Talk:bury

Boory
It can also be pronounced boory, rhyming with curry. There is also byoory, rhyming with fury. Anonymous, 30 September, 2006.

Yes, my mother says it like burry, and I have heard a BBC reader say it that way (Robyn Bresnahan, who has a Canadian accent). Also a reader on Israel Radio with an American accent (Naomi Segel). But I have never seen it in a dictionary. How common is it, and where do people say it that way? Eric Kvaalen 19:16, 7 April 2008 (UTC)

I don't think I've heard "burry" in the UK, and certainly never "byoory". It's always been a homonym of "berry" for me. Thryduulf 00:41, 10 April 2008 (UTC)


 * is the usual pronunciation in Scottish English. My girlfriend, who's from Edinburgh, always says it like that - it may also be used in northern England, although I can't quite remember hearing it there, off the top of my head.  Quite a lot of BBC newsreaders of Scottish extraction say it (eg James Naughtie).  Widsith 08:59, 10 April 2008 (UTC)


 * I don't think I've ever heard it as "byoory" /bjʊri/ but definitely as burry /bʌri/. That's the way I say it though I've grown up in Florida and most people here pronounce it the same as berry /bɛri/. A small handful from America say it /bʌri/, though it's not nearly as common as /bɛri/. I think this pronunciation occurs in parts of Canada as well. --Jmolina116 03:52, 14 August 2011 (UTC)


 * I've never heard it pronounced in any part of the US where I've lived or visited. --EncycloPetey 19:57, 14 August 2011 (UTC)

What about the use of the word "bury" as to utterly defeat and humiliate someone? Eg: I'm going to bury you! --194.81.33.9 18:15, 23 April 2010 (UTC)


 * If anyone's interested, almost all Germans pronounce it in their non-native pronunciation /bɜrɪ/, as rhyming with furry (well, for the Germans then /bœrɪ/, because [œ] is their realization of [ɜ]. And it does seem that the one audio sample by a native speaker I now know of, viz., Johnny Cash's Oh bury me not on a lone prairie, does sound a like /ɜ/ (or perhaps, on closer listening, as "in between" /ɜ/ and /ɛ/. --2001:A61:260D:6E01:7DE3:7A3D:97F3:1BEE 16:19, 12 December 2017 (UTC)

Johnny cash doesn’t seem to have a particularly distinctive pronunciation of this word but if you listen to the Carter Family sing “Bury me under the weeping willow”, it sounds like they’re saying ‘bear/bare me’ (i.e. bɛːr) and for that matter ‘wullow’Overlordnat1 (talk) 00:40, 11 April 2021 (UTC)

bʊri is not just a Middlesbrough pronunciation, I’m sure it’s more of a generic Northern thing. It’s 100% used in Bury, Lancashire, as the name of their town (I know as I worked in a call centre and asked people about their experiences using the branch on a regular basis). I’ll add Lancashire as a dialect that uses this pronunciation but we should probably just change it to ‘Northern England’Overlordnat1 (talk) 15:15, 6 April 2021 (UTC)


 * At any rate, it's one of these words that I, as a proponent of cautious spelling reform, think suggest themselves for a change. For example: bury, busy, sword > bery, bisy, sord. Just one letter changed, no relevant mergers, all good. 84.57.154.13 02:45, 25 January 2022 (UTC)
 * I don’t think the hilarious Blackpool (in Lancashire) rapper Sophie Aspin would agree with such a spelling for ‘bury’ as she says it as bUry, with the PUT vowel, in the song ‘Millie B Reply’, as can be heard here:-08:40. Interestingly though, Millie B says 'my dad got buried he didn't get cremated' with a normal pronunciation of 'bury' in response though. Overlordnat1 (talk) 23:23, 8 July 2024 (UTC)

Missing etymology and sense? A pear
Chambers 1908 also gives bury (or maybe Bury: they capitalise every word so you can't tell) as an alt form of borrel/burrel, a kind of pear. Equinox ◑ 23:11, 21 June 2019 (UTC)