He is going to marry merry Mary

How would you pronounce this sentence?

I pronounce all three of those words the same.

All different.

M@rri: merri: M-ai-ri:
Smith...I think you will find you pronounce all three words at least a bit differently surely?

This is a topic that has been dealt with many many times here on the forum. In the American Midwest and California you'll find that these words are pronounced the same. Here on the East Coast, they're all pronounced differently.

All the same for me (sigh) :-(

''Smith...I think you will find you pronounce all three words at least a bit differently surely?''

Nope, No difference.

Same thing with these words,

fairy/ferry
hairy/Harry/Herry
carry/kerry

I also pronounce ''caught'' and ''cot'' the same.

All the same? That amazes me.....I can't really get my head round this one! (sigh) :-( (wink!)

It's like me saying "He's going to Marry Marry Marry
do Merry Merry Merry
do Mary Mary Mary

huh?? there has to be some SHADE of difference?

It would be really, really great to go over the the USA and travel around that huge country and listen to people and talk face to face and then I can experience all the differences.

As I have said in a previous post I would love to do that, travel by road all over the place and compare Vermont with Nevada, Alabama with Oregon and Iowa with West Virgina and everything in between. I would write a book on that fantastic experience. The real America is not a bit like you see in films or on tv I am sure. Or is it? In some respects I hope it isn't!

Wow, I havent even done that here in my own country yet....it's very varied here as well but all packed into a tiny area in comparison. We are smaller in physical size than a number of individual US States.

In fact, I haven't really started living yet so I hope it will happen sometime in the near future. Guess I will have to get some dosh together first! :-)

No, the real America is not at all like what you see in films or TV.

But, as to language, it is quite true that for western U.S. speech there is absolutely no distinction at all between "marry", "merry", and "Mary". Not in the slightest degree.

Now, as to caught/cot, that is one of the words in the study William Labov (mentioned earlier in another thread) has done. Supposedly, at this point in time the English language in America is undergoing a greater change than ever before in regard to pronunciation.

According to the study, the distinction between vowel sounds in caught/cot and dawn/don is disappearing.

What I can hardly believe, however, is that the study concludes the distinction is disappearing in the western U.S. I clearly say the caught/cot and dawn/don pairs very differently and, from what I observe, others here in the western U.S. do also. So, my somewhat limited observation disagrees with the results of the study. I am interested in how others in the western U.S. pronounce the caught/cot, dawn/don pairs.

Mary ('mæri:)

Merry ('meri:)

Marry ('mari:)

I don't pronounce them the same but it's also standard to pronounce them the same.


For my ignoramus(es) [Etymology in Latin "We ignore.]

''Emmanuel or Immanuel'' Why not pick one of them and go by instead of using both.

Because Emmanuel and Immanuel sound the same. Perhaps he doesn't choose one.

I pronounce it,
marry sound different to me cause it has the a sound in cat,


now the difference bettwen the vowel sound in For and Far it's disappearing in usa,
i give it twenty years untill it sounds backward not to pronounce for and far the same.

If you don't live in usa ,want to make sure or just don't believe it just pay attention to the way actors pronounce words in the different american tv shows,

For Far
Sause Soss
George Garg
call Coll
Saw So
Small smoll
Fall Foll
More Mar
Sore Sar
Dorm
Wall
Talk
Walk

Rud, you are totally wrong. ''for'' and ''far'' sound very different in all American accents. [fo:r] vs. [fa:r].