Ferry rhymes with furry. Fairy rhymes with hairy.

My original point. Most people for whom English is a second language pronounce "th", whether as in "the" or "thread" as something other than we do. Germans say "zee tread", French say "dee tread", Japanese say "zee sssread". It seems as though we may be the only ones to use the "dental fricative".

No, there are plenty--but you're right about the languages you do list.

No it doesn't. Seriously, you rich Americans need to club together and buy another vowel sound.

Ferry, Furry and Fairy are all distinct. As are Fiery, Fury and Fuckingincidentally.

I'm sure I've been here before ...maybe in a dream....? Where's SG, she's in charge of cellar dreams isn't she? I had this one before, I demand a refund.

Just curious--in what regional accents does ferry rhyme with furry?

Since we're on the subject, how do others pronounce 'wh' words, like what, when, where and whale?

My grandmother was from Scotland and would always say "It's not 'wale' it's ..." and then she would pronounce 'whale' so you could hear the 'h,' but it sounded to me more like the letters were reversed, 'hwale.' Or 'hwat' or 'hwen.' I don't remember about 'who.'

I think I get it now - the distinction between ferry and fairy is a slightly more open mouth on the first syllable, right?

edit: in some regional accents, "very" rhymes with "furry". Maybe even in mine... yikes

Like Mrs hWiggins (as said by Mr Tudball)

Philadelphia. But we also rhyme water with wooder, or in South Philadelphia, wooduh.

Berry and bury are pronounced identically.

How strange. To me, water and wooder are not remotely similar; but berry and bury are homonyms

People who say "wooder" also tend to say "warsh" or "worsh" instead of wash...

Also I've heard that's just a PA thing

Are you saying that berry sounds different than ferry?

sure, berry sounds different from ferry.

They have a different initial consonant! (sticks out tongue)

With most of the 'wh' words, the letters were reversed as Old English (Anglo-Saxon) evolved into Modern English: 'what' = hwa, 'where' = hwaer, 'who' = hwa.

You still can hear a slight hint of that 'hw' sound in some English regional pronunciations, but it's most pronounced over the border in Scotland.

Thanks Dana. That's one of those things that I've always wanted to know but was afraid to ask.