Mal: You tell me right now, little Kaylee, you really think you can do this? Kaylee: Sure. Yeah. I think so. 'Sides, if I mess up, not like you'll be able to yell at me.

'Bushwhacked'


We're Literary 2: To Read Makes Our Speaking English Good  

There's more to life than watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer! No. Really, there is! Honestly! Here's a place for Buffistas to come and discuss what it is they're reading, their favorite authors and poets. "Geez. Crack a book sometime."


Hil R. - Mar 18, 2004 2:43:11 pm PST #1543 of 10002
Sometimes I think I might just move up to Vermont, open a bookstore or a vegan restaurant. Adam Schlesinger, z''l

Carrie rhymes with marry (as does Harry). Kerry rhymes with merry. Hairy comes very close to rhyming with Mary. Mary, merry, and marry are all pronounced differently. (In my New Yorkish accent, anyway.)

Mary has the same sound as "air." Merry has the same vowel as "egg." Marry has the same vowel as "cat." (Tried to think of words without r or n next to the vowel, since those tend to change the vowels around in some accents, but now that I think about it, I've heard people pronounce egg as "aig," so I'm not sure I'm not confusiing the issue more.)


Dani - Mar 18, 2004 3:41:35 pm PST #1544 of 10002
I believe vampires are the world's greatest golfers

Jess PMoon, that book made ALA's top ten most challenged of 2003 list.

Colour me unsurprised.


Fred Pete - Mar 18, 2004 5:13:59 pm PST #1545 of 10002
Ann, that's a ferret.

Fred Pete, did you say RAY-seen or ruh-SEEN for the city of Racine?

Ruh-SEEN. Right next to Kuh-NO-shuh.

Weirdest moment I ever had on that score was during high school, working at the Janesville (JANE'S-vil) McD's, waiting on someone who told me how nice JAN-es-vil was.


sarameg - Mar 18, 2004 5:29:42 pm PST #1546 of 10002

Marezeedoatsanddozeeetoatsandlittlelambseedivey. Kiddleeiveytoowooodenchew?

Ma/e/r/rr/ys are all the same to me. Pin and pen are different.


Ginger - Mar 18, 2004 5:56:19 pm PST #1547 of 10002
"It didn't taste good. It tasted soooo horrible. It tasted like....a vodka martini." - Matilda

I have sat here saying merry-mary-marry, and I can't hear a lick of difference. I have a Chicago accent altered by 35 years in the South, which pretty much means that I sound like a national newscaster who uses Southern idiom.


Steph L. - Mar 18, 2004 6:29:39 pm PST #1548 of 10002
I look more rad than Lutheranism

Mary has the same sound as "air." Merry has the same vowel as "egg." Marry has the same vowel as "cat."

So, they're theoretically pronounced M-air-ee (Mary), M-eh-ree (Merry), and M-aah-ree (Marry)?


dcp - Mar 18, 2004 6:35:41 pm PST #1549 of 10002
The more I learn, the more I realize how little I know.

My step-mother went to elementary school in Ithaca NY, then junior high in Atlanta GA. When she started high school in Sacramento CA she was told she had a "speech defect" and sent to remedial English. Made her so mad she is now a Ph.D. in linguistics.


Hil R. - Mar 18, 2004 7:13:00 pm PST #1550 of 10002
Sometimes I think I might just move up to Vermont, open a bookstore or a vegan restaurant. Adam Schlesinger, z''l

So, they're theoretically pronounced M-air-ee (Mary), M-eh-ree (Merry), and M-aah-ree (Marry)?

Yes.

One of my cousins lived in Western Massachusetts until he was 6, and then his family moved to California. His school put him into speech therapy because they thought he couldn't pronounce the letter R.


Anne W. - Mar 19, 2004 1:08:22 am PST #1551 of 10002
The lost sheep grow teeth, forsake their lambs, and lie with the lions.

So, they're theoretically pronounced M-air-ee (Mary), M-eh-ree (Merry), and M-aah-ree (Marry)?

I can make the distinction if I really, really try, but it's more trouble than it's worth.


Jessica - Mar 19, 2004 3:27:30 am PST #1552 of 10002
And then Ortus came and said "It's Ortin' time" and they all Orted off into the sunset

I had a camp counselor once named Merry, and we used to spend hours sitting around the cabin going "Mary....Merry....Mary....Merry...Mary..." to see if anyone could hear the difference. What we found out was that we all thought we were pronouncing them differently, but in reality, nobody else could hear it.