SUE: Siw or Soo???

[TwatCat]

I never realised until today that people pronounce the name Sue differently. So is it:

Siw as in new or
Soo as in too?

I say Siw, but the Sue (Susan) I know, today said her name is pronounced Soo (Soosan) and I was mind blown. I always thought it was pronounced Siw (Siwsan) and our workplace was divided on the issue, about half and half of Siw vs Soo.

Pour and for are the same in my accent!
In "Welsh" poor is said more like poo-er. My English DH says pore (to rhyme with fore (play)

OP's 'siw' isn't s-you though. It seems to be something in Welsh that doesn't exist in English

The i is a very short sound. Like the i in sit.
Huw
Sue
Few
Dew
Jew

All the same in Welsh

Any one on here say tuth for tooth? Just to really prove you're Welsh

While I'm at it, you're is pronounced yewer in Welsh

Hugh and Huw is the sane pronunciation where i live. Only difference is the spelling.
Its Huw to us here.

If you have a fairly neutral English accent, imagine saying 'silver' like you're in EastEnders, and chopping it off before the v.

It's not quite right, but that's the closest I can get to it! I know how it should sound, I just can't make/describe it easily.

Or, like you're saying Cyril, but can't say your Rs properly.

We're all saying poo, so to speak.

I thought I knew what the OP meant until she got to Hugh and Huw. The are both Hyou to me. I would need to hear her different pronunciations.

I genuinely cant think of any way you could say pork other than rhyming with fork. How are people saying pork?

Please can someone who doesn’t say fork and pork the same record it? I do not understand.

Also Hugh and Huw sound exactly the same when I say them - I wouldn’t say there’s a different pronunciation as such, rather a more clipped way of saying it which is due to accent.

I know exactly what you mean and am also from the Welsh valleys. My mum is Sue (and would say Soo - English) but some of her friends would pronounce it Siw. It's just an accent thing rather than a pronounciation thing per se. I wouldn't say they were saying it 'wrong'.

I say tooth rather than tuth, but again am used to hearing it that way.

Year, ear, and here all pronounced the same too - Yurr!

I genuinely can’t hear the difference. I mean, I kind of can if I imagine that one from Gavin and Stacey saying it, but it doesn’t equate to a different spelling. Just a more clipped tone.

I must be as annoying to those of you that can hear it properly as those that can’t say ‘that’ and say ‘vat’ instead and claim they can’t hear the difference

Sooooooo

Oh I had many a happy hour with a friend when I moved to Scotland finding out which words did/didn't rhyme for both of us.

My personal favourite in the north west thought is the "ur" and "air" sound. There's basically a sliding scale from Liverpool to Preston where purse and square rhyme (pairse and square in Liverpool, purse and squrr in Preston).

@BooseysMom - I said it like the Mr Tumble character in my head!! But doesn’t the antiques lady he does say it like that too? That’s who I’m picturing!!

I once listened to a programme on radio 4, where the presenter was trying to find the place between Derbyshire/Yorkshire where house sounds more like arse. Thing is, I live in Nottingham and here house sounds quite a lot like arse, for someone with a strong accent.

Anyway, I too would like to know the pork fork thing.

Let's throw another one into the mix, something that has bugged me since school days. In my access, the following all sound the same:

pour / poor / paw / por (as in pork)

But my English teacher was adamant that 'poor' is pronounced differently. Maybe it was where he came from, but not to me!

Soo!

I think an east ender would pronounce pork more like pawk

Pore (as in skin) and pour as in the tea sound the same to me.
Poor is different - poo-er.

@lottiegarbanzo

I'm not! I'm trying to understand the OP's question. What's your take on that?

I've already answered the OP's question and also posted pronunciation variations upthread, which should make things clear.

Aha Testing, I'm from Yorkshire and now live in the Derbyshire Peaks. I definitely say house, 'arse' is more prevalent in Derby, N and E Sheffield and into the east of Derbyshire. So S Yorks, E Derbs I'd say.

I would say Soo but in general I gather the “iw” sound is falling into disuse. “Noo” is more common than “niew” now apparently.

(Random but related: I think Ursula sounds nice with the yew sound but less nice without.)

I can only say "siw" if I make it a sound effect somewhere between the pyew pyew sound little children make when firing fake pistols and the shuw shuw sound made when imitating racing cars flying past.

I say Una as Yew-na, but you also hear Oo-na.

Wait.... You say.... SYOU?!?!?
That's utter madness syurely!!!

The Cyril variant is the easiest for me. It's a tricky sound to make (if you're not Welsh).