<p>Okay, I give up! <flings hands="" in="" air,="" flounces="" dramatically="" from="" the="" room.=""></flings></p>
<p>Kerry and Carrie were my daughter’s two best friends in middle school. All the kids pronounced them the same way. It got confusing and they had to keep stopping each other and ask which girl was being referred to…“Wait, Kerry who is going with Jacob, or swim team Carrie?”.<br>
Both are care-ee.</p>
<p>Here they say AM-bew- lance for that thing that takes you to the hospital.</p>
<p>They do, garland -out in the Midwest, they are incapable of not letting the presence of an r or double r “overwhelm” the short vowel! So cherry and Carrie are just versions of the merry/marry thing and both are “chair-ee.”</p>
<p>I’ve heard some people say kerry & cherry (and Mary) with a more closed vowel, almost “mirry” if that makes any sense. Definitely different from “carry” & “marry.”</p>
<p>Let me put it this way–my D was named after the County in Ireland. They don’t say care-ree there! nuff said.</p>
<p>short e is eh…not air…just pronounce the short vowel sounds like they are meant…lol…there is no “air” sound in cherry or Kerry or Erin or Eric…it’s a short e sound.</p>
<p>^^My boss, who’s from Philadelphia pronounces Eric… Urric and Erin…Urrin.</p>
<p>Geeps–there’s one thing we can agree on!:)</p>
<p>^hey, it took a while, but it’s a start I guess…lol</p>
<p>Mary, marry and merry are spelled differently because they were originally pronounced more differently than they are today in America. Not the vagaries of spelling at all. It’s fairly subtle though.</p>
<p>I got my son to pronounce “don” vs “dawn”. He does pronounce them more differently than I do, but it’s pretty subtle. I think I do stretch out the “aw” sound in dawn longer than the “aw” sound in Don.</p>
<p>It’s weird that Aaron is, a as in cat, not like “baa” with the double a.</p>
<p>Ok, Two words that I have heard with such differences in pronunciation since we have lived in so many parts of the country…roof and poem.<br>
Depending on where we were it has been rue-f or or roooof (like woooof from a dog, if that makes sense).
And Poe-em or poi-m (like Hawaiian poi with an m on the end. Kind of poym).<br>
I don’t even remember how I first learned either one .</p>
<p>Drifting off humming “You say either, I say eye-ther, You say neither, I say nye-ther, let’s call the whole thing off…”</p>
<p>Has anyone noticed that the younger generation says tew for to (sounds like few)? They do it with other words too (also tew). Where does that come from?</p>
<p>Also Garland I smiled when you used the word cat as an example of how to say short a words because in Michigan that word would also be pronounced cait (ai as in the word hair). Yep it’s enough to make you tear your hair. That cat on the mat is so fat would be Thait cait an the mait is soo fait.</p>
<p>^I don’t remember that from when I lived in Michigan. Maybe because I was too busy being laughed at for saying talk, coffee, and water wrong!</p>
<p>What some of you are talking about are lax a’s vs tense a’s. </p>
<p>For example, do you say these the same …
Can (used as a verb - I can do this)
Can (used as a noun - as in a trashcan)?
In the mid-Atlantic, the first is lax and the second is tense. In the midwest, both are tense.</p>
<p>Also consider words like mad, bad, glad, sad, lad. Do those all rhyme? For me (with a mid-Atlantic accent, though somewhat modulated over the years), the first 3 are more tense and the last 2 are lax. I wouldn’t rhyme mad and sad in a poem. </p>
<p>Or, consider mass (as in the mass of an object) and Massachusetts. For me, mass would be tense but Massachusetts would be lax; and if I were referring to “Mass Ave” (abbreviating Massachusetts) it would be lax and wouldn’t rhyme with mass-of-an-object or church-mass. </p>
<p>Mass-of-an-object also would be tense, but tassel or castle would be lax.</p>
<p>Sand and stand and candy are tense, but and is lax.</p>
<p>Hug, seriously I have no idea what part of Michigan you’re from. You’ve said so many things about Michigan that I’ve NEVER experienced from SE Michigan. Nor has my bf who is from SW Michigan. Nor has my roommate who is from rural northern Michigan. I really think that’s an accent from whatever small area you’re from, definitely not a Michigan accent.</p>
<p>Hair and cat sound NOTHING alike.</p>
<p>RGE–see #76–it is the spelling Hug used that’s confusing. I think Hug means the nasal short a sound.
Anyone remember the babysitter in “The Incredibles?”–Everyone kept calling her “Care-ree” and she kept correcting them, “It’s CAR-ree.” Or maybe she’s saying “CAHR-ree.” Is this what people mean when they say Carrie and Kerry are not the same? Is it that they’re saying the “A” in Carrie differently? ( It’s not that I say Kerry just like Carrie, I say Carrie just like Kerry?) Maybe the sound I mean when I spell “air” isn’t the sound you say when you read “air?” </p>
<p>Can’t figure out why mad/sad OR sand/and wouldn’t rhyme. Do you say “sahd” and “ahnd” for the more lax “a?”</p>
<p>Poem: H says “Poi-im”–probably heard it from his English teachers in Memphis. I say “pome” or “po-em” --about halfway between one and two syllables.
The other thing H says that bugs me is “greaZy” (I say greaSy). (H doesn’t have a southern accent–his mom was from Iowa, spent most of his adult years in the NE, overseas, or Midwest–no one can tell where he’s from. He also did a lot of acting and can easily imitate most accents.)
D’s friend (parents are from FL) says “thanks” with a “th” like “the” instead of “think”. Not sure where this is from, but she had the nerve to tell D that hers is the CORRECT pronunciation.
How do you say “Sorry?” (My mom–from Milwaukee–says “sore-ree” --I say “sar-ree.”)</p>
<p>My kids switched our answering machine to Spanish a few months ago and I don’t know how to change it back. I can’t tell if I like the pronunciation or not ;)</p>
<p>I agree with Romani & wonder what part of MI, Hug? I’ve lived here all my life & have never heard cat pronounced like cait.</p>
<p>I have, however, heard many people say they work at Fords! :)</p>
<p>Our Chicago relatives always ask us if we want to “come with,” as in, “We’re going swimming. Do you want to come with?”</p>
<p>My co-worker from Pittsburgh drops “to be” from sentences all the time.</p>
<p>“The car needs washed”.
“The floor needs swept”</p>
<p>Even if she’s using the wrong spelling, ato, hair and cat sound NOTHING alike.</p>