# Your Pronunciation **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 23, 2021, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-pronunciation/949375 "2021-08-23T15:27:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 9
**Author:** ![hibernicus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hibernicus/32/2802_2.png) [@hibernicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hibernicus)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2021, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-pronunciation/949375/161 "2021-08-31T00:10:02Z")
It’s supposedly /e:/ but in reality it glides to a schwa. Can’t do the upside-down e on my phone so I’ll do this instead: /e@/ ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2021, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-pronunciation/949375/162 "2021-08-31T00:10:30Z")
Gotcha. Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![TRC4941](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trc4941/32/6792_2.png) [@TRC4941](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TRC4941)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2021, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-pronunciation/949375/163 "2021-08-31T15:35:08Z")
> [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > When describing your own pronunciation, it would be helpful to say where you grew up saying it. I was convinced, for example, that pronouncing creek as crick was peculiar to Philadelphia, but I gather it is much wider than that. I grew up in West Philly, six blocks from Cobb’s Crick. On the other hand, when I moved to Canada, I had to get used to the locals saying been the same as bean. > > I had a friend from Georgia (partly Atlanta, partly Savannah) named Wells who had to spell his name because as he said it came out as Wales. > > Brooklyn: “Three toids in a terlet”. But I have a 13 yo grandson who has lived and gone to public school in Brooklyn since he was 1 and he has no Btooklyn accent I can detect. I’ve lived in NE Minnesota all of my life - it’s “crick”. ---
**Author:** ![TRC4941](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trc4941/32/6792_2.png) [@TRC4941](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TRC4941)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2021, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-pronunciation/949375/164 "2021-08-31T15:38:19Z")
I have never heard merry, marry & Mary pronounced differently. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2021, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-pronunciation/949375/165 "2021-08-31T15:42:07Z")
Then you’re part of the merry-marry-Mary merger (which most of the US is, my dialect – Chicago/Great Lakes – included). Here’s map. They largest concentration of speakers that do not merge all three vowels are out in parts of the Eastern US. (And also in non-US varieties of English – I believe the merger is mostly an American phenomenon.) [![](https://external-preview.redd.it/0p6HbMC3K6_cS0uPeWOB4PZfSPE1-K_1kkU2q1LyUCI.png?auto=webp&s=bedad1f5b433a86cdb3eca8c91d43fc87cdc163f) ](https://external-preview.redd.it/0p6HbMC3K6_cS0uPeWOB4PZfSPE1-K_1kkU2q1LyUCI.png?auto=webp&s=bedad1f5b433a86cdb3eca8c91d43fc87cdc163f) ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2021, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-pronunciation/949375/166 "2021-08-31T20:58:24Z")
That map eloquently shows the difference between my years in Ohio and my years in NYC. ---
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2021, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-pronunciation/949375/167 "2021-09-01T03:20:49Z")
Length Width Heighth It flows better ,and will until I die ---
**Author:** ![ElDeLuxo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/34f0e0/32.png) [@ElDeLuxo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElDeLuxo)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2021, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-pronunciation/949375/168 "2021-09-01T13:40:34Z")
_Vahz? Vaze?_ Do you mean a “vase”? Because “vase” is pronounced like “face”, “lace”, “race”, and “chase”. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2021, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-pronunciation/949375/169 "2021-09-01T13:50:09Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > That’s interesting as I find the American pronunciation more like the way it is pronounced in most European languages. The vowel is /u/ or sometimes /y/ (like an ü) not /ʌ/. I first encountered Nutella in Germany, and so I pronounce it that way, the same as in the US. On the other hand, we first encountered Ikea in Germany as well, and for a long time we pronounced it ih-KAY-uh. Now we sort of go back and forth between the two options. ---
**Author:** ![Keeve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f07891/32.png) [@Keeve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keeve)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2021, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-pronunciation/949375/170 "2021-09-01T18:18:35Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > the merry-marry-Mary merger There’s no area where marry/merry are the same and Mary is different? ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUBv.2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanubv.2/32/3260_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUBv.2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUBv.2)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2021, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-pronunciation/949375/171 "2021-09-01T18:37:10Z")
I was raised in SoCal so I guess I’m part of the Great Merger but I say “merry” and “Mary” slightly different. Maybe because my name rhymes with “Mary”(?) But how would “Marry” and “Mary” be different from each other? ---
**Author:** ![hibernicus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hibernicus/32/2802_2.png) [@hibernicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hibernicus)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2021, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-pronunciation/949375/172 "2021-09-01T18:56:19Z")
The same way that bad and bed are pronounced differently. In my speech (Ireland) marry has the same vowel as bad. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2021, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-pronunciation/949375/173 "2021-09-01T18:56:31Z")
According to Wikipedia, only 1%. And the sea of red may be slightly misleading — 57% of Americans pronounce them the same, meaning 43% distinguish at least a pair of them. ---
**Author:** ![hibernicus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hibernicus/32/2802_2.png) [@hibernicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hibernicus)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2021, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-pronunciation/949375/174 "2021-09-01T19:03:09Z")
If your name is Gary and you pronounce it in the American fashion, it will be transliterated into Japanese as “geri”, which is unfortunate because it means diarrhoea. But if you pronounce it in the British way it will become “gari” which means ginger, which is better. IMO. ---
**Author:** ![eschrodinger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschrodinger/32/122_2.png) [@eschrodinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschrodinger)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2021, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-pronunciation/949375/175 "2021-09-01T19:11:34Z")
There are YouTube videos that demonstrate it. I tend to merge them, but I can make them separate, too. It’s unnatural in my accent though. I feel like I’m putting on an accent (which I am) and also overly articulating the vowels. ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUBv.2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanubv.2/32/3260_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUBv.2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUBv.2)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2021, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-pronunciation/949375/176 "2021-09-01T19:22:42Z")
So, from watching a video that illustrtes each, I take it that it’s the double “R” that changes the vowel sound? Meaning in certain dialects, my name (Shari) would not rhyme with “Harry”(?) ---
**Author:** ![Esprise\_Me](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/esprise_me/32/2947_2.png) [@Esprise\_Me](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Esprise_Me)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2021, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-pronunciation/949375/177 "2021-09-01T19:23:14Z")
> [@BwanaBob](#): > > When Americans absorb a foreign word they attempt to hold onto the native pronunciation as closely as the English phonemes will allow them to. No, we really don’t. We could get a lot closer with Amarillo, TX than rhyming it with “armadillo.” Ditto San Pedro, Los Angeles, and God knows how many places with French names I wouldn’t even know how to properly pronounce. And it’s not just places in the U.S.; we pronounce the “R” in Rio de Janiero the way English speakers do, instead of the more “H”-like sound the people who live in Brazil use! I struggle with place names taken from Spanish. I’m torn between the closest approximation I can do of the Spanish pronunciation, and the local English one. I wouldn’t have this problem if what you say were true. It’s possible we’re getting better, though, as this seems to be an issue with place names that have been around a while more than recently-borrowed terms. But there are also regional differences within the U.S. I see a lot more white folks in California getting Spanish pronunciation mostly right than I do in Texas, even though they’re both on the border with substantial Mexican populations. ---
**Author:** ![hibernicus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hibernicus/32/2802_2.png) [@hibernicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hibernicus)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2021, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-pronunciation/949375/178 "2021-09-01T19:24:46Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Gotcha. Thanks! If you are interested here’s a beautiful example of how the é is diphthongised in Central Swedish pronunciation: [(390) This is How “Agnetha” Is Pronounced in Her Voice (ABBA in Japan) - YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5HJmW8EY8m0) ---
**Author:** ![eschrodinger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschrodinger/32/122_2.png) [@eschrodinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschrodinger)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2021, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-pronunciation/949375/179 "2021-09-01T19:35:40Z")
Yes. When I make an effort to separate them, I think of lengthening the vowel in Mary, and I move my mouth differently (more open), and I think the vowel is farther back. ---
**Author:** ![eschrodinger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschrodinger/32/122_2.png) [@eschrodinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschrodinger)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2021, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-pronunciation/949375/180 "2021-09-01T19:39:02Z")
How would that apply to Ikea? The dipthong seems like it would be swallowed by the final vowel. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-pronunciation/949375.md?page=8) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-pronunciation/949375.md?page=10)