Conversation:

Just wondering, how exactly do Americans pronounce "man"? How is it different from the Southern/West Country/Yorkshire/Birmingham/Dorset & Isle of Wight/Midlands/Geordie/Scouse/Scottish/Welsh/Irish/Australian/Canadian/South African etc. pronunciation of the word "man", and are there regional variations within America itself?

<BB<

Listing all those places together makes it sound like they all pronounce "man" in the same way! The broadest pronunciation of "a" in England is probably the North of England. This is the "a" sound of Anglo-Saxon. The southern pronunciation of "a" is more closed, part of the way towards being an "e" sound, particularly, the "upper class" way of saying it. This is similar to the American pronunciation. This is the ae sound of Anglo-Saxon.

I know this is not very clear, but it is very difficult to describe in words, because there is such a variation among English speakers.

I don't think there is much variation of the pronunciation of "man" in the USA ... unless you happen to be a Reggae musician, in which case it is "mon".

i before e, except after c, in modern English

We always used to say "I before E except after C, except in the case of C.I.E." CIE was the national transport company.

Many people know the rule but don't know where it should be applied. They get confused when they come across words like vein. The I before E rule only applies when the sound is "ee", so we have sieze, achieve and conceive.

It is weird science that makes one want to forfeit caffeine.

Not wanting to ever forfeit caffeine, I have to admit that the rule is of limited use, because of the large number of exceptions.

I was taught the rule was:
"i before e except after c, where the "ie" ryhme with d".
Hence exceptions like "weird" etc, where it doesn't rhyme.

<BB<

Did you mis-spell 'seize' deliberately? Was it a joke?

"I before E except after C, or when sounding like ay as in weighing or neigh."
"Man" is pronounced with the short a (or ä in German) sound found in words like "tan", "apple", "and," etc. in all the American English I've heard.

SeedNotHerd,

I misspelled seize by mistake. I confused seize and siege.