I'll take pronunciation for 800, Alex

[ClaraOswin]

Pin sounds just like the word "in" with a p in front of it.

The 'e' in pen is the same as the e at the beginning of the words "etiquette" or "etch." (First words I could think of with the same 'e'.)

To me, very different sounds. (Unless, of course, people are saying "itiquette" or "itch" instead. Ha!)

[Firiel]

The difference between "pen" and "pin" is really obvious to me (I was raised in the space between the Mountain West and the Pacific Northwest). To me, they are as different as "bit" and "bet."

I maybe have a slight difference between my pronunciation of "marry" and "merry," though I pronounce "Mary" exactly the same as "marry."

[luxfilia]

I grew up in Tennessee and still live here. I am obsessed with grammar, pronunciation, and spelling. (Don't even get me started on that Oxford comma I just used.) That said, when someone pronounces "pen" exactly the way it's spelled, people around here tend to roll their eyes. It's just a northern vs. southern pronunciation thing. It doesn't mean people are ignorant about phonetics. Every Ben I've ever known introduces himself as "Bin." Same goes for hen and lend. When I watch a show featuring northerners, I cringe every time they pronounce it WITHOUT the "i" sound. Accents are interesting like that.

[2xx1xy1JD]

Marry/Mary/Merry are all the same for me as well, and I'm a Seattle native. Bin/Ben is just weird and the added "r" sound in Benjamin reminds me of the time I spent in Austria where the native Austrian speakers did that with English words and names, particularly words that ended on a soft "a" sound.

,

In places like New York and Montreal, merry has an "eh" sound and marry has an "ah" sound, similar to the "a" in cat.

[Bugaboo]

New Yorker here! We say:

Merry- (Meh.ree)

Mary- (Mare.ree)

Marry- (Maaah.ree)

[luxfilia]

Also, I have a confession to make. Living in the south, I am so used to hearing Ben pronounced as "Bin" that I thought the B-I-N spelling used on FJ was implying he was like a trash bin. I've thought that this whole time. :shifty:

[grandmadugger]

Here's a Bin/Ben pin/pen map. I spent some of my formative years in Bakersfield, CA, fwiw, the lone polka dot on the map. We said "straight pin" and "ink pin" to be clear with each other (my dad still does this--he was a child of depression-era 'Okies' who now lives in Colorado--I've been in the bay area for over three-quarters of my life and have reverted to the majority CA pronunciation). We probably would have said Benjermin--I don't recall--because we definitely said "sherbert." I now avoid saying the word sherbet outloud, in order to avoid potential for funny looks with either pronunciation. :lol:

edit-words

I'm the same way. It's a dialect thing more than an educated issue. I too say straight pin or ink pen. I say sherbert the same way you do too. I was raised by a child of depression southern Missourian, or as she would say hillbilly. Though she was better educated than most of her peers.

[Rachel333]

I guess I say it like "Bin-ji-min." It bugs me when people say it's a mispronunciation; it's not wrong, just different!

I'm from Missouri and my brother's name is Benjamin (goes by Ben) and the Duggar's pronunciation is really off to me.

I definitely pronounce Ben as bend without the "d". And there is no "jer" sound in the middle for me. But the Dugger pronunciation didn't bother me until FJ pointed it out!

See, "bend" and "binned" (I wrote "bind" at first then realized that's another word with a different pronunciation) sound exactly the same for me, too.

It's interesting because not every "eh" sound becomes "ih." I would never pronounce "pebble" as "pibble," for example, but it's hard for me to even hear the difference between "ben" and "bin."

[Ofglen]

Also, I have a confession to make. Living in the south, I am so used to hearing Ben pronounced as "Bin" that I thought the B-I-N spelling used on FJ was implying he was like a trash bin. I've thought that this whole time. :shifty:

SAME

[Ofglen]

If the IPA (international phonetic alphabet) spelling helps anyone, here's the difference. [bɪn] vs. [bɛn]

I'm from Georgia, and I also thought calling him Bin was referring to him being a trash bin... I've always pronounced Ben that way. It sounds so weird otherwise... I would get *looks* here if I said it with an epsilon... :lol:

[halcionne]

I guess I say it like "Bin-ji-min." It bugs me when people say it's a mispronunciation; it's not wrong, just different!

See, "bend" and "binned" (I wrote "bind" at first then realized that's another word with a different pronunciation) sound exactly the same for me, too.

It's interesting because not every "eh" sound becomes "ih." I would never pronounce "pebble" as "pibble," for example, but it's hard for me to even hear the difference between "ben" and "bin."

I think the "n" causes it, but I haven't read up on it in a long time, so I could be wrong.

[brigittesniper]

I always love those little dialect "tests" online.

But I cannot for the life of me figure out how Merry, Mary, and Marry would be pronounced differently. Haha!

Awww yeah, time to get my IPA out.

I'm from Northern England, and they are all pronounced very differently for me:

Merry = [mɛɹi]

Mary = [mɛəɹi]

Marry = [mæɹi]

(yes I know how this looks to the uninitiated, but I'm overexcited about phonetics being mentioned on FJ)

[Gillyweed]

I live in the tri-state area, and Ben is pronounced like the word "been".

Ben-Jah-Men

Another weird dispute that depends on where you live is the soda/pop/coke debate. I say soda.

[Rachel333]

I think the "n" causes it, but I haven't read up on it in a long time, so I could be wrong.

Yeah, "t" can as well ("get"/"git" sound the same, though "bet"/"bit" do not), but I can't think of any other letters that do that.

Edit: gym/gem/jim is another one, same with hem/him.

[Jessica]

Born and raised in California. Pin and pen are the same. Merry, Mary, and marry are the same (mair-ee). Jim, gym, gem all the same too.

[aggieluv17]

Definitely regionally. I grew up in central Texas. Ben and bin sound the same. As do pin and pen; pull and pool; marry, merry, and Mary. Basically, all homophones sound exactly the same for me. I didn't realize that people pronounced these words differently. That explains why I never got the "Bin" joke. :lol:

[PennySycamore]

Born in SC and raised here, but do not have that much of a Southern accent.

I do tend to pronounce Ben as bin, but do not pronounce get and git the same. I know that pen should NOT be pronounced the same way as pin. As far as Mary, merry, and marry goes, Mary and merry are extremely similar, but marry is distinctly different with a distinct short a sound. (Meri Brown of polygamy fame just has a variant spelling of Mary, as far as I'm concerned.) The Southern pronunciation of Mary that I cannot stand is May-ree. That's just too Southern for me.

ETA: No difference between Jim and Gym, but the e is pronounced in gem.

[ClaraOswin]

Yeah, "t" can as well ("get"/"git" sound the same, though "bet"/"bit" do not), but I can't think of any other letters that do that.

Edit: gym/gem/jim is another one, same with hem/him.

Get and git and NOT the same to me. Gym and Jim are the same to me. But Gem is different.

Still think merry, Mary, and marry are the same though.

[ClaraOswin]

Born and raised in California. Pin and pen are the same. Merry, Mary, and marry are the same (mair-ee). Jim, gym, gem all the same too.

Where in California? And where are your parents from?

My husband was also born and raised in California and pen and pin aren't the same to him. And gem is the different one in that group.

[alatariel]

I'm from New Jersey and merry, marry, and Mary all sound very distinct to me. I pronounce them like this:

merry has the same short e sound as get

marry has the same short a sound as cat

and Mary has the same long a sound as fairy

I do say Jim and gym the same though. Gem is different.

[halcionne]

I'm from New Jersey and merry, marry, and Mary all sound very distinct to me. I pronounce them like this:

merry has the same short e sound as get

marry has the same short a sound as cat

and Mary has the same long a sound as fairy

I do say Jim and gym the same though. Gem is different.

This is helpful! I can't read ipa and could only come up with two sounds for merry/marry/Mary. I pronounce them all the same. FWIW, fairy/ferry are damn near identical to my ear, and merry/marry/Mary rhymes with them.

[NachosFlandersStyle]

I'm from New Jersey and merry, marry, and Mary all sound very distinct to me. I pronounce them like this:

merry has the same short e sound as get

marry has the same short a sound as cat

and Mary has the same long a sound as fairy

I do say Jim and gym the same though. Gem is different.

Lol, I love reading about this stuff because now I am sitting here like a lunatic trying to say the word "marry" with the same vowel as in "cat." I can't do it! The R changes the way I make the A, if that makes sense.

I'm not even going to ask how Jim and gym could be different. I'm having too much fun imagining that someone out there says "guym" or "gyeem."

[ClaraOswin]

The real question is....how do you all pronounce "bagel?"

[Miggy]

And just to give a really, really southern perspective. (Australia, inland NSW)

Mary = Mare - ee (like a horse)

Marie = Marr - ee (long r sound)

Merry = Me - ree (short e in the first syllable, r starts the second syllable)

Marry = Ma - ree (short a, r starts the second syllable)

Fairy = Fair - ee (r finishes the first syllable)

Ferry = Fe - rry (r starts the second syllable)

Ben & Bin are completely different. Bin is a word you can use to pick an Aussie from a Kiwi. Our accents are very similar but we prounce vowels differently. A Kiwi saying 'i' sounds like an Aussie saying 'u'. When MrMiggy (Kiwi) says bin, I (Aussie) hear bun. A favourite over here is to ask Kiwis to say 'Fish & Chips' and hearing them say 'Fush & Chups'.

As for bagel, what is a bagel? Don't need to pronounce a food that only exists on tv. What is more important is: why don't Americans put beetroot on their hamburgers?

[Raco]

And just to give a really, really southern perspective. (Australia, inland NSW)

Mary = Mare - ee (like a horse)

Marie = Marr - ee (long r sound)

Merry = Me - ree (short e in the first syllable, r starts the second syllable)

Marry = Ma - ree (short a, r starts the second syllable)

Fairy = Fair - ee (r finishes the first syllable)

Ferry = Fe - rry (r starts the second syllable)

Ben & Bin are completely different. Bin is a word you can use to pick an Aussie from a Kiwi. Our accents are very similar but we prounce vowels differently. A Kiwi saying 'i' sounds like an Aussie saying 'u'. When MrMiggy (Kiwi) says bin, I (Aussie) hear bun. A favourite over here is to ask Kiwis to say 'Fish & Chips' and hearing them say 'Fush & Chups'.

As for bagel, what is a bagel? Don't need to pronounce a food that only exists on tv. What is more important is: why don't Americans put beetroot on their hamburgers?

Omg. What is a bagel?? I feel so sad for you!

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From NYC here. Merry/Mary/merry all sound completely different. Ben does not rhyme with bin.