and "marry" could indeed sound different. It was "MAY-ree", "murray" and "mah-ree", if memory serves. The three are natively distinct for me (I remember being stunned by my undergraduate linguistics textbook when it confidently asserted that these words all sounded the same). It's MARE-ee, MEHree and MAree (in that last one the "ma" is the same as in "mat.") posted by yoink at 5:18 PM on January 3 Unless you pronounce flour 'flar', which I have never actually heard Posh Brits (the ones who pronounce house to rhyme with mice) would pronounce "flar" and "flour" the same--not that either would sound at all like any American's pronunciation of either. posted by yoink at 5:20 PM on January 3 Dammit, now I'm sitting hear saying: "Flower / Flour" over and over to see if there really is a subtle difference in the way that I say the two. yoink : " when I try to pronounce words in the American way I sound like I'm pretending to be a pirate. " I've noticed this in a few British programs with speakers either faking or stressing an "American" accent. I'll why the speaker is hitting their terminal r's so hard. In one case I only figured out that a character was supposed to be American based on his vocabulary (trunk for boot, elevator for lift, that sort of thing.) posted by Karmakaze at 5:53 PM on January 3 the ones who pronounce house to rhyme with mice What? How would you even?