Message: "US Weather Bureau and pronunciation of Beryl"

US Weather Bureau and pronunciation of Beryl

by Cleveland Kent Evans (clevelandkentevans)

7/19/2006, 1:56 PM

Tropical Storm Beryl is telling people that the "correct" pronounciation of the name is Berle, as in Milton Berle:

http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/text/refresh/MIATCDAT2+shtml/

I know that there were women (and some men) born in the USA during the late 19th and early 20th centuries who pronounced the name as Berle. But I think that the great majority of English speaking people today would pronounce the name as "BEAR-ull", like the gemstone. I think the Weather Bureau is going to be confusing a lot of people and by using the "Berle" pronunciation.

What do you all think about this? Should the name of the storm be pronounced "Berl", "beh-rill", or something else?

P.S. They change their advisories so frequently that the above link will no longer get you to the information about the pronunciation, but in the previous advisory they did say it was to be pronounced like Milton Berle.

http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/archive/2006/dis/al022006.discus.005.shtml?

#pronunciation

This message was edited 7/19/2006, 2:02 PM

Replies

- Cambria (guest)

7/20/2006, 9:15 AM

I prn it like it rhymes w/my mother's name, Sheryl. Although, tbh, I like the Burle / Berle prn, too, but not as much. I think the Weather Bureau needs to be corrected, though, since in my experience, the more accepted prn is "bearil." :o)

- mirfak

7/19/2006, 9:30 PM

I've always thought it was correctly pronounced BAIR-rill. Like to rhyme Cheryl or Meryl, as in Meryl Streep.

"Berl" seems wrong. Probably someone up high in the weather service has a gramma who was called that or something, and has managed to cow everyone into saying it's correct. ;-)

- mirfak

- Bear

7/19/2006, 6:53 PM

I know a Beryl who pronounces it like Milton Berle. I cringe inside. Before meeting her, I always assumed everyone pronounced it like Cheryl.

I have to force myself to pronounce her name the way she likes it. I feel like I'm adressing Burle Ives.

This message was edited 7/19/2006, 6:55 PM

- iris

7/19/2006, 5:23 PM

I had a college roommate whose mother was named Beryl and it was pronounced very similar to the word 'barrel' except that in Beryl the first syllable wasn't as open and sustained as that of barrel, if that makes sense. On the other hand a woman at my grandmother's nursing home is named Beryl and her name is said "bairl" kind of a cross between barrel and berle. Perhaps people are just being lazy in the pronunciation. Personally I find it interesting that they posted the pronunciation in the first place. Do they usually do that?

“It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt.”
~Mark Twain

- Array (WeloveyouJesseLacey)

7/19/2006, 4:46 PM

Beryl is sound-alike to "barrel," as far as I'm concerned.

It's a pretty name, too. :) I doubt I'd use it, but Beryl has a very nice sound and look, IMO.

Array

...And then he said, "You're independent, aren't you?"
"Yes," said Laura.
A revolution without dancing is a revolution not worth having.

- Elemmennope +1

7/19/2006, 3:18 PM

I'm with you, it should be like the gemstone. Like the word barrel.

This message was edited 7/19/2006, 3:19 PM

- Elemmennope

7/19/2006, 3:21 PM

Webster's has a sound file you can play.

http://www.webster.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?sourceid=Mozilla-search&va=beryl

This message was edited 7/19/2006, 3:22 PM

- CherryFrog

7/19/2006, 2:46 PM

Where Im from I prononce it Buh-rill" but my accent make it sound like *bih-rul" Lol, I dont think ti really should matter how people prononce it, aslong as all the news readersd ect in one country prononce it the same to stop people ebing confused.

"Forget not that you are a child of the universe. No less than the tress and the stars, You have a right to be here"

- Mithos514

7/19/2006, 2:37 PM

Never heard of Berle. However, I would pronounce it BER - il.

____________________________
Game over.

This message was edited 7/19/2006, 2:39 PM

- Laurie (guest) +4

7/19/2006, 2:10 PM

I never heard of Beryl pronounced as Berle. But I don't pronounce it Bear-ull, either. More like Ber-ull.

- Laurie (guest) +3

7/19/2006, 2:11 PM

One more thing

A better spelling to show how I pronounce it might be Beh-rull.

- Cleveland Kent Evans (clevelandkentevans) +2

7/19/2006, 2:22 PM

Ok, but personally I don't see that there is much difference between "Bear-ull" and "beh-rull". They really seem to be describing the same pronuciation to me. In normal speech no one is going to hear a difference in whether the "r" is in the first or last syllable.

- Laurie (guest)

7/20/2006, 6:32 AM

I was having a hard time describing how I'd pronounce it. There is a difference, but I probably wasn't explaining it well. Bear-ull sounds very southern to me. Bear, like the animal, would be different to the sound Beh makes, but I'm not sure how I can explain it better!

I agree with the person who said it would be pronounced like Cheryl, but then I think even Cheryl must be pronounced differently by region.

- Rachel (floppery)

7/19/2006, 2:41 PM

To me there is a diffrence.

Bear-ul is pronounced like the objec "Barrel"
Beh-rull- has a short 'e' opposed to a long one.

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