How do you pronounce the letter "R"?

Faith

When I was in first year of uni, there was a poster in my building for a party, with the word party spelled out phonetically (p=pea etc). I noticed they put "R - are", whereas I would pronounce it "or". Since then, I've noticed Irish people are the only people who pronounce it "or" and Brits and Americans don't know what I'm saying when I say "or". So how do you pronounce it?


*If I thought this was a question for linguistics/etymology, I'd put it there. It's not, I'm just looking for general opinions rather than the correct answer.

qz

oar roysh

DarkJager

I'd tell you but it wouldn't carry the orgasm inducing barry whiteness it does when I say it

Mrs. 6th

or

as in yoRe MA !!!!

deise_boi

Atari jaguar

I say "are" and "or", depending on the sentence. Sometimes I say "arrgh" to be pirate-like

Riddle101

Atari jaguar

It's ''or'', i think saying ''are'' is just weird and sounds like you have a bone in your mouth or a blocked nose

Overheal

not 'are' (or how you guys really say it: Aire) nor Ore. So you normally either get Aire Tee Vee or Ore Tee Vee.

I'm an Arr Tee Vee, personally.

Chinafoot

Atari jaguar

Or.

'H' is another one. I'd say it with a hard H at the start, as in 'haytch' whereas most British/US/Australian/New Zealand people I've encountered pronounce it 'aytch'

WindSock

Atari jaguar

I say Ore, boyfriend say's Ahhr. We take the piss out of each others continuosly. I always win though.

stovelid

Or

Are.

Faith

Atari jaguar

Chinafoot wrote: »

Or.

'H' is another one. I'd say it with a hard H at the start, as in 'haytch' whereas most British/US/Australian/New Zealand people I've encountered pronounce it 'aytch'

Yeah, that annoys me too. There's a "h" sound in it for a reason.

Rhyme

AArrgh!!

WindSock

Atari jaguar

Yeah, how can you pronounce H with no H?

I also hate Zee. It's Zed.

challengemaster

"Or", how the heck can you say 'Are' !? You're not pirates!! Sounds completly wrong imo... or as if you're from cark.

AlmightyCushion

Or, haytch and zee for me.

mental07

Atari jaguar

Aarrgghh TE News!

Seriously though, I pronounce it 'or'. The 'h' thing annoys me too.

Wertz

"are" and "aitch" just like they're supposed to sound.
I'm sure "or" is perfectly acceptable if you have a few marbles in your gob :pac:

WRT to "aitch", the "huh" is silent... didn't you ever wonder why an "an" is used in front of certain words that start with H? Say "hour" the way you'd say it spelt phonetically...how-er?

But windsock's right...it's defintely zed....I hate zee...

Chinafoot

Atari jaguar

Wertz wrote: »

WRT to "aitch", the "huh" is silent... didn't you ever wonder why an "an" is used in front of certain words that start with H? Say "hour" the way you'd say it spelt phonetically...how-er?

Like you say though, only certain words. Would you say "an half hour" or "a half hour" or "an hateful cow" or "a hateful cow"?

Meh, to each their own.

Edit: What about 'A'? I pronounce it 'ay' but I've heard people pronounce it 'ah'

Wertz

I'd say an hour, but a half hour...H is only silent before certain vowels...but it's still an aitch

Didn't there used to be a phonetics forum for this kind of argument?

[edit] I agree, whatever floats yer boat, say it how you like....it's one thing I love about this country is the diversity of accents, even if some of them annoy the hell out of me...

Faith

Atari jaguar

Chinafoot wrote: »

Edit: What about 'A'? I pronounce it 'ay' but I've heard people pronounce it 'ah'

It's pronounced 'ah' in Irish, so people from Irish-speaking backgrounds/areas are probably the ones who pronounce it 'ah'.

Wibbs

Or and aitch. I've noticed another thing in Ireland, the word height. There is no H at the end of that word. It's not heighth. Sounds like a holdover from trying to speak "proper" and not drop H's by adding them in the wrong place just in case. Sad that I am, hearing people say "heighth" makes me wince.

bluto63

Atari jaguar

Or. I get a lot of grief over it here in England

xOxSinéadxOx

Atari jaguar

Faith wrote: »

It's pronounced 'ah' in Irish, so people from Irish-speaking backgrounds/areas are probably the ones who pronounce it 'ah'.

everyone i know says ah and or

Schism

Atari jaguar

Or and haytch definately for me. I'm partial to a bit of zed sometimes but mostly I'd go for zee.

Unpossible

Atari jaguar

lets go finnish and pronounce it errrrrrrrrrrr

pq0n1ct4ve8zf5

Atari jaguar

deise_boi wrote: »

I say "are" and "or", depending on the sentence. Sometimes I say "arrgh" to be pirate-like

Why are pirates called pirates? Cos they arrrrgh.

Sorry had to be done

And I'd say "or" OP

Wibbs

Zee is just wrong. On so many levels.

dewsbury

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=208826&page=2

See above.

Similar discussion from 4 years ago!

I lived in UK and if you say "or" it confuses them !

The Real B-man

Atari jaguar

R

Chinafoot

Atari jaguar

Wibbs wrote: »

Zee is just wrong. On so many levels.

Yeah but you can't sing the alphabet song without it

Overheal

I mix and match my H and Z pronunciations depending on the use at the time. When you need to be clear youre using an H for example I always use Haitch (or zed for Z). However whats the point when you're working with very common stuff (well for me anyway) like HTML and .h files - which I pronounce with aitch.

WindSock wrote:

Yeah, how can you pronounce H with no H?

....ummm.... aitch?

Ruu_Old

Atari jaguar

'Or' Orange, though I know people who pronounce it arange! Haytch not that silly American way, erbs and so on, bleh.

keen

Atari jaguar

Or.

Faith

Faith wrote: »

When I was in first year of uni, there was a poster in my building for a party, with the word party spelled out phonetically (p=pea etc). I noticed they put "R - are", whereas I would pronounce it "or". Since then, I've noticed Irish people are the only people who pronounce it "or" and Brits and Americans don't know what I'm saying when I say "or". So how do you pronounce it?


*If I thought this was a question for linguistics/etymology, I'd put it there. It's not, I'm just looking for general opinions rather than the correct answer.

I say "or" and yeah, a lot of people get confused

Earthhorse

After catching some zeds, I woke up, grabbed my A to Zed of London and iPod, and hit the road, the sound of Zed Zed Top playing in my ears.

Overheal

Earthhorse wrote: »

After catching some zeds, I woke up, grabbed my A to Zed of London and iPod, and hit the road, the sound of Zed Zed Top playing in my ears.

edit: dont you mean an oiPohd?

misslt

Or, haitch and zed for me...stupid accent!

pq0n1ct4ve8zf5

Atari jaguar

Chinafoot wrote: »

Yeah but you can't sing the alphabet song without it

You can....tis the same but betterer

Overheal

Wibbs wrote: »

Zee is just wrong. On so many levels.

And those would be...?

Catari Jaguar

Or

If its an acronym I use Ar. Take I.R.A. it's pronounced "I Ar A". I've never heard it as "I or A" on the news. And RTE is "Ar.T.E."

Anyways phonetically its rrr. There's a difference between a letter name and a letter sound.

For more information on Phonics, see here

Jolly Phonics

In Britain (posher places) they don't even say the ar sound, its like ah. "Driving the cah".

Chinafoot

Atari jaguar

Willa Magnificent Zombie wrote: »

You can....tis the same but betterer

No waiz!

I say Zed myself, just always seemed to fall flat when you finished off the alphabet song with it.

Wertz

Lil Kitten wrote: »

In Britain (posher places) they don't even say the ar sound, its like ah. "Driving the cah".

lol they do that in Drogheda too...

Red Hand

I prounounce "R" as in RTE as Or T E.


Irish aren't the only ones to pronounce "R" as "or". The Scottish do it too, though they roll many of their r sounds.


Out of interest, did anybody learn German in school? A problem in our class was that many couldn't get the vibrating R sound-an R sound that vibrates at the back of the throat rather than on the tongue like the Scottish rolling vibration. You have to sort of make the back of your throat vibrate. The French do it, well some of them.

I was able to do the German R sound...such as the usual WW2 Camp Commandant that you hear in films screaming,

"Raus!!!!!!!!!":)

Sherifu

Or, haytch, zed

Thrill

Atari jaguar

Or, haitch and zee. I thought Zed was more of an American way of saying it. Judging from this thread I couldn't have been more wrong.

Joanne87

Atari jaguar

Or
Haitch
Zed (even when singing the alphabet song) You know the rhymes at the end of the song? 'Now I know my a b c etc' ?
My mam used to always say/sing the zed sound and then her rhyme was 'X, W, Zed, sugar on your bread, porridge in the morning and cocoa going to bed!' It made the weird zed sound fit in!! Anybody else have that one?

jb91

Or

Are and aitch for me

challengemaster

hehe, boards is full of sealion!

(say it)

"Are Are Are Are Are Are Are Are Are Are Are Are!"

damnyanks

Atari jaguar

Faith wrote: »

When I was in first year of uni, there was a poster in my building for a party, with the word party spelled out phonetically (p=pea etc). I noticed they put "R - are", whereas I would pronounce it "or". Since then, I've noticed Irish people are the only people who pronounce it "or" and Brits and Americans don't know what I'm saying when I say "or". So how do you pronounce it?


*If I thought this was a question for linguistics/etymology, I'd put it there. It's not, I'm just looking for general opinions rather than the correct answer.

I understand your pain.

It's really annoying I cant say it the way they say R in the UK.

Red becomes
Roed if I spell it to someone over the phone (I have a few O's in the name)

Faith

Atari jaguar

Lil Kitten wrote: »

In Britain (posher places) they don't even say the ar sound, its like ah. "Driving the cah".

Lol, yeah, my London friend can't tell this difference between the sounds of the words "raw" and "roar". They're both pronounced "raw" to her.

tolosenc

It's definitely ar. I hate when people say or. They are semantically different, and the phonetic difference tells you which one is in question.

Do people really say HAITCH? I must listen out for that, is definitely aitch for me.