I have family from Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania but only became a regular visitor recently. On one of my first trips, I was informed that my pronunciation of “Barre” is wrong.
The source of my pronunciation is my grandmother, who I distinctly remember pronouncing the “Barre” in Wilkes-Barre as “Bearuh”—just a soft little “uh” at the end. When I used this pronunciation on one of my recent visits, I was gently but firmly corrected. “It’s pronounced Berry,” I was told.
Embarrassed, I made a mental note, but then the memory of my grandmother’s pronunciation began to nag at me. She was from that region of Pennsylvania, after all. When I got home, I performed a search on Google and saw that there actually is some debate on how the “Barre” in Wilkes-Barre is pronounced.
Below are a few examples:
Bear: as in Grizzly or Polar. Or Yogi, a cartoon bear famous for his campgrounds:
Bearuh (my grandmother’s version): The other Yogi, baseball legend Yogi Berra, known for such quotes as: “When you come to a fork in the road, take it,” “It ain’t over ‘til it’s over,” and “It’s déjà vu all over again.”
Bar: this is the preferred pronunciation for some, and could refer to where you drink or what you grab (maybe after a night at the other kind):
Barre: another type of bar, used by ballerinas and spelled the same as the second half of the city’s name:
Isaac Barré, who Wilkes-Barre is partly named for, was born in Ireland to French parents. The word “barre” is French and means “rod”, and according to the Cambridge Dictionary the U.S. pronunciation for this kind of “barre” is “bar.” I also listened to the UK version on the Cambridge Dictionary website and it sounded like “bah”, which is how I imagine they say it in Boston, too (as in “pahk the cah”).
Beret (BERR-ay): the fancy French beanie hat pronunciation. This one might also have some merit, given the French connection.
Berry: as in fruit or Chuck, pioneer of rock and roll. This is the way I was told it should be pronounced and seems to be in most use.
So which is it? Bear, Bearuh, Bar/Barre, Beret, or Berry?
How do you say it? As the debate rages on, I’ve decided to use the version I was told is right—“Berry.” I might slip every now and then, though, because in my mind it will forever be my grandmother’s “Bearuh.”
ChessieWriter 