[Magdalen] Mary, Marry, and Merry

[Jay Weigel]

When I was growing up we had a neighbor who was originally from somewhere,
I believe, in the Tidewater area. She had three children, Marianne,
Malcolm, and Maureen, whose names she pronounced (more or less) as
"May-ree-ay-yan", "May-yal-comb", and "Mo-reeeeeeen". We used to joke that
it took her five minutes to call all three of her kids in.

Some years ago, I was at a party with a number of our church choir members
and the wife of one of them, coincidentally also from the Tidewater, was
telling a story about her childhood and about "hypnotizing chickens" (she'd
had a couple of drinks). She explained that if you turn them over on their
backs they will be hypnotized because "theyah brains ah loose in theyah
hayuds." By th time she got to that we had all pretty much dissolved in
laughter.

On Mon, May 18, 2020 at 5:24 PM Ginga Wilder <gingawilder at gmail.com> wrote:

> Grace, I believe the variations are rooted in regional
> difference...differing accents across the country.
> Ginga
>
> On Mon, May 18, 2020 at 5:21 PM Grace Cangialosi <gracecan at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> > I have found all of this very interesting, because it never occurred to
> me
> > that they would be pronounced differently from each other.  I pronounce
> all
> > three the same. When I've heard people pronounce them differently from
> > me, I just figured it was a regional difference; I never noticed that
> they
> > might be using different pronunciations depending on the spelling.
> >
> > On Mon, May 18, 2020 at 4:56 PM Ginga Wilder <gingawilder at gmail.com>
> > wrote:
> >
> > > I do also.
> > >
> > > Mary - Ma (long a) - re
> > > Merry - Mare (as in female horse) - re
> > > Marry - Maa (as in Baa, so sheep say) - re
> > >
> > > Ginga
> > >
> > >
> > > On Mon, May 18, 2020 at 4:16 PM ME Michaud <michaudme at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> > >
> > > > I also pronounce bury and berry the same.
> > > > -M
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > On Mon, May 18, 2020 at 3:28 PM ME Michaud <michaudme at gmail.com>
> > wrote:
> > > >
> > > > > I am a New Englander.
> > > > > We pronounce Mary and merry exactly the same.
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > >
> > >
> >
> >
> > --
> > Grace Cangialosi
> > Ruckersville, VA
> >
> > *"Not all of us can do great things, but we can do small things with
> great
> > love."*
> > *St. Teresa of Calcutta*
> >
>