Friday 22 June 2012

What, me wurry?

Anyone remember MAD magazine in the 60s - oops, showing my age?! But on "worry", is the BrE (British English) pronunciation with an uh sound (as in 'cut') moving towards an o sound (as in BrE 'hot') ie towards spelling pronunciation? It seems to be, judging from politicians (new Labour leader, note lower case there) and TV/radio reporters. I'm not bovvered, of course, just noticing a possible change and commenting. Is it the influence of international media, perhaps? The perceived need to be clear on satellite phone reports? But doesn't it introduce a new ambiguity with warrior / worrier? US correspondents on Twitter suggest AmE pronunciation is with a schwa sound (like unstressed first sound of 'about') and it is given as such in dictionaries.

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