As promised, more language neepery

[gnomi]

ETA: The first question should say "Mary/marry/merry." Sorry for the confusion.


[Poll #470680]

Comments

[cellio]

I pronounce "Mary" and "marry" the same but "merry" differently. (I assume those are the words you meant to list in the first question.)

[tsuki-no-bara.livejournal.com]

"marry" and "merry" sound different to me partly because i see them spelled out in my head, and they sound like different words because they are different words. ("marry" and "mary" sound the same, tho, or so close as makes no difference.) "marry" has a longish a, and "merry" sounds like "err" (like "to err is human" :> ) but with a y. i don't know if someone listening to me could tell the difference in the way i say them, but they sound different to me.

the difference between "erin" and "aaron" is the same as the difference between "merry" and "marry." plus which, spelling on the internal whiteboard. :>

and i don't use a style guide (*ghasp!*) - if something sounds wonky i ask someone for their opinion, otherwise i trust myself to get it right. i have a strunk & white somewhere, tho, because that's what they wanted us to use in high school.

gnomi: procrastinatory, or curious nerd? :D

[gnomi.livejournal.com]

Yup...and I didn't even notice the typo 'til just now. If only I could edit the poll...*sigh*

[teddywolf.livejournal.com]

Umm. Did you mean one of those to be 'marry'? (I'd better go change my answer then...)

[mamadeb.livejournal.com]

Ah. I was going to say that I pronounce "merry" and "merry" the same...

Filled out the poll incorrectly.

I pronounce all three differently.

[chanaleh.livejournal.com]

Chicago is not actually my "favorite", but it's MITP's house style guide, so it is the only one I've actually used in some time.

I tend to pronounce "Mary" like "merry" -- betraying my Midwestern roots? -- although I have acquired the broader a for "maaarry".

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

I prounounce the name and the action of wedding the same, and the feeling that you get when you're at a wedding differently.

"Aaron" and "Erin" don't even sound remotely similar. Both sets of vowel sounds are different. And, except in noisy environments or over poor phone connections or the like, everyone expects them to sound different and doesn't feel that they have to add extra qualifiers. Over a phone line, you might expect to hear "Erin-Stacey's-Sister" or "Aaron-Ben's-Cousin", to use to examples in my family, but in person, we expect that people aren't going to mix up Erin and Aaron, or "Erin" and "Aaron."

The AP Stylebook just happens to be the one I've got most accessable. I don't much care which one I use, really.

[cafemusique.livejournal.com]

I say "Mary" and "merry" the same but "marry" is a little bit different sometimes.

[beowabbit]

My default for Aaron and Erin is /'E r@n/ (first vowel same as in "fair"), but I understand that some people named Aaron pronounce it /'& r@n/ (first vowel same as in "path"). I'm also aware that this is an Americanism, and that in RP (e.g., on the BBC) both vowels are different, since RP distinguishes completely unstressed /I/ from /@/. (Also, that in RP, Mary and marry are pronounced the same as each other, but differently than merry.)

[quarkwiz.livejournal.com]

Mary and merry the same, mostly. Depends how fast I'm talking. Marry not the same.

[stakebait.livejournal.com]

Am I insane? Are not "merry" and "merry" in actual fact the same word?

My default style guide is the proprietary one for the magazine I work for, even when I'm not actually at work -- it's not necessarily my *favorite*, just the one that's gone reflexive after eight years.

[dianora2.livejournal.com]

I had a friend from Maryland with a friend named Kerry. Only for the longest time I thought it was Carrie. That shit makes me crazy.

[lisafeld.livejournal.com]

Back in college, everyone kept referring to this kid 'Elsie', who I never saw -- I kept looking for this lantern-jawed blonde from the Midwest. Took me over a year to discover that they meant L.C., or Ling Chen.

[gnomi.livejournal.com]

Am I insane? Are not "merry" and "merry" in actual fact the same word?

Uh...yeah. I typoed it while making the poll and then couldn't edit the poll. That's why the ETA at the top of the poll. It was supposed to be "merry" and "marry."

[zsero.livejournal.com]

I prefer the style manual of the Australian Government Information Management Office (formerly the Australian Government Publishing Service).

[stakebait.livejournal.com]

Whoops, sorry. Must've missed the ETA. I do three different ways, then.