"Bury"

       I heard two different people pronounce “bury” as BURR-ee.  One was the President of the United States, Barack Obama, the other a fellow reader with me at the Los Angeles Radio Reading Service.  So I had to look it up.

       I’ve always pronounced it BEAR-ee as in “berry” for example; and though I’ve heard the other way on occasion, I did think that pronunciation sub-par.

      Two respectable sources have it BEAR-ee; one also respectable has it both ways.

      BURR-ee would seem to have justification in that the word shares root meaning from Old English with “burrow,” “borrow,” and “borough,” that meaning being “shelter” or “protection.”  All three words have pronunciations closer to BURR than BEAR!

       (For history and development of bury's spelling and pronunciation, go here.)