with The Hague.
I just watched a couple videos. In this one Mackey says it at the beginning and Kyle at the end, these do sound different. Kyle is sort of /krɛɡ/ but Mackey is even longer, not really /kreɪɡ/ to my ears but longer maybe? More cray-egg than rhymes with “plague”, if that makes sense?
Long ε rather than short ε?
This may have been mentioned already and I guess it doesn’t really “baffle” me, but it’s something I’ve always wondered.
Americans usually say, Merry Christmas! While Brits usually say, Happy Christmas! The word “merry” seems much more British and the word “happy” seems much more American. Thoughts?
In Pakistan in the 1970s and 80s we (young people) were told that Merry carried a connotation of drunken revelry and therefore should not be used.
I am told now that Merry Christmas has replaced Happy Christmas among the Christian community in Pakistan. Probably part of the wholesale Americanization of Pakistani English in the last 50 years.
Anecdotally, Brits definitely say ‘merry’ more.
Yeah I would agree with that. Merry Xmas; Happy New Year. Like the song.
j
Why will this factoid never die?
What I think is that in the US, Merry Christmas had become a “set phrase”, whereas in the UK, while most people, most of the time, will say Merry Christmas, we don’t feel that we can’t express season’s greetings in any other way.
Which factoid are you replying to? Since you didn’t quote anything.
If you mean the “Happy Christmas” thing, why do you think it’s false? I have absolutely heard that phrase used in British media.
Yes that one. Saying Brits say “Happy Christmas” is like saying “Americans live in trailer parks”. You can find some that do but it’s a very small minority, and the overwhelming default phrase is “Merry Christmas”
Pretty much every time it comes up it gets widely debunked by all actual Brits., but it doesn’t stop it rearing its head again.
I learned it from one of the Beatles’ Christmas records. George Harrison chanting the maha-mantra:
Happy Christmas
Happy Christmas
Christmas Christmas
Happy Happy
I was just in Australia and New Zealand here in the run-up to Christmas. Happy, happy, happy, and not a “merry” to be heard.
It’s definitely Happy Christmas in Ireland.
A brief unscientific survey here in Sydney shows that people say “Happy” but Santas say “Merry”.
I am currently in a large WhatsApp group where greeting are coming in from UK, Philippines, Singapore, Pakistan, UAE and Australia and there are zero Merry Christmas. All are Happy Christmas.
Now these are older folks (average age close to 60). Maybe that makes a difference.
I went out for a walk this afternoon and the few people I saw greeted me with “Merry Christmas”. The one that made me smile was the two guys walking their dogs with pints of beer in their hands (the guys, not the dogs).
I just saw mention of a TV special called Doctor Who at the Proms, which some googling showed me isn’t an episode where The Doctor attends a series of formal high school dances.