quote:Originally posted by Rappin' Ronnie Reagan: Huh. I have no idea how you're managing to get the a in cat in front of an r, 'cause it's not working for me. [/QB]
I know. It's a regional thing for sure. Like rivka said, listen to how the actors say the name "Harry" in Harry Potter. (especially think of Hermione exclaiming "Harry!" in exasperation.) It doesn't rhyme with hairy. That's similar to how some of us New Yawkuhs and other Northeasterners say the a in Barry/marry/carry. Although our r sound is different.
I don't really even have a NY accent anymore, so I probably don't sound so much like that in everyday conversation. But I can. And I certainly hear it.
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quote:Originally posted by rivka: Harry and hairy sound the same
Well that's just wrong. Although, once, when I was on the job, I heard one of the other nurses paging a doctor "Harry Busch". But she pronounced it "Hairy Bush". I managed to sputter out an inquiry as to what his specialty was. I would have fallen over laughing if it was OB/GYN.
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RRR, do you pronounce the "r" in car? Or are you of the "pahk yaw cah in Hahvahd Yahd" school?
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Harry, hairy, berry, Barry, airy, merry, Mary, and marry all definitely rhyme. I have been trying to say Barry with a short a for the last few minutes, and can't do it.
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quote:Originally posted by rivka: RRR, do you pronounce the "r" in car? Or are you of the "pahk yaw cah in Hahvahd Yahd" school?
I do, and I guess the r changes the vowel sound in car slightly so it's not quite like the ah in ave, but that's the closest approximation I could think of. Or maybe the r doesn't change it. I've managed to confuse myself with all the vowel sounds now. I'm not really sure how I pronounce anything at all anymore. :P
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quote:Originally posted by Jeni: I have been trying to say Barry with a short a for the last few minutes, and can't do it.
Say "Hat" Now, say "Hatty" Now, say "Haddy" Now, say "Haddy" without letting your tongue touch the top of your mouth. Now do all that while allowing your lips to form the "r".
quote:Well that's just wrong. Although, once, when I was on the job, I heard one of the other nurses paging a doctor "Harry Busch". But she pronounced it "Hairy Bush". I managed to sputter out an inquiry as to what his specialty was. I would have fallen over laughing if it was OB/GYN.
It wasn't.
(That's how I would pronounce it... But on to my amusing name anecdote.)
My mom worked at a hospital once with a Dr. Richard Dick. His nickname as a child was Dicky. So he was Dr. Dicky Dick. His specialty was-- what else?-- urology.
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quote:Originally posted by rivka: Clearly, we need to have another big Hatrack get-together.
That way, we can make ourselves nuts about pronunciation where everyone can hear us.
Definitely.
quote:If the "a" in car can be like that, why can't the "a" in Harry and Barry?
I think it's the double r. If I say just har or bar I use the same a as in car, but it just won't work with harry or barry.
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You could try sticking a 'y' on the end of 'car' Like 'car-y' and then stick a 'b' or an 'h' in front.
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Tante - If I say it very, very slowly with the first and second syllables very disconnected - though even then it's very unnatural. I just can't combine them without it turning into something that rhymes with airy.
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quote:Originally posted by Bella Bee: You could try sticking a 'y' on the end of 'car' Like 'car-y' and then stick a 'b' or an 'h' in front.
Okay, I can pronounce that, but I don't think I'd recognize those pronunciations as being the words "harry" and "barry" if someone were to pronounce them that way. I don't remember ever hearing them pronounced that way. I thought that you all were saying that the a in barry and harry was like the a in cat, though. I use a completely different a in cat than I do in car.
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quote:Originally posted by Bella Bee: You could try sticking a 'y' on the end of 'car' Like 'car-y' and then stick a 'b' or an 'h' in front.
No, car has a different vowel sound. I can't really think of any simple one-syllable "ar" words that you can just add "ee" to and come up with the same sound. I still say listen to the Brits say "Harry" and that's pretty close.
But I could open up a whole other can of worms by mentioning the different pronunciation of, say, horrible. The "or" sound for NYers is the same as the ar in "car." For most of the rest of the country, the first syllable is the same as "whore."
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I've got a Sprint cell phone. I have free phone calls to any other Sprint cell phone. Give my your phone number, and I'll call you and say "Marry me Mary and make me merry!"
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I really don't see the "marry" difference yet . . .
Mine: 50% General American English 25% Yankee 15% Dixie 5% Midwestern 5% Upper Midwestern
Right, Dad's German, Ma's a Carolina girl, and I first learned English from books and from living in Wisconsin.
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quote: Mary Mack's Father's making Mary Mack marry me My Father's making me marry Mary Mack And I'm going tae marry Mary tae get Mary tae take care o' me We'll all be makin' merry when I marry Mary Mack.
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This is a neat site with sample clips from different dialects in the US. Sadly, merry, marry and Mary are not in the clip, but it's still fun.
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Here's a site where you can listen to Mary, merry, and marry. (However, I don't think the "merry" one is going to be a distinct enough difference for those of you who aren't accustomed to it to hear the difference. I think you'll hear it in "marry," though.)
Turns out it also has the "horrible" pronunciation I mentioned.
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You could try watching some clips from Harry Potter and try doing an immitation of how the actors pronounce the word 'Harry'. And then say it the same way but with a 'b' rather than a 'h'.
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quote:But I could open up a whole other can of worms by mentioning the different pronunciation of, say, horrible. The "or" sound for NYers is the same as the ar in "car." For most of the rest of the country, the first syllable is the same as "whore."
I pronounce it with ar from car, too.
I really need to get the sound fixed on my computer.
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Okay, I switched to my computer that has sound. I can hear the differences between Mary, merry, and marry in those sound clips, but I don't think I can reproduce them. I say all of them like how the guy says merry, although on the page it says that in the US the other vowels have merged with the vowel from Mary. To me it sounds like the guy has some kind of twang when he says Mary, pushing the vowel toward the one in may.
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quote:Originally posted by Rappin' Ronnie Reagan: Okay, I switched to my computer that has sound. I can hear the differences between Mary, merry, and marry in those sound clips, but I don't think I can reproduce them. I say all of them like how the guy says merry, although on the page it says that in the US the other vowels have merged with the vowel from Mary. To me it sounds like the guy has some kind of twang when he says Mary, pushing the vowel toward the one in may.
Yeah, he says it like May-ree. My pronunciation is probably more like Mair-ee (or mair-ree). Which is, I think, how most Americans pronounce the vowel sounds in all three of those words, and is probably how his "merry" sounds to you. *Shrugs* I find this stuff fascinating, and I can beat this dead horse forever, but when it comes down to it it's just a silly distraction! ;-)
I think our regional pronunciation differences have really lessened a great deal with TV and all, and I hope we don't lose them altogether. But I'm a prime example of how it happens; I left NY and my accent became pretty generic, although sometimes people still pick up traces of it. I didn't try to change my way of speaking, but I guess I just sort of unconsciously tried to sound like those around me.
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RRR, I think rivka actually meant do you pronounce car as cah?
As in, "the crow cah'ed when the cah drove through the rotary. It was wicked cool! Hey, does anybody want to get some pizzer n' be-ah? Or do you want some tonic? Or maybe a sip from the bubblah?"
Jeni, I can hear the difference between marry and merry. The difference in Mary and marry I've only heard from the NYC area.
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