I recently mentioned purchasing chocolate at a shop called The Granary. It's a great store and name, but how the heck do you say that word?
Well, I say it with a long a sound as in the word, grain. It makes sense to me, as it has to do with a place to store grains.. Many others and probably most whom I meet locally pronounce the a as in grandmother.
Aside from the root surely having to do with grain, it makes sense in English, to expect the a to be long as there is only a single consonant between the two a's. Think of how we would pronounce pining vs pinning. It's the double n consonant that turns it to a short i in pinning.
So, to me granary makes sense to pronounce as grainary.
But no one else whom I meet seems to feel this way. The guy who served us at The Granary used the granny pronunciation. That doesn't follow the rules of the language as I understand them, but English words can have a long historical context and doesn't always follow the general rules.
What I found is that many sites, particularly the British ones favour grann-uh-ree, and some even leave out the uh, so it becomes simply grann-ree.
Then, I found three YouTube videos that all used my favoured pronunciation, grainary. Webster supplies both pronunciations, below, but leads with the grain version.
In case you are wondering, however, there is no doubt about bagel. It most emphatically is not baggel, although I fail to convince my grandkids.
 |
It's from the Latin granum. So grannary. So there. But you can't trust how brits say stuff! Yoggut! Tackos! Endless fodder, or foder(?) for argument.
ReplyDeleteThank goodness I did mention a long and historical context.
DeleteI agree completely, but people do what they do with their own names. So the guy who stuck up his new grocery sign "Hopeys" calls it Hope-ees. Then I come along and call it Hop-pies. I'm a minority but that's how I first heard it spoken. And a few night's ago Jeopardy had a gentleman from Texas who lived in a bastardized version of Banquete. It was pronounced Bon-kay-tay. But that's not English getting misspoken, but another kettle of fish! Happy new year!
ReplyDeleteHow we first heard a word pronounced sticks with us. Therefore, I will forever say bodhran incorrectly; something like borAN instead of borUN. Either way, where did the 'd' go, never mind the 'h'? 😎
DeleteI even got that wrong, not in my head but in the way I typed it: BORun.
DeleteIt's grain to me. That's how it said here. Pierre, South Dakota is pronounce Peer. Fortunately, I don't have to say it.
ReplyDeleteI don't that I have ever said Pierre out loud, but in my head I have said it the French way. I am reminded of a road in Detroit, spelled Gratiot but pronounced Gratchet. Of course Detroit was initially 'de troit' or 'dtrait' meaning strait.
DeletePronunciation is a tricky thing here. With Joe not hearing words properly...
ReplyDeleteI would say it like grain.
ReplyDeleteI would pronounce it as granny. Baygel as Bagel.
ReplyDeleteI would say it as 'grain-ary'.
ReplyDeleteI would say Grain-ary. However a Grann-uh-ree may be a Farm Bin where you stash all the old Grann-ies. :)
ReplyDeleteI've always said Gran-a-ry but what you say makes extreme sense!
ReplyDeleteMe too.
DeleteI suspect that most of us in Western Canada would pronounce it "grain-ary" thus, you are righter, AC.
ReplyDeletePolitically I am lefter.
DeleteI pronounced it like canary. lol. Baggel? Now that doesn't sound appetizing at all.
ReplyDeleteMy mother-in-law always pronounced bagel as baggEL. So long as we all know what we mean, let's say it the way we want to.
ReplyDeleteIt’s Jewish. Gotta respect that. We had a Jewish DiL, and she knew. lol
DeleteI would pronounce it the same as you and also bay gl. My kids used to say baggel which drove me nuts; they weren't hearing that from me!
ReplyDeleteMy mind read it with the long "A" like you did, but I have grain on the mind a lot so that might have something to do with it!
ReplyDeletei getcha. 😇
DeleteYour argument for pronouncing it as "grainary" based on phonetic rules and the word's etymology makes perfect sense, especially considering its root in "grain."
ReplyDeleteI always thought it was a long a, and we have a place here that seems to be partial to the short a. :-)
ReplyDeleteI would have read and said the word as “gran.ery”. To me, I would much prefer the defined word to be spelled as “grainery” which is NOT accurate, but seems more logical pronunciation-wise. The “ery” ending is what is a challenge for me as the “e” itself would suggest a long “a” sound for gran (grane), but “ery” and “ry” have common usages as “err.rey” so the “ery” ending does not READ as if the “e” is making the “a” a long soind, if you know what I mean.
ReplyDeleteFor “bagel” I am used to hearing both “bay.gl” like you say but also “bay.gell” as in gell sounding like “well”. I probably most often say the “bay.gell” variant as I tend towards overemphasizing sounds for clarity when lecturing. A case in point is mitosis and meiosis….. both of which traditionally sound similar with a long “i” sound….. but I purposefully and carefully pronounce meiosis as “me.o.sis” to avoid having students confuse the two words as they are often discussed in the same lecture.
PipeTobacco
But it’s an ‘a’. GranAry.
DeleteEnglish has many challenges with pronunciation. You've given some very good examples. As kids on the farm we always use the long a.
ReplyDeleteAlthough, I never say “bag.gell” as if “gell” is like rhymes with jell. I have heard many say that but it sounds so odd.
ReplyDeletePipeTobacco
My friend fluent in French calls hers a granery. Works for me.
ReplyDeleteMakes sense in French. I hope she emphasizes the last syllaBLE in proper French fashion.
DeleteI use the short 'a', having been indoctrinated in British pronunciation by a mother with two master's degrees, one in mediaeval English, and pronounced ideas on pronunciation. (Try the vowels in that one). The double consonant rule is one I use when coaching in ESL, but like all rules in English, there are, um, exceptions.
ReplyDeleteSo many exceptions.
DeleteI too say grain-ary. But only because I read it in context and assumed since it was connected to grain, that was the correct pronunciation. I don't think I have ever heard the word spoken.
ReplyDeleteYup. Me too. I've always said grain-ary and bay-gle. Granted I never need to use either word very much in Hawaii.
ReplyDeleteI'm a grain-ary pronouncer as well.
ReplyDelete