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Ulster milkmaids

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Quinn C

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May 18, 2022, 1:18:04 PM5/18/22
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It occurred to me that to some Americans, "Derry Girls" sounds the same
as "Dairy Girls". How unfortunate.

That reminds me again how I heard an ad for the shaving equipment seller
Harry's and thought to me "They're pronouncing it weird. I see, they're
deliberately pronouncing it like 'hairy'". Later I learned that this
pronunciation is natural to some speakers and was probably the reason
for the naming of the company.

Many of these dialect phenomena take an incident like that for me to
notice them; I don't usually pick them up from just listening. It
probably plays a role that English is a second language and I'm usually
busy understanding.

--
The precise meaning of the expression "hey, ho" is lost in antiquity.
-- Sam the Eagle

Ken Blake

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May 18, 2022, 2:05:10 PM5/18/22
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On Wed, 18 May 2022 13:17:57 -0400, Quinn C
<lispa...@crommatograph.info> wrote:

>It occurred to me that to some Americans, "Derry Girls" sounds the same
>as "Dairy Girls". How unfortunate.


To some Americans, yes. But not to me. It's like Mary, merry, marry.
They are different to me.


>That reminds me again how I heard an ad for the shaving equipment seller
>Harry's and thought to me "They're pronouncing it weird. I see, they're
>deliberately pronouncing it like 'hairy'".

My son's name is Larry. Back when he was 12 or so, we used to live
next to a couple who came from the midwest. They pronounced his name
to rhyme with "hairy." My wife and I don't.

Peter T. Daniels

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May 18, 2022, 3:51:57 PM5/18/22
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On Wednesday, May 18, 2022 at 1:18:04 PM UTC-4, Quinn C wrote:

> It occurred to me that to some Americans, "Derry Girls" sounds the same
> as "Dairy Girls". How unfortunate.
>
> That reminds me again how I heard an ad for the shaving equipment seller
> Harry's and thought to me "They're pronouncing it weird. I see, they're
> deliberately pronouncing it like 'hairy'". Later I learned that this
> pronunciation is natural to some speakers and was probably the reason
> for the naming of the company.
>
> Many of these dialect phenomena take an incident like that for me to
> notice them; I don't usually pick them up from just listening. It
> probably plays a role that English is a second language and I'm usually
> busy understanding.

The Mary/marry/merry merger prevails, alas, in most of the US.
(For those afflicted by it -- you know who you are -- dairy is Mary
and Derry is merry.) It claims a lot more territory than the cot/
caught merger.

I recently met someone called Terry. Turns out he's spelled Tarry.
He, and more relevantly his mother, are from Kansas City,

Jerry Friedman

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May 18, 2022, 7:16:57 PM5/18/22
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On Wednesday, May 18, 2022 at 11:18:04 AM UTC-6, Quinn C wrote:
> It occurred to me that to some Americans, "Derry Girls" sounds the same
> as "Dairy Girls". How unfortunate.
>
> That reminds me again how I heard an ad for the shaving equipment seller
> Harry's and thought to me

"thought to myself". Another option is just "thought".

> "They're pronouncing it weird. I see, they're
> deliberately pronouncing it like 'hairy'". Later I learned that this
> pronunciation is natural to some speakers and was probably the reason
> for the naming of the company.
>
> Many of these dialect phenomena take an incident like that for me to
> notice them; I don't usually pick them up from just listening. It
> probably plays a role that English is a second language and I'm usually
> busy understanding.

That was my experience in England and Ireland.

--
Jerry Friedman
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