Ok, please help me with this ridiculous question

[blackdogdeek]

for some reason, my wife, her sister, and her sister's boss all think the following 2 words rhyme:

here
there

i tried to explain to her that these words do NOT in fact rhyme. i tried to explain to her that the sounds are completely different and therefore do not satisfy the definition of rhyming.

she did agree that hair and there do rhyme and i tried to use that to show that since here and hair don't rhyme that here and there can't rhyme. yet she said that hair and here rhyme. ARGH!

so do you think here and there rhyme?

 

[mcurphy]

No, they don't rhyme.

Here sounds like Ear

There sounds like Air

 

[pontifex]

depends on how you use it. if you emphasize the "R" sound, i could possibly see it i guess.

 

[FoBoT]

is a southern accent involved?

my wife thinks bowl and oil rhyme

 

[blackdogdeek]

Originally posted by: mcurphy
No, they don't rhyme.

Here sounds like Ear

There sounds like Air

sounds simple doesn't it? but by their "logic" ear and air rhyme.

 

[Howard]

I say "here" like "hair" so I would say they rhyme. If you pronounce it like "heer" then I guess they wouldn't.

 

[blackdogdeek]

Originally posted by: Howard
I say "here" like "hair" so I would say they rhyme. If you pronounce it like "heer" then I guess they wouldn't.

my wife and her sister both pronounce it like "heer".

 

[Snapster]

Pronunciations:

here - heer
there - thair

So no

 

[Howard]

Originally posted by: blackdogdeek

Originally posted by: Howard
I say "here" like "hair" so I would say they rhyme. If you pronounce it like "heer" then I guess they wouldn't.

my wife and her sister both pronounce it like "heer".

lol, I feel for you.

 

[MmmSkyscraper]

Originally posted by: blackdogdeek

Originally posted by: Howard
I say "here" like "hair" so I would say they rhyme. If you pronounce it like "heer" then I guess they wouldn't.

my wife and her sister both pronounce it like "heer".

Then I'm afraid your wife and sister require some re-edumakayshun.

(in the recognising when things rhyme dept)

 

[Demon-Xanth]

Merriam Webster pronunciation:
'hir
'[th]er

Nope, not similar enough.

 

[blackdogdeek]

Originally posted by: MmmSkyscraper

Originally posted by: blackdogdeek

Originally posted by: Howard
I say "here" like "hair" so I would say they rhyme. If you pronounce it like "heer" then I guess they wouldn't.

my wife and her sister both pronounce it like "heer".

Then I'm afraid your wife and sister require some re-edumakayshun.

(in the recognising when things rhyme dept)

i probably shouldn't have laughed at that as much as i did.

 

[UncleWai]

Here, there, and everywhere?

 

[2Xtreme21]

It depends on where in the world they are. I, for example, having grown up in Pittsburgh, think that "Harry" and "Hairy" have the exact same pronunciation. Same with "cot" and "caught" and "don" and "dawn."

I do think there's a huge difference between here and there though. I have heard people say the expression "here and there" and pronounce here more like "hair" though. It's all in the dialect.

 

[Midlander]

Originally posted by: 2Xtreme21
It depends on where in the world they are. I, for example, having grown up in Pittsburgh, think that "Harry" and "Hairy" have the exact same pronunciation. Same with "cot" and "caught" and "don" and "dawn."

I do think there's a huge difference between here and there though. I have heard people say the expression "here and there" and pronounce here more like "hair" though. It's all in the dialect.

How are Harry and Hairy pronounced differently? It's news to me. :beer:

 

[blackdogdeek]

Originally posted by: 2Xtreme21
It depends on where in the world they are. I, for example, having grown up in Pittsburgh, think that "Harry" and "Hairy" have the exact same pronunciation. Same with "cot" and "caught" and "don" and "dawn."

I do think there's a huge difference between here and there though. I have heard people say the expression "here and there" and pronounce here more like "hair" though. It's all in the dialect.

i would agree, but they both pronounce here and there differently. probably to the same degree you are used to.

 

[2Xtreme21]

Originally posted by: Midlander

Originally posted by: 2Xtreme21
It depends on where in the world they are. I, for example, having grown up in Pittsburgh, think that "Harry" and "Hairy" have the exact same pronunciation. Same with "cot" and "caught" and "don" and "dawn."

I do think there's a huge difference between here and there though. I have heard people say the expression "here and there" and pronounce here more like "hair" though. It's all in the dialect.

How are Harry and Hairy pronounced differently? It's news to me. :beer:

Not sure. We spent an entire lecture in my Psych class last year talking about how people from Pittsburgh are retarded because they can't tell the difference... professor was having a ball too. He'd say it one way and everyone from not-around-here would be able to tell the difference. *shrugs*

 

[IGBT]

..tone deaf??

 

[RightIsWrong]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phonological_history_of_the_high_front_vowels

My wife and I got into a debate about "pin" and "pen" and it prompted me searching and finding the above article.

 

[dullard]

How about asking this question.

Does a rhyme have to have similar vowel sounds at the end? Or can a rhyme simply have similar consonant sounds at the end?

One could argue that the definition of rhyme, "similar terminal sound" uses the word "terminal" and thus only the last consonant matters. See many rap lyrics for examples.

To me "here" and "there" don't rhyme. But I can certainly see the argument that because they both end with the "r" sound, they do technically rhyme.

 

[PetunZ]

Huh? Hurr and thurr sound like they rhyme to me... ;-)