our/are

[ComfyLeatherChair]

Should these be pronounced differently?
I pronounce our as 'ower' and are as 'ar' but this could perhaps be a result of an American upbringing.

P.S. posting here is more daunting than AIBU.
I may have spent quite a bit of time thinking about the difference between pronunciation and enunciation
and then previewed the message twice, and there are probably still lots of grammatical errors!

I think I say them in the same way. (It becomes impossible to hear yourself when paying attention to something that ought to be automatic!)

It's a matter of accent, so unless you are going to say that there is one accent that is "correct". Since RP died out from ordinary use post-war, I don't think there is a single standard "correct" pronunciation (though there are a range of non-localised accents which are considered as standard or 'educated' or 'posh'). I'm not sure how 'are/our' come out in those accents.

PS: pedants (and cunning linguists) are not the grammar police; they discuss language amongst themselves, and as I have done here on request. They do not jump into AIBUs with grammar based put-downs.

Consciously thinking about it I pronounce them like that.

In my head, when typing quickly, I clearly don't because our becomes are frequently.

Thank you. meditrina - I didn't mean to imply anything horrible about pedants corner, I am just the same when writing notes to the teacher!

I think I became very conscious of how I pronouce words when I came back from the States. I didn't know that our/are was a regional difference.
On another note, my MIL who worked for 'the gentry' insists that correct thing to say if you don't hear someone correctly is "what". Actually she also insists that Mars bars are healthy and should be consumed on a regular basis.

I'm with you Comfy, I very clearly say 'ower' - as in 'power' - for our. I pronounce it exactly as I do 'hour'. I think that my pronunciation is generally RP. (The last time I heard a recording of my voice I realised I sound like Princess Anne .)

Our I pronounce ower
Are I pronounce ar

When I worked in Harrods I heard a very posh woman referring to reading an article in 'Flea-aah'. It took me a while to realise she was referring the magazine 'Flair'!

Our - ower
are - arr

(Scottish)

I say 'pardon' if I dont hear what someone said

I Spy as performed by la famille prism:

I spy with my little eye something beginning with R...

... Our Tracy (if she is indeed present)

I am from NI, and I pronounce both like a pirate - arrr!

Comfy - my parents also worked for the gentry. In our house saying 'pardon' was a hanging offence, as was 'toilet.'