Super Mar-E-O or Super Mary-O?

[LiquidPolicenaut]

Mar-E-O and the regular Marry-O. I alternate which way I like to pronounce it but I mostly pronounce it Marry-O...

[Arkhan]

And don't even get me started on folks who call soft drinks "pop". I know I'm probably targeting half of the people here, but Jeez it bugs me. .

i have family in alabama. When we visit and go out to eat, I order coke.

The reply is often "what kind",and I say uhhh "coke"

and they go WELL WE GOT PEPSI, SPRITE, MT. DEW, WHAT KIND OF COKE DO YOU WANT.


crazy shenanigans

[Gameguy]

If you really want to bug people, just pronounce it as Maria or Mariah.

[Emperor Megas]

i have family in alabama. When we visit and go out to eat, I order coke.

The reply is often "what kind",and I say uhhh "coke"

and they go WELL WE GOT PEPSI, SPRITE, MT. DEW, WHAT KIND OF COKE DO YOU WANT.


crazy shenanigans

I actually commented on that also, but I deleted it before I submitted my post (you don't want to get me started on that). I'm glad I'm not the only one whose mind is blown by that "Coke" madness.

[Arkhan]

Yes, its pretty crazy that entire communities refer to anything carbonated as "coke", including pepsi.

the pop/soda/thing, i think is mostly a regional thing.

We call it pop here, but other places call it soda, and others call it soft drink.

The gas stations around here have Polar Pop too! 59 cents for a huge cup of toothrot.

[Slate]

Mar-e-oh. That's how it's pronounced in the games so that's how I pronounce it.

And on the off topic subject of sodas, I don't care if you call them Soda, Pop, Soda Pop, Soft Drinks or even Fizzy Drinks. But don't call all sodas Coke.

[gdement]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tSte8m4Da6A

Weird commercial. The actor says Mar-E-O, the voiceover says Marey-O. I guess that marketing company couldn't get it straight.

[mezrabad]

Some people pronounce "water" as: "wah-ter" some say "whuh-der" (I'm from Philladelphia, and I swear some folks say it that way).

It's my understanding that the correct Italian pronunciation of "Mario" would be "Mah-ri-o" and the "r" is said with your tongue in about the same position as it would if you were to pronounce the letter "d" except you aspirate through it. (not sure if that's the proper technical description of what one is doing)

If we're talking about videogames, and someone says "Mary-o" or "Mah-ri-o" I'm more interested in what they're saying about it than how they pronounce it. It would be rude to correct them on such an unimportant point.

[jcalder8]

Mar-E-o

I had it confirmed by the N64

[Robocop2]

Yes, its pretty crazy that entire communities refer to anything carbonated as "coke", including pepsi.

the pop/soda/thing, i think is mostly a regional thing.

We call it pop here, but other places call it soda, and others call it soft drink.

The gas stations around here have Polar Pop too! 59 cents for a huge cup of toothrot.

It's honestly no different than referring to all cotton swabs as Q-tips, all video games as "Nintentdo" Xbox" etc. Sometimes a brand becomes so popular its name takes over as the general term for whatever product. By the way; we call everything Coke down here in Texas as well. It has just always been that way

Back on topic; I always thought it was Mar-e-o but I seem to recall someone saying mary-o just never sounded right to me.

[Slate]

Some people pronounce "water" as: "wah-ter" some say "whuh-der" (I'm from Philladelphia, and I swear some folks say it that way).

Whudder? We're not talking about cows here, Yeesh. I usually don't care what people call something so long as I still know what they're talking about but that is confusing like the whole Coke thing or Nintendo thing. Even a five year old kid could tell a person that.

[Aussie2B]

Mar-e-o or Mary-O, it doesn't matter to me, but it's when people say NES like "Ness" as in the Earthbound character rather than the individual letters that I fidget. I wouldn't be rude and "correct" anybody over it, but I do have to almost stop for a second and figure out what they're talking about it, it throws me off so much. Ditto for "Sness", although anybody pronouncing each letter in that case is over-complicating it. Just say "Super Nintendo" for goodness sake; it's not like it has the same confusion that saying only "Nintendo" would have.

[Emperor Megas]

By the way; we call everything Coke down here in Texas as well. It has just always been that way

Yeah, my experience with that folly involved Texans. Although some of my older relatives from Texan might argue that it wasn't always the case there. Either way, it's so bizarre to me.

[Eyedunno]

I say Mario like most people here seem to, unless I'm imitating a New Yawkah. I say soda, but that started when I was 11. I moved to Texas after living only in places where people said "pop" up to that point (Michigan, Montana, and North Dakota). Other kids made fun of me, but they themselves said "coke", even if it was Pepsi. I compromised by starting to say "soda", which stuck. :P

As for Ryu, it's technically neither Rye-you nor Ree-you; it's only one syllable (one syllable formed with two morae, if you want to get technical), kinda like "you", but preceded by a quick flick of the tongue on the alveolar ridge (the flesh right above the teeth). Think of it if you wish as kind of rhyming with "view", "cue", "pew", or the British pronunciation of "new". Not easy for English speakers to do, so even a lot of people who know it's not Rye-you say Ree-you. That wouldn't bother me so much if they accented the YOU, but usually they accent the REE, which just sounds dumb.

[Dr. Dib]

The most official source confirms Ma-e-io: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8p0JKL1Y9Y

Watch at 2:34 and you can hear the argument come to a close.

[Oobgarm]

I hate it when people say "Meeree-o"

It's more often than one would think

[Mason P.]

I say it the way the creator Shigeru Miyamoto says it : Mar- E- O

You have to listen closely because he has a translator translating for him, but you can hear him say it clearly.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mW3MRqOUSaY

[drwily008]

I have ALWAYS said it Mar-E-O....always.

I have worked in video game stores since the Jaguar was still sold at retail. Super Mary-O was ALWAYS a pet peeve of mine. Old women and some old men will call him that.

THEM: "Do you have the Mary-O brudders?"

ME: "Sure, Super Mar-e-o Brothers 3 right here." SMILING

People ask for anything Mario on Playstation and XBOX all of the time too. Like everyday...seriously.

[gdement]

Mar-e-o or Mary-O, it doesn't matter to me, but it's when people say NES like "Ness" as in the Earthbound character rather than the individual letters that I fidget. I wouldn't be rude and "correct" anybody over it, but I do have to almost stop for a second and figure out what they're talking about it, it throws me off so much. Ditto for "Sness", although anybody pronouncing each letter in that case is over-complicating it. Just say "Super Nintendo" for goodness sake; it's not like it has the same confusion that saying only "Nintendo" would have.

I still like to call the NES "Nintendo" because I got used to that back when that was the common meaning of the word. I guess it's ambiguous nowadays to people who aren't used to that.
The SNES and later machines I call by their specific names, but the 8-bit is just a "Nintendo" to me, because that's what everybody called it back then.

I don't pronounce the initialisms, that just sounds stupid when people do that. Especially "Sness".

[Damaramu]

Well, Rye-You = Rye-Ooh, I was just trying to find a good way to spell it out phonetically.

Except there's no "rye". Take the "roo" part from "kangaroo" and drop a "y" in right after the "r".

Also, "rye-den" instead of "ray-den"; "guy-den" instead of "gay-den".

For the latter, see this.