Do you pronounce Merry and Mary the same?

[SpringIsSpringing23]

The main character in a book I'm reading is called Merry. She has to introduce herself as "Merry as in Merry Christmas, not the Virgin Mary" for other people to spell it right.

In my accent they are pronounced differently!

If Merry and Mary are pronounced the same then does Mary Berry's name rhyme? Are ferry and fairy the same? Very and vary?

In ER, I always thought the character was called Carrie Weaver because that’s how everyone says it, then a British actress started and said Kerry Weaver. I really had no idea that was her name.

@SpookyBlackCat WHAT??? I had to check that. Everyone called her Carrie, how the hell is it Kerry?

I thought the character in True Blood was called ‘Terra’ for ages until I saw the actress interviewed and realised she was called Tara!

Haha this was me when I watched Buffy as a kid.

@BeStrongLittleRodney Exactly that. They don’t rhyme, but people assume they’ve misheard. I know this because I know someone called Merry and everyone gets her name wrong.

Mary rhymes with fairy, hairy. The 'a' sounds like 'air'
Merry rhymes with ferry, Derry, and, as said at the start the 'e' is like the start of 'egg'

The shape of your mouth is very different - a much wider 'smile' when you say 'Merry'

Eh? I’m West Midlands and giraffe and scarf rhyme!

I'm in the West Mids too, and they don't at all to my ear.
I'd say scarf like scar with an f on the end
I'd say giraffe with an "raff" sound like in a raffle, where the 'a' is like at the start of 'apple'.

@SpookyBlackCat and @WhatsitWiggle I’m currently rewatching ER from the start (an excellent use of maternity leave) and the subtitles alternate between referring to Dr Weaver as Kerry and Carrie. So clearly All4's subtitling department can't hear the difference!

Mary is 'May uh ree' for me. Merry is 'meh ree'

I know Canadians who were surprised “Kerry” Mulligan spelled her name “Carey”, and thought it was just a variant spelling like Catherine/Kathryn.

Have also met an Irish Mary who pronounced it “Maaa-ry” (to rhyme with bar, car, tar etc). Not sure if it’s a different Irish name and she’d anglicised the spelling (she must have been born in about 1950 and had lived in the UK for at least 40 years), or if that’s a variant pronunciation.

This

Or the north of England - I don’t have a rhotic accent but I do use a short “A” sound in words like “giraffe” (and castle, bath, grass etc).

Giraffe and scarf actually both have short a's for me @Saschka, but they still don't rhyme because of my rhotic accent😊

Have also met an Irish Mary who pronounced it “Maaa-ry” (to rhyme with bar, car, tar etc).

Are you sure she didn't spell her name Marie as that is quite often pronounced as you've indicated? I'm in Ireland and I've never met a Mary who says it like that, but there's always a first time of course.

Like mary beary 🧸🤣

Still rhymes in other accents! It just sounds different! Like bath / bath.

Just perfect! 😀

Know a Marie from Scotland, pronounced 'Marry'. With a tiny 'back of the throat' pause in the middle. Difficult for an English accent to replicate.

My ex is from California and he makes no distinction between the words merry, Mary and marry. Whereas my parents are from New York and New England and they distinguish between all three like an English accent would (meh-rry, Mairy and mah-rry).

Same here. I'm sure they're just being difficult on purpose tbh - even if you don't have friends from different places and you only know people who talk like you do, surely you've turned a tv on from time to time and been introduced to the concept of accents?!

Some people from the West Midlands use the longer A sound for words like bath and class. I'd say the majority use short A sounds, and I notice the long A sound more in older people, typically people from Birmingham. I wonder if that variation of the accent is dying out?

I was thinking this.
If I encounter a supposed rhyme in a book that doesn’t work for me I presume that it works for the author in their accent and move on. Poetic licence allows for slant rhyme after all.

Slant rhyme is different to no rhyme at all, which can happen too.

Yes, I know that if a rhyme doesn't work in a book it's because the author has a different accent.

I still think if you're a famous children's author/publisher, and your rhyming books are marketed in an English-speaking country other than your own, that it would be a nice courtesy to take the general accent /pronunciation of the other country into account. You'll never suit everyone of course as accents vary so much, I know that, but sweeping differences like rhotic vs non-rhotic could be considered maybe? Otherwise people are paying good money for a somewhat inferior product - don't forget these products are aimed at young children and are recommended as tools to master phonics and reading as well as for enjoyment. It's not the same thing as poetry written for adults.

I met a Mary from Yorkshire who to me said it like merry... I don’t think she thought she did, but I repeated merry back to her(I’m Scottish), she said yes and looked real confused when I said something about it being a nice name and unusual.

Then later saw it written down and realised it was Mary.

Farmers rhymes with Pyjamas is my accent.

We used to have a book that rhymed carrot and share it. I did have to put on an accent to read it.

I actually went to school with a girl called Merry, which was short for Meredith. I always thought it was a nice name.

Merry is slight stress on first syllable. Mary has a longer stress on first syllable- Maary.