How do you pronounce R?

Blisterman

Is it pronounced "or" or "are". I've always pronounced it "or" but everyone here has trouble when I spell things out with an r. Is it an Irish thing or just me.

woosaysdan

are???

SantaHoe

"or" as in "dorsh" roish?

Ro: maaan!

I always used to get slagged for saying "or". Too American my arse! I stuck to my guns though.

simu

I say "or" (grew up in Cork), never heard anyone say "are".

Must be a lot of people where you live who think they're pirates.

steveland?

I'd say Or...

Canis Lupus

OR but ppl seem to have difficulty when u pronounce it that way.

My pet hate working in a call centre is the is the way Irish ppl pronounce "a" and ah and not ay (as in hay without the h)

Boberto

I used to pronounce it 'or' but the british customers didn't understand so then it became 'arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrre'

Oriel

"are"

Sarky

I pronounce it with lots of clicking sounds.

Or, when I want to pretend to be a pirate, like "Arrrrr!"

Capt'n Midnight

Blisterman wrote:

Is it pronounced "or" or "are". I've always pronounced it "or" but everyone here has trouble when I spell things out with an r. Is it an Irish thing or just me.

In London they mistake "or" and "are", bit like they way they get words starting with "s" and "f" mixed up. I'd say you should do it with round lips and not sounding like a pirate (except on that special day)

international phonetic langague - each of these characters have a standard sound
http://www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/home/wells/ipa-unicode.htm
sure someone will be along in a minute to tell us which one is used for the letter "R"

CJ_Will

I tend to say "are"... But I also have always liked pirates.

Blisterman

Ro: maaan! wrote:

I always used to get slagged for saying "or". Too American my arse! I stuck to my guns though.

Well the american person I asked prononced it somewhere between or and are, which I can't pronounce.

solas

the only time I have heard anyone say "are" is on the are tee ee voice over.

"good evening, you are watching are tee ee one."

gnu

I say "or"

dewsbury

"or" is an Irish thing. I switched to "are" after living in London a while - now back in Dublin and use both "or" and "are".

Stephen

"or" here.

simu

dewsbury wrote:

"or" is an Irish thing. I switched to "are" after living in London a while - now back in Dublin and use both "or" and "are".

I can see how Englanders would pronounce "r" like "are" because they don't pronounce the "r" in the word "are" but Irish people saying "r" the way Irish people say "are" (rhymes with yarr) sounds crazy. Anybody who pronounces it like that care to record yourself and post it here?

Oriel

Is that "or" as in "ore"?

dannyd20

are but not overstated (piratey) 'or' is boggerish like a (ah/ay) as CL said

Canis Lupus wrote:

My pet hate working in a call centre is the is the way Irish ppl pronounce "a" and ah and not ay (as in hay without the h)

bennyx_o

"or". Can't say I've heard anyone pronounce it "are".

Blisterman

As in rymes with bore

Ro: maaan!

Wouldn't the English say "aw"?

Oriel

It all comes down to accent I guess. I'm from the north and say "are". I find the idea of me pronoucing it "or" just plain stupid.

simu

Sinecure wrote:

Is that "or" as in "ore"?

No "or" as in tea or coffee.

"are" for "r" sounds boggerific to me.

Oriel

If they're from London, yeah.

Ro: maaan! wrote:

Wouldn't the English say "aw"?

Oriel

Exactly, imagine a cockney perfectly pronoucing "or"...

simu wrote:

No "or" as in tea or coffee.

"are" for "r" sounds boggerific to me.

simu

Sinecure wrote:

Exactly, imagine a cockney perfectly pronoucing "or"...

Well, I was talking about Irish people there. I know little about cockney speech tbh.

Sev

'R'.. not so much, my problem has always been with the letter 'H'

'Aytch' or 'Haytch'?

Capt'n Midnight

Sev wrote:

'R'.. not so much, my problem has always been with the letter 'H'
'Aytch' or 'Haytch'?

English people have awful problems with F H R S
It's reckoned that hiberno-english is closer to what Shakespere spoke and wrote then what is spoken across the pond.
BTW: Scots pronounce G as guy - but it's totally unambigious so that's not a problem

Again a handy Guide to English sounds.

A as in BREAD
B as in DEBT
C as in INDICTMENT
D as in HANDKERCHIEF
E as in GIVE
F as in HALFPENNY
G as in GNAW
H as in HOUR
I as in FRIEND
J as in MARIJUANA
K as in KNOW
L as in Walk
M as the first M in MNEMONIC
N as in AUTUMN
O as in PEOPLE
P as in PSALM
Q as in Acquiai
R as in the first R in February
S as in ISLAND
T as in CASTLE
U as in GUARD
V as in MILNGAVIE (a Scottish place name) *can anyone find a better one*
W as in Wrap
X as in SIOUX
Y as in PEPYS
Z as in RENDEZVOUS

http://members.aol.com/Fanetiks And of course many Britons don't pronounce R at the end of a word or before a consonant.

TCamen

I used to pronounce it like 'ore' but now I use 'are'. However I don't sound like a pirate when I say it! I think it's more neutral/American 'ar' than pirate 'aare'

^^ Good list Capt'n Midnight

Victor

Do (I have this completely wrong? I pronounce it "awr", the way a south Dublin yummy mummy would describe her Volvo as a "cawr".

stagolee

"or" sounds to me like a d4 collars up rugby jock with whatever haircut beckham has this week, although on the opposite end of the scale anyone from cork would pronounce it "or" and cork people are sound so im undecided on that one.
i pronounce it "are" myself , i dont think youd get a real pirate "arrrrr" this side of yorkshire (well maybe ronnie drew might do ye one).
one thing i like though is that irish people pronounce the r, be it "or" or "are". funnily enough most english accents seem to have phased out the letter r exept for at the start of a word. listen the next time you hear an english tv announcer say "return" they get the first r but the second one always eludes them

boo4842

I pronounce it "are", then again I've spent 75% of my life in Canada. "Or" is defiantely an Irish thing, and sounds so wrong and pretentous to me. I believe "are" is the correct form, and is starting to be used more professionally in Ireland apart from the D4 heads who will allways take the DORT from Ballsbridge.

I know its pronounced "are" in the following countries, with differenct twangs according to accents.

USA
Canada
Austrailia
England
Scotland
Wales
NI
New Zealand
South Africa

John R

Sinecure wrote:

It all comes down to accent I guess. I'm from the north and say "are". I find the idea of me pronoucing it "or" just plain stupid.

If only we could figure out why you nordies think "w" is pronounced "iiiiieeeeeeeee" as in everytime one of the announcers on BBC NI or UTV tries to say now.

entropi

imo , i think it sounds like " or " .

Anyway, no need to get worried about a letter.. alot of people pronounce stuff different, no biggie

cujimmy

its "are" in Scotland, but what about the way irish folk pronounce (or dont) "th" as in dis dat dese and dose or 1, 2 , tree and what about J as in "ja" not as in "jay"

Blub2k4

Easy way around this if you are on the telephone:
A for Alpha
B for Bravo
etc

R for Romeo

My British girlfriend always slags me when I say "or".

Spalk0

Is anyone else getting flashes of the ambrosia ad from this thread and its posts?

or is it just me? 'oooooh arrrrrrrrrr'

Gilgamesh

go with with Pirates on this one, 'ARRRRRRRR'
hehe

petes

im from meath but live in dundalk..have a mixed bogger/dundalk accent..when i ring places in dublin from work(work has abbreviated name for handiness with an r at the end) most of the people cant grasp the r at the end...really have to pronounce it as 'or' for them or have to tell them the whole name...that annoys me!!!!! :mad:

meepmeep

Capt'n Midnight wrote:

BTW: Scots pronounce G as guy - but it's totally unambigious so that's not a problem

I'm Scottish, and thats first i've heard of that. G is pronounced as "gee", but J is pronounced as "jigh" (like high with a j)

R is "are" and H is "aitch"

Jim

Arrrr Jim lad.

Blisterman

So moving, on who pronounces H like Haytch or Aytch?

Jim

-insert pointless comma here-

Mossy Monk

i speak to British folks on the phone all the time and they have no problem when i pronnounce it as "or"

flikflak

R - 'R' is often heavily emphasised both at the start and ending of words with the sound of 'er', this gives them a warm tone, such as "NeveR", "BabbeR" and "Right".

This is how "R" is where I come from

Ziderrrrrrr I up Landlord!

SprostonGreen

I say "or", when in Australia, they never knew what I saying, as they pronounce it as "aaaahh".

shellspeare

I'm from south yorkshire and we pronounce R as Rer

pickarooney

Capt'n Midnight wrote:

In London they mistake "or" and "are", bit like they way they get words starting with "s" and "f" mixed up. I'd say you should do it with round lips and not sounding like a pirate (except on that special day)

international phonetic langague - each of these characters have a standard sound
http://www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/home/wells/ipa-unicode.htm
sure someone will be along in a minute to tell us which one is used for the letter "R"

It's not on the main list, but it's the upside-down lowercase r that you see beside decimal code 797. The right-way-round lower r is the spanish rolled r and the upside-down capital R is a French R. Right-way-round capital R isn't much used for European languages, but occurs occasionally between vowels.

I say OR and HAITCH btw.

Drag00n79

Funny, this whole "or" and "are" debate. I heard Ryan Tubridy the other morning spell something and he said "are". Never really noticed it much before then. I'm an "or".