# Pronunciation: bury



## Isotta

Dear friends,

The other day a friend remarked that I have always pronounced "bury" in a way that rhymes with "flurry" rather than "berry." I did not think anything of it at the time, as I hear this sort of thing often. I have a hodgepodge accent from having lived in different anglophone countries, so I assumed it must have been valid in either BE, AE or CE. 

Then I found this. 

 Does no native anglophone pronounce "bury" as in "flurry" or "jury?" Am I the only one?

 Isotta.


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## Eddie

Hi, Isotta.

Speaking as a New Yorker, I can truthfully say that I have never heard _bury_ pronounced any way other than as a rhyme with _berry_. I don't recall ever hearing my British cousins pronounce it any other way either.


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## VenusEnvy

Isotta said:
			
		

> The other day a friend remarked that I have always pronounced "bury" in a way that rhymes with "flurry" rather than "berry." I did not think anything of it at the time, as I hear this sort of thing often.


Yes, I've always thought this pronunciation was adorable. My mother is from NY, and pronounced it like you do.

EDIT: Eddie, odd . . .  My family from NY pronounces it this way. I thought you all did!



			
				Isott said:
			
		

> Does no native anglophone pronounce "bury" as in "flurry" or "jury?" Am I the only one?


You're not alone. However, I don't pronounce it the way you do. 

My "bury" rhymes with "berry".


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## MrMagoo

VenusEnvy said:
			
		

> My "bury" rhymes with "berry".


 
Wouldn't you say the [e]-sound in "bury" is slightly longer than the one in "berry"?! 
(That's the way I pronounce it, I might be wrong, so I just want to know... )

Thanks.


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## Eddie

Not in NYC, Mr. Magoo. Both words are homonyms (or more accurately, homophones).


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## MrMagoo

Eddie said:
			
		

> Not in NYC, Mr. Magoo. Both words are homonyms.


 
Hi Eddie, 
what sound is used then, the longer one or the shorter one?


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## VenusEnvy

MrMagoo said:
			
		

> Wouldn't you say the [e]-sound in "bury" is slightly longer than the one in "berry"?!
> (That's the way I pronounce it, I might be wrong, so I just want to know... )


I'm with Eddie. They sound exactly the same to me.


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## Eddie

I'm confused, Mr. Magoo. In English, we distinguish between the short e sound, as in wet, and the long e sound as in see. Which are you referring to?


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## MrMagoo

Eddie said:
			
		

> I'm confused, Mr. Magoo. In English, we distinguish between the short e sound, as in wet, and the long e sound as in see. Which are you referring to?


 
Oh yeah, I forgot - I actually meant the difference between the sound e [e] as in "wet" and [e:] as in "bury" (a lengthened [e] kind of), but now as I thought about it, I think there is no sound such as [e:] in English. I'm sorry for having confused you...  
I guess I've pronounced "bury" incorrectly then until now... thanks for your hint!


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## Isotta

MrMagoo said:
			
		

> I guess I've pronounced "bury" incorrectly then until now... thanks for your hint!



There may yet be pronunciation variations... We shall see when more respond.

Isotta.


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## MrMagoo

Btw I'm always confused by how sounds are classified in English:

Long a = lame [ei]
short a = fat [ae]

long e = see [i:]
short e = wet [e]

short i = tin _
long i = mine [ai]

long o = hope [ou]
short o = pot [o]

long u = rude [u:]
short u = put 

Is this correct so far?!_


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## VenusEnvy

Mr: Looks good!


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## MrMagoo

VenusEnvy said:
			
		

> Mr: Looks good!


 
Ah, thank you 
So English rather classifies sounds the way they are written, not pronounced - that's the point that always confuses me then...
Ok, I'll try to keep this in mind *hehe*
Thanks again!!


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## Isotta

Well, sometimes. It's often rather arbitrary. For instance, "sow" (so meaning "to seed," and "sow" (sou) meaning "an adult female hog" have the same spelling and different pronunciations. There are quite a few of these heteronyms. 

Isotta.


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## Nick

Yes, and many of the common, everyday words are the ones that have multiple pronounciations.

I wound the bandage around the wound.
Wind up the string before the wind comes.
Please don't read me the signs; I've already read them myself.
A garden will produce produce.
The dove dove into the tree.
Someone had tied a large red bow on the ship's bow.


*Edit:*
Some of these differences are regional. For example, the following are the same to me: "I suspect the prime suspect.", "There was an overhead projector high overhead.", and "I was evening the wood when you called yesterday evening."

http://rinkworks.com/words/heteronyms.shtml is one site that lists words with different pronounciations (and some with not so different pronounciations).


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## panjandrum

Isotta said:
			
		

> Does no native anglophone pronounce "bury" as in "flurry" or "jury?" Am I the only one?


I am a bury=berry person, typical of here. You mentioned jury as well as flurry in your first post - almost suggesting that you pronounced bury=jury=flurry - though perhaps I've misunderstood.
They are all different, for me.

Buggrit - missed the second page of posts again 
Ah well, nothing there to change what I posted in the first place - but plenty to make me wish we had all been on a week's course to learn the phonetic alphabet - together 
On the other hand, if we did that, we wouldn't need to explain each other's pronunciation in weird symbols


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## gotitadeleche

And...
hint (short i)
lint (short i)
mint (short i)
tint (short i)
pint (*long * i)


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## MrMagoo

panjandrum said:
			
		

> I am a bury=berry person, typical of here. You mentioned jury as well as flurry in your first post - almost suggesting that you pronounced bury=jury=flurry - though perhaps I've misunderstood.
> They are all different, for me.
> 
> Buggrit - missed the second page of posts again
> Ah well, nothing there to change what I posted in the first place - but plenty to make me wish we had all been on a week's course to learn the phonetic alphabet - together
> On the other hand, if we did that, we wouldn't need to explain each other's pronunciation in weird symbols


 
I have always been a berry=bury person then, too - I just lengthened the e a little bit, I've never been told it was wrong though... maybe everybody just wanted to be polite


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## gotitadeleche

Oh, by the way, I'm a bury = berry person. And to me jury and flurry rhyme.


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## Nick

gotitadeleche said:
			
		

> Oh, by the way, I'm a bury = berry person. And to me jury and flurry rhyme.


Same here.


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## Isotta

panjandrum said:
			
		

> I am a bury=berry person, typical of here. You mentioned jury as well as flurry in your first post - almost suggesting that you pronounced bury=jury=flurry - though perhaps I've misunderstood.
> They are all different, for me.



Hmm, the way I pronounce the three don't sound _exactly_ the same, likely a result from the consonant preceding the "u," but each pronunciation is close to other two and far from "berry." 

Or do you mean that you say "flerry?"

I feel this pronunciation must be from somewhere I have lived. Perhaps I am already losing it?

Zotty.


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## jess oh seven

here in Scotland, "bury" is pronounced in the way that it rhymes with "hurry". but i speak with an American/Scottish accent (bizarre), so i'll either say it that way or the way which sounds like "berry".


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## GenJen54

To make matters more interesting, I've known people (I believe this is a northern/mid-western accent) who pronounce the word as "barry," with an exaggerated, flat "a" sound.

Yes, my friends, this is the same "barry" as in "Manilow."


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## Nick

GenJen54 said:
			
		

> To make matters more interesting, I've known people (I believe this is a northern/mid-western accent) who pronounce the word as "barry," with an exaggerated, flat "a" sound.
> 
> Yes, my friends, this is the same "barry" as in "Manilow."


Yes, "Barry" = "Berry" = "Bury"

What are you talking about? How is "barry" different than "berry"?


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## Isotta

jess oh seven said:
			
		

> here in Scotland, "bury" is pronounced in the way that it rhymes with "hurry". but i speak with an American/Scottish accent (bizarre), so i'll either say it that way or the way which sounds like "berry".



Ha! I was just about to ask what one says in Scotland! Now I have an inkling about how it came into my speech. 

As for your accent, when I went to an English school in Asia, we called these sorts of hybrid accents an "international accent." While it relieved us of talking about AE/BE differences, I think our saying this was really to make ourselves feel better for having accents that did not exactly belong to any one anglophone country. Oh well. Perhaps it is better to be a citizen of the world anyway.

Isotta.


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## GenJen54

> Originally posted by *Nick*:  Yes, "Barry" = "Berry" = "Bury"
> What are you talking about? How is "barry" different than "berry"?



No - this is a more pronounced, flat "a," as in hairy, but more open, with almost a nasal quality to it.

It's hard to describe.


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## Isotta

As in "hat?"

Isotta.


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## GenJen54

> Originally posted by *Isotta*:  As in hat?"


Yes, exactly!


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## panjandrum

*HUGE CHUCKLE*
This is totally mind-blowing.
Sadly, until *The First Great WR Annual Congress*, we'll never truly understand this - though I do have a nearby captive AE speaker, whose bizarre pronunciation I can use as a sampler - hence I do understand how berry = barry = hairy.
My bury=berry instead of bury=hurry is not generalised here, but is a result of my more cultured upbringing HAHAHA.

The current topic is wrestling with three words, bury, jury, flurry.
In the absence of a common phonetic language (one day....) here is my set of words-that-have-common-vowel-sounds with these:

bury = berry, Carey*, ferry, hairy*, gerry, merry, terry, wary*; *- a bit longer.

jury = fury, sure, ewer, your.

flurry = curry, hurry, worry.


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## foxfirebrand

I'm shocked that some people prounounce "jury" and "flurry" the same.

To me "jury" has the same u as "rural" and "flurry has the same u as "bug."  So "jury" doesn't rhyme with "fury" for me as it does for Panjandrum.  I guess I do use a longer, even kinda drawly "u" in "fury" and do rhyme "furious" with "injurious," though.  And some people pronounce "bury" as _berry_ and "burial" as _burrial._  (I wish I could think of *an* _-urial_ word as opposed to *a* _-urial_ word, the latter being words whose "u" has a y-upglide, pronounced _yoo_ as in _mercurial.)_

I've heard some NE-Seaboard type, New Yorkers included, who say "Barry" and "berry" differently.  The first is a flat "a" as in "bag," and the second a short "e" as in "beg."

I'm trying to stay in Yankee mode for the sake of clarity here, but it's hard.  "Beg" is just too easily pronounced _beyyg._


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## cuchuflete

Isotta said:
			
		

> Dear friends,
> 
> The other day a friend remarked that I have always pronounced "bury" in a way that rhymes with "flurry" rather than "berry." I did not think anything of it at the time, as I hear this sort of thing often. I have a hodgepodge accent from having lived in different anglophone countries, so I assumed it must have been valid in either BE, AE or CE.
> 
> Then I found this.
> 
> Does no native anglophone pronounce "bury" as in "flurry" or "jury?" Am I the only one?
> 
> Isotta.



Isotta, 

before I read the other 29 replies, I'll go out on a limb, and tell you that I pronounce it as you do....rhymes with furry.

Cuchu


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## cuchuflete

More or less 'ditto'.

bury/hurry/furry
jury/close to cursi in Spanish, at least as far as vowels are concerned--the first syllable rhymes with poor and cure
berry/very/merry
Barry/ carry/tarry
Hairy/scary

These are five distinct sounds for me.

FFB in Yankee mode...buh jeezum! Haint dat sumpin


PS- sound #6:  beg/leg  a little different than keg/peg as beg and leg are almost pronounced as dipthongs.


			
				foxfirebrand said:
			
		

> I'm shocked that some people prounounce "jury" and "flurry" the same.
> 
> To me "jury" has the same u as "rural" and "flurry has the same u as "bug." So "jury" doesn't rhyme with "fury" for me as it does for Panjandrum. I guess I do use a longer, even kinda drawly "u" in "fury" and do rhyme "furious" with "injurious," though. And some people pronounce "bury" as _berry_ and "burial" as _burrial._  (I wish I could think of *an* _-urial_ word as opposed to *a* _-urial_ word, the latter being words whose "u" has a y-upglide, pronounced _yoo_ as in _mercurial.)_
> 
> I've heard some NE-Seaboard type, New Yorkers included, who say "Barry" and "berry" differently. The first is a flat "a" as in "bag," and the second a short "e" as in "beg."
> 
> I'm trying to stay in Yankee mode for the sake of clarity here, but it's hard.  "Beg" is just too easily pronounced _beyyg._


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## foxfirebrand

cuchuflete said:
			
		

> beg/leg a little different than keg/peg as beg and leg are almost pronounced as dipthongs.


 
Especially when emotions are running a little high.  "Hey!  Wut's wraong witcher dawg's *la-a-ay-yig?*"


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## cuchuflete

That earns you a Yankee story.


Jeb- Aiy 'enry.  Hear yuh hadtuh shoot yuh dog.  Was 'e mad?

Henry- Wuhnt none too pleased 'bout it, I imagine.




			
				foxfirebrand said:
			
		

> Especially when emotions are running a little high.  "Hey!  Wut's wraong witcher dawg's *la-a-ay-yig?*"


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## foxfirebrand

Good one!

I realize now what variety of "Yankee" you had in mind when you made that comment earlier.  Too bad the Civil War made it such a catch-all term.

The forbearance the "hospitable" hill people down South show a lost interloper-- not a far cry from that of the "laconic" down-easter.  In both places a wayward tourist is likely to get a somewhat cryptic message when they ask for directions.


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## cuchuflete

I'll have to re-visit my revisionist history texts.  I had thought it was the red-coated British who made that a catch-all term, and that the Civil War reduced the scope to those from the North

Regardless, you are right.   The down-easter will tell people where to turn in terms of local names for landmarks...not on any sign or map.
Example...years ago, the local supermarket was called "Shop & Save".  It was acquired by a large chain, and for years has borne the sign Hannaford.
Locals continue to refer to it as the shop and save, to the enduring confusion of tourists asking for directions.  




			
				foxfirebrand said:
			
		

> Good one!
> 
> I realize now what variety of "Yankee" you had in mind when you made that comment earlier. Too bad the Civil War made it such a catch-all term.
> 
> The forbearance the "hospitable" hill people down South show a lost interloper-- not a far cry from that of the "laconic" down-easter. In both places a wayward tourist is likely to get a somewhat cryptic message when they ask for directions.


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## foxfirebrand

I think those pesky Lobsterbacks did annoy the Knickerbockers and Pennsylvania Dutch by confusing them with the Yankees to _their_ north.  The Revolution did start in New England, so the occupying armies might indeed have drawn an equation between rebels and Yankees.  I don't think that usage was taken up by locals, anywhere in the country.


Mark Twain grew up in an antebellum slave state, and seems to have equated "Yankee" with New Englanders-- hence "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court," published 20 years after the War.  In other words at least one reasonably erudite Southerner of those times preserved the specialized meaning of the word, and reverted to it after the Civil War.  

When it got broadened (in monosyllabic form, thank God) to include all Americans during WWII, it was again by the British, leading me to think the more generalized "all-American" usage was a BE thing all along.


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## Isotta

cuchuflete said:
			
		

> Isotta,
> 
> before I read the other 29 replies, I'll go out on a limb, and tell you that I pronounce it as you do....rhymes with furry.
> 
> Cuchu



How odd! I wonder why you pronounce it the same way I do. This disturbs the hypothesis I had formulated earlier after hybridscotsamerican had replied.

Yankee, or better yet, "Yank" in Britain--I'urnt goin' thayer. You'ins--'n ba' this I mayn cucher 'n' furfawks--kin tayk kayer'o'thiyis. 

Isotta.


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## NerdTableforone

I know this is really old. But, thank you for this. I am in a play where the word "bury" comes up. I never realised the difference in pronunciation. I am a furry rhymes with bury.


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## RocketScience

It's a regional variation with this word.

People in the midlands or south of England will generally pronounce it as rhyming with 'hurry', whereas northerners, including people from Bury itself will pronounce it 'berry'.

Note that this *only* applies to the name of the town near Manchester. When it comes to the verb 'to bury', everyone pronounces it 'berry'.


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## natkretep

If anyone wants an explanation for the spelling and pronunciation of the word, it is to do with dialect and accent differences in the Middle English period.

The Old English word from which it is derived is _byrgan _pronounced /ˈbyrjən/, that first vowel like the French _u_. The /y/ sound changed to /ʊ/ (like in _put_) in the Midlands, to /ɪ/ (like in _pit_) in the south, and to /e/ (like in _pet_) in the south-east. Printers used the spelling based on the Midlands pronunciation, but people adopted the pronunciation based on the south-east.

In the case of _busy_, printers also used the spelling based on the Midlands pronunciation, but people adopted the southern pronunciation instead.


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## Keith Bradford

Nobody yet seems to have mentioned the NW English town of Bury.  I'm from a region where the verb _bury _rhymes with _merry, very, ferry and berry_: a short [e] sound.  But when I moved to Manchester I found that people living in Bury pronounce the name of the town to rhyme with _hurry, Surrey and flurry_: the [ʌ] sound.


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## sound shift

Yup. I heard that [ʌ] pronunciation from supporters of Bury FC when they were down here recently.


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