What the Folk!

Nancy why are you posting in the day? I thought you were a night owl poster.

No rehearsal today, and extra time to spare, but I have to leave to go see Rent with the two original cast guys. Later...

Thanks for posting that link. It's nice to hear interesting questions. Can I ask what is possibly a very stupid question? How do you pronounce "Maori"? I can hear a word that sounds almost like "Mauwi". Sorry if this is a stupid thing to ask, but a teacher at school once said that the only stupid question was the one you didn't ask.

It was lovely to hear such details about his school life. Didn't he sound breathless too? Perhaps he was nervous?

I thought it was a nervous breathlessness too.
How much time have you got? I once read that there were 13 ways to pronounce it. Don't know if that's true. I think some of it depends on what accent you have. I believe Jem is pronouncing it with a Maori accent as opposed to how Rhys (or perhaps any non Maori New Zealander) says it in the "New Zealand Town" ep as Mowry. The first time I heard the word was from a Maori girl I met in London, the way she said it was very close to Mary. I think with the Maori accent the R is supposed to sound like a cross of an L and a D which makes it a slippery pronunciation, at least for me.

Thank you, SW. That was a gem of an interview.

I think the pronunciation differs. I've heard it said in many different ways; I've heard Maori, Maowi, Maowli, Maoli, Mahri, Mary. I think how it's pronounced relies heavily on culture and speech patterns.

And I'm a bit behind on the curve here. SW has it spot on.

Thanks for uploading that, SW!

Munchkin I asked that same question a year ago and Turnip said if you pronounce it so it rhymes with "cowrie" you can't go wrong, so that's how I say it. I felt weird saying it with a NZ or Maori accent.

That's the thing, when I first heard the word from the Maori girl it sounded like Mary. I had never seen it spelled so I just said it like she did. Later I realized I was saying it with a kiwi accent. Personally I like the Mahwri pronunciation.

Thanks guys! I can hear "Maudie" when Jem says it, which kind of backs up shewolfs explaination. Guess, as you say, it depends on your accent and where you're from. There is a small town near here (I've lived here all my life) and local people (me included) pronounce it "Beeth" with a long "ee" sound and a "th" as in "the". Non locals (incomers!) say "Beeth" with a soft "th" as in "thank" and a short "ee". It makes them sound like different places!!

Accents? Don't they make life interesting!