08-05-2008, 01:29 AM
I thought I'd take the time to explain the Barry-Barry controversy for any listeners who are not familiar with it. (Please correct any mistakes.)
It all began with an old game they would play on the show called "Celebrity Name Game." Listeners would call in and take on a show member. It began with a celebrity's name, and one of the players had to come up with a different celebrity name that matched either the first name or the last name. It would then go back and forth until someone got stumped.
Example:
Caller: Michael J. Fox
Zane: Michael Jackson
Caller: Randy Jackson
Zane: Randy Newman
etc.
The controversy stemmed from the rule that spelling didn't have to match, but pronounciation did have to match. This led to people matching the last name "Berry" to the first name "Barry." No one thought anything of it, except for some listeners in New Jersey who argued that those were different because they were spelled and pronounced completely differently. The show members denied this and demanded New Jersey listeners who thought the name was different to demonstrate the pronounciation. Listeners from that region then pronounced "Berry" as BAIR-ee and "Barry" as BAh-ree (with the "a" as in "apple." However, the pronounciation of "a" as in "apple" for Barry was lost in the New Jersey accent, so the show members denied any difference in the pronounciation.
This grew into a huge controversy that somehow led to show members mistakenly thinking Jersey listeners were saying "BAR-ee" with "bar" pronounced like a place that serves drinks. Eventually, this misunderstanding was clarified, but the show still likes to joke that "It's pronounced BAIR-ee - NOT BAR-ee."
The feud lasted for many moons before finally, after some more pronounciation demonstrations, show members admitted that they heard a difference, though they could just identify it as some sort of influxuation of speech. To this day, they have never figured out that New Jersey callers pronounce "Barry" with the "a" sounding like the "a" in "apple."
The End.
It all began with an old game they would play on the show called "Celebrity Name Game." Listeners would call in and take on a show member. It began with a celebrity's name, and one of the players had to come up with a different celebrity name that matched either the first name or the last name. It would then go back and forth until someone got stumped.
Example:
Caller: Michael J. Fox
Zane: Michael Jackson
Caller: Randy Jackson
Zane: Randy Newman
etc.
The controversy stemmed from the rule that spelling didn't have to match, but pronounciation did have to match. This led to people matching the last name "Berry" to the first name "Barry." No one thought anything of it, except for some listeners in New Jersey who argued that those were different because they were spelled and pronounced completely differently. The show members denied this and demanded New Jersey listeners who thought the name was different to demonstrate the pronounciation. Listeners from that region then pronounced "Berry" as BAIR-ee and "Barry" as BAh-ree (with the "a" as in "apple." However, the pronounciation of "a" as in "apple" for Barry was lost in the New Jersey accent, so the show members denied any difference in the pronounciation.
This grew into a huge controversy that somehow led to show members mistakenly thinking Jersey listeners were saying "BAR-ee" with "bar" pronounced like a place that serves drinks. Eventually, this misunderstanding was clarified, but the show still likes to joke that "It's pronounced BAIR-ee - NOT BAR-ee."
The feud lasted for many moons before finally, after some more pronounciation demonstrations, show members admitted that they heard a difference, though they could just identify it as some sort of influxuation of speech. To this day, they have never figured out that New Jersey callers pronounce "Barry" with the "a" sounding like the "a" in "apple."
The End.
