Naughty reply

[Catlady (Rita Prince Winston)]

--- In HPFGU-OTChatter at yahoogroups.com, "Geoff Bannister"
<gbannister10 at ...> wrote:
>
> Geoff:
> Well, in my experience in the UK, the current year is either 
> pronounced "two thousand and eight" or "twenty-oh-eight". I use the 
> latter form. I very very rarely hear "two-oh-oh-eight."

I've occasionally heard twenty-oh-eight but I don't like the sound of
it. I admit to saying two thousand and eight myself, but I still like
the idea of the decade of the Oh-ohs.

> Geoff:
> You must have an odd accent. I can' t see how you get anything 
> approaching an 'a' sound for any words you mention. I pronounce 
> naught and nought as 'nort' a bit like 'north' without the 'h'. 
> And 'knot' and 'not' are simple short 'o' sounds. Gnat would be
> different because it's a short 'a'.

Knot and not and cot and hot and what and Ma and Marie and Maria
(twice) probably ARE simple short-o sounds, but the only way to write
that without special characters is aah; oh is long-O; ooh is long-U.

An 'awww' sound is not an 'a' sound.  A corvid's caw, naught, ought,
cough, caught, thought, sauce, paw, thaw... You and I may be referring
to the same sound, as I've gotten to used to  hearing radio
interviewees with BBC accents pronouncing 'law' as if it were 'lore',
and one of Rowling's made-up titles, 'Saucy Tricks for Tricky Sorts',
seems to intend for 'sauce' and 'sort' to sound alike. 

> Geoff:
> I pronounce 'Mary' as 'Mairy' - the middle rhyming with 'air' (the  
> stuff wot you breaves' as a Cockney might put it) so all your three 
> have a different sound for me.

Mary, merry, mairy, airy, hairy, berry, very, vary ... all the same
vowel to me. But marry has the same vowel as Harry and Barry and Larry.