I don't know of this has come up before. If so, bad luck:-)
Those foreign to English often pronounce this word differently than I, and it got me wondering about whether I'm really saying it correctly. At dictionary.com I found some interesting notes on this one: http://www.dictionary.com/search?q=bury
And that pretty much answered half my question.
It seems bury is generally spoken exactly the same as 'berry', or rather it rhymes with it as the link questions; 'Why does bury rhyme with berry?' it asks. It states how in certain parts of England bury was/is pronounced biry, boory (like jury) and bery. Fair enough, nothing uncommon. English students often opt for a pronunciation more like one of those rough, prickly husks, a burr, with a 'y' on the end though - and why not? One might agree that at least some would pronounce the 'bury' in Canterbury as such, as long as the '-bury' part is not swallowed as '-bry'. Or would you exclusively go for something like canterbery or cantabery?
Am I making myself clear? - Probably not.


p.s. How do you lot pronounce library, btw?
... ducking for cover [g]

I don't know if it is common but I pronounce differently:
bury = burr + ee
buried = berried
burial = burr + ial

Library = lye + brare + ee
(is there more than one way to pronounce library?)

is there more than one way to pronounce library?

The first r is silent.

> The first r is silent.

Have we an authority amongst us? [g]

> bury = burr + ee

Good to hear that some first language speakers do. I think you are in the minority with your 'burr + ee' version BelM, but certainly not alone. Canadians also say 'to-more-row' for tomorrow too, so I'd hardly expect a normal pronunciation of 'bury'. Perhaps your pronunciation is fairly standard in Canada?

Perhaps your pronunciation is fairly standard in Canada?

Or perhaps bel is not a "first-language speaker"?

I do the 'berry' thang, too. And 'li-berry' jocularly [ahem]

'February' I avoid altogether!

Now wait a minute there mister ...isn't tomorrow always pronounced to-more-row???

Perhaps your pronunciation is fairly standard in Canada?

I"m not sure on that. Because of the French influence in Québec there are some pronunciations that are different.

> isn't tomorrow always pronounced to-more-row

Errrr, no. Though my written form may be unclear to you.

The pronunciation of this word and others like it (e.g. 'bore-row' for borrow) is a 'secret' way to tell Canadians and USn's from one another. This vowel sound is the main difference between the two accents, but not the only. In ordinary language you don't have to wait too long before being able to confirm from which side of the border the person comes through this. Most of the time I can quickly single a suspect North American accent, I then wait for the 'to-more-row' confirmation - or alternatively an 'eh' at the end of a sentence before breaking open the maple syrup;-)

eh??



and pass the maple syrup please.

In Alabama :
Library--> (slowly now)--> Lie- buh- rare- ree.

- -

How do you lot pronounce library, btw? ... ducking for cover

From Gilbert and Sullivan's Iolanthe (the Fairy Queen, followed by the Lord Chancellor):

Oh! Chancellor unwary
It's highly necessary
Your tongue to teach / Respectful speech--
Your attitude to vary!
Your badinage so airy,
Your manner arbitrary,
Are out of place / When face to face
With an influential Fairy.

A plague on this vagary,
I'm in a nice quandary!
Of hasty tone /With dames unknown
I ought to be more chary;
It seems that she's a fairy
From Andersen's library,
And I took her for / The proprietor
Of a Ladies' Seminary!

[ducking for cover -e]

Children here go to LIE-berries;
grownups go to LIE-bragh-reez.

Children and grownups here berry objects in the sand. If they buried berries in the sand, it would be a berry berrial.

If the berry berrial occured the day following today, it would occur too-MAW-roe.

Berry regards,
WW

bury

Interestingly enough, there is a newscaster named Chris Bury who fills in for Ted Koppel on Nightline, and is Koppel's heir apparant should he ever leave. And Chris Bury pronounces his name bure-ee as in jury. I guess the family changed the pronunciation to avoid the negative connotation. However, name entymology is usually pretty dead-on (unless the spelling's been changed, or they've been Anglicized or Americanized)...so, a millenium or so ago, when they were first attaching names, the first Bury was prolly a gravedigger...and originally pronounced that way.

(and if you were famed for intimidating the enemy by the menacing way you found of shaking your speare at them in the charge, well......good thing Will's forebears weren't known for dropping their speares, eh? Dropspeare would be such a bummer...but then, once it attained the same legendary status praps Dropspeare would bear the same respectful resonance after all?..it's the work, not the name, right?)

good thing Will's forebears weren't known for dropping their speares, eh? Dropspeare would be such a bummer

Had they been Dropspeare's, Will likely would not have been around to experience the displeasure of carrying around such a name.

Had they been Dropspeare's, Will likely would not have been around to experience the displeasure of carrying around such a name.

Good point, Jazzo! Uh, spearepoint that is!

If you mean that pronunciation of family names is a reliable guide to how the word was pronounced, I would want to check that with all the Deaths and Deadmans around here first.

Pronounced, on the most part, as Deeths and Deedmans, no doubt? Wonder what one had to be up to in antiquity to be dubbed with such a monicker? And why would one allow such a name to stick?

   "You're a deadman!"

   "Cool! I kinda like that name! You can keep calling me that if you like...
uh, instead of killin' me."

I just asked my husband, a non native English speaker, and he pronounces it the burr-ee way, I do berry. His library is without the first r. The word makes perfect sense to him because the verb lie is,to lend, in German.
The pronunciation of Nevada as Nevahda bugs me.

foggy gardens

The pronunciation of Nevada as Nevahda bugs me.

Hi pjandq, so is it your hubby that pronounces it Nevahda.

How *would you prononuce it, Nuh-vay-duh?

Or wait, wait, I know. Nay BAH thah (that's with a voiced th as in than)

Hi belligerent one,

I don't think any Brits have responded to this one yet, so I'll summarize my own pronunciations. I'd have to add that these may well be subject to regional variations (my "region" being essentially Southern England, with a smidgeon of Midlands and the merest dash of West Country to the way I talk):

bury = BEH-ree

library = LIBE-ruh-ree

Canterbury = CAN-tuh-BUH-ree
(the first "r" is almost, but not quite, sounded)

Fisk