by pharm at 12:31 PM on January 3 Here's the latest BBC World News one minute newscast. The "r" is soft in words like "world" and "first", but they are there. The type of vowel that is adjacent to the r makes a difference, I think. The shorter (?) vowels in "first" and "world" nestle up to a soft r, while the long vowels in "gearing", "Gary", and "broke" each accompany a much more distinct "r". On preview: "flour-flower"? Yeah, that's a subtle distinction. I find myself sounding out "flower" in my head as two reasonably distinct syllables, but when I say the words, they sound the same unless I self-consciously enunciate the difference. posted by maudlin at 12:34 PM on January 3 How to say "Etobicoke" "WishesitwereToronto". Flower - Flour There is a subtle difference that I tried to enunciate without making it too obvious. Er. Not that I am aware of or have ever seen, heard or known about. It's not like the pane/panne italian pronunciation difference that I was so flummoxed by when I lived in Italy. Those two DO sound different to native speakers (not that I could ever replicate/understand it in my 8 month Italian crash course), but the only difference between flower and flour is spelling. posted by Brockles at 12:34 PM on January 3 [ 1 favorite ] This post and thread go a long way toward helping me understand why Geoffrey Pullum and Mark Liberman are often so irritable. posted by Ivan