No, YOU'RE saying “Mario” wrong

For years, people have told me I say the word "Mario" wrong: I say "marry-oh" instead of "MARio". So today, I've asked an expert linguist to tell me - what is the "correct" way to say Mario, really?
Huge thanks to Yoïn van Spijk for helping with this video! You can find him on Twitter here: / yvanspijk
PATREON - / thomasgamedocs
MERCH - www.thomasmerchdocs.com
TWITTER - / thomasgdocs
VIDEO GAME MUSIC
- Eccentrics from Ace Attorney: Justice for All
- Initial Investigation 2001 from Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney
- Logic and Trick from Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney
- Initial Investigation 2015 from The Great Ace Attorney: Adventures
- Initial Investigation 2002 from Ace Attorney: Justice for All
- Initial Investigation 2007 from Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney
- Ryunosuke Naruhodo - Overture to Resolve from The Great Ace Attorney 2: Resolve
- The Witnesses Take the Stand from The Great Ace Attorney: Adventures

[@ThomasGameDocs]

Huge thanks to Yoïn van Spijk for helping me out with this video! I didn't realise how complicated the topic was until I spoke to him! Yoïn posts some super interesting breakdowns of language evolution on his Twitter account twitter.com/yvanspijk so be sure to give him a follow!

[@YupYupTRP]

ok

[@averyshurts4402]

I’m glad you were able to get a professional linguist to answer the question, never would’ve thought it went this deep

[@Marescio]

I can't help but comment that you pronounce Yoïn's name with a hard J like 'join', why not say it like the actual British Y, as in 'young' or 'yoke'? Even in Dutch, his name is pronounced with a sound that mirrors the way English speakers pronounce a Y at the start of a word.

[@zlac]

I found this video hilarious because you concentrated on "A", and this doesn't really bother me, the only thing that bothers me is when you add Y between I and O! :D

[@yvanspijk]

@@Marescio I can assure you that Thomas pronounces my name perfectly. :)

[@Vilivagod2]

They’re both wrong, it’s pronounced “Red Luigi”

[@dixon_481]

Well, this is his name from now on as far as I'm concerned.

[@Funnyapple64]

Everyone says luigi is green mario but oh how the tables

[@sweetdreams2974]

@@Funnyapple64 have turned. You forgot that part

[@Toastie12]

Yes lol

[@mari0722]

No it's said FLOPPA

[@irenenene]

i’m italian: charles martinet basically has a perfect “mario” pronunciation so if you want to say mario “the italian way” he does a great example imo :)

[@flamesmrk847]

Exactly, Charles Martinet actually knows how to and can speak Italian.

[@asimpleuser8570]

Yes, he did an excellent job, if I can say it as an Italian myself. I didn't who he could actually speak Italian, tho.

[@flamesmrk847]

@@asimpleuser8570 From what I know, he is also half French so he can speak French too! So cool!

[@julioestebanortiz-zamora5387]

@@flamesmrk847 yup! he also speaks spanish too iirc

[@irenenene]

@@flamesmrk847 i did a quick research and apparently charles actually knows italian but very little of it (according to an user on gamefaqs), so this is really impressive! he nailed the pronunciation, of not just “mario”, but a lot of italian words in the mario franchise that he had to say

[@ZealousElit3]

Thomas Game Docs: *posts a video about the pronunciation of the character Mario* KZbin: "looks like Ace Attorney to me"

[@Monkeymario.]

what

[@darrenmacqueen9884]

This is really interesting, but there are non Italian people in the games who pronounce Mario in the American way. Like Peach and Bowser. This is mainly because those lines were recorded in America just like Mario's, but it's just surprising that you didn't notice until now that they were pronouncing it differently than you.

[@patrickdixon7202]

Peach is voice by an American.

[@darrenmacqueen9884]

@@patrickdixon7202 That's literally what I said.

[@host23]

Fun fact: In Super Mario Maker there is a character named Mary O.

[@Invaliput]

Wasnt that that weird woman? That always gave you tutorials n stuff

[@host23]

@@Invaliput yep

[@Louie_Log]

I remember that

[@donutdome]

That was only her name in america

[@jahjoeka]

Fun fact: i dont care.

[@Trixilii]

Really interesting topic, especially the fact that we hear how Mario himself says his name differently depending on where you're from

[@MrCed122]

That's funny because as someone who speak French, I never heard MAR-io or MARRY-o in Mario 64 at all, I've always heard the italian pronunciation, guess that's because both are latin language.

[@abruhbruhbruhh8136]

@@MrCed122 disney xd

[@Chipmunkboy]

​@@abruhbruhbruhh8136 ?

[@snake_asterisk]

@@MrCed122 i always hear the italian prononciation but thats cuz im italian lol

[@robbiewalker2831]

@@MrCed122 to me, Mar-io is closest to Ma-Rio in terms of sound.

[@RunstarHomer]

It's amazing how the brain processes language. When you said it sounds like Mario pronounces his name like you do, I was stunned. Even after hearing it side by side, Mario's "Mario", to my ears, sounds much more like the American pronunciation. Even though I can see the differences the linguist pointed out between all three pronunciations, it's like my brain is just wired to hear "MAR-io"

[@rufflechips1080]

nice pfp and user :33

[@user-yz6rw3si3e]

Although "A," in certain words is pronounced differently in Br/E and Am/E, sometimes they have the same pronounciation for the same words: Think of the "A" that's used in the word "Mars," which is almost identical in both American English and British English pronounciations. The "A" in the word "marry" is also similar in both pronounciations. Most would agree that "Mario," falls under the former. And for a person who supposedly has a British accent, you would expect the "flattened" vowel to be preferred (think of how British would pronounce "last," compared to Americans, so I think it also has to do with the fact that the "twangier," version of "A" would be more likely to be expected of an American accent and not (supposedly paradoxically) with a British accent which somehow sounds out of place). I'm not saying one is correct over the other, just my theory of why it may sound especially jarring with a British accent.

[@GMTK]

BRB, making a bot to automatically post this video URL in reply to certain comments...

[@SteveJubs]

Another criminal in our midst … Love your videos, Mark!

[@slickwilli409]

Finally, it's here! ;)

[@radproturtle8066]

Learning to code really paid off.

[@jahjoeka]

Hey i love ur videos and watch u all the time. Sike !

[@DDRWakaLaka]

enjoy being wrong and deaf i guess

[@magical86]

I always separated the syllables as ma-rio rather than mar-io. No long “merry’ sound, but i guess it isn’t any closer to being correct than the other ways. Interesting video!

[@OrcinusOrca1995]

same I say it this way

[@RaspK]

English syllabification is kind of unique, and it really messes up with e.g. Greek learners of English, because it makes no sense to us. There's literally no consistency regarding *_what_* can constitute a syllable, whereas most other languages tend to a certain degree of consistency.

[@Periwinkleaccount]

@@RaspK I think the reason syllables in English are annoying is because of the fact that approximants (phonemes like the English W and non-vowel Y) link two syllables together, by sort of being part of both syllables, like in the word oil. This can also happen with fricatives (things like F, V, Z, S, Þ, (TH as in thing ) and Ð (TH as in this). They can be at the end and start different syllables, which can be observed by saying “ifffi”. If you say that, you’ll notice that the syllables “ɪf” and “fɪ” are linked because of how the F is just one sound, making “ɪfɪ” technically one syllable. I hope this wasn’t too long.

[@redmage777]

The presence of "r modified" vowels is valid as well. Perhaps easiest was to see this would be: US = m❪ARE❫eo British = m❪AIR❫eo Italian = MA-rio - No "r modification"

[@wesltall1]

This was the same way I described it on the survey before this video came out. As a Spanish speaker with some familiarity with Italian and Portuguese, "Mario" is a 2-syllable word, with the 2nd syllable starting with the R, since THAT's how Romance language logic works. When I is adjacent to another vowel, it becomes a Y sound, without adding another syllable. There ARE exceptions to this, but for simplicity's sake, that's the norm.

[@PooKneader]

Love the use of Ace Attorney music!

[@rascal016]

This is the most useless video I've watched in a hot minute. I love it. Keep up the great work

[@Ails1234]

Seeing Martinet doing the Mario voice never fails to bring a smile to my face, what a legend

[@requiem165]

Ikr

[@thatcactus.]

He will be missed :(

[@Max_and_countryballs]

​@@requiem165WDYM IKR!?

[@BlameCez]

it's wholesome

[@BlameCez]

@@Max_and_countryballs he ate too much spaghetti 😔

[@asimpleuser8570]

As an italian I can see now why it's difficult to say Mario. I didn't know that most of people would have problems with the pronunciation until this video, so thank you. It was a really interesting topic. And, also, I always liked how you say his name. Buona fortuna se ancora avete delle difficoltà!

[@LollinoDamb64]

Yeah, as an italian, I thought the same. Ma non fa nulla, dopotutto non è la fine del mondo se dicono "Mario" male

[@asimpleuser8570]

@@LollinoDamb64 You are right, it's not so bad if you spell the name a little bit different than the original. Goditi la giornata, fellow italian.

[@SmallSpoonBrigade]

It's also worth noting that we rarely if ever have anybody that goes by the British pronunciation of the name, it's always by the American pronunciation of the name. Pronouncing it in any other way would seem weird to us because it's not something we hear and I've never heard anybody be corrected on it. Probably because it's close enough. It's also worth noting that in most of the US, we pronounce Mary, merry and marry the same, so we wouldn't really even have that vowel sound available in many cases, except as a foreign word.

[@RedMadMichael]

@@SmallSpoonBrigade Mary has the a slightly longer even in english, marry has the a sound more like mahrry rather than merry which is just normal. They're not too different but just slightly. We here in Slovakia even have a way of differenciating long and short sounds. A is short Á is long. E is short É is long... same goes for Ó, Ú, Ý, Í, Ĺ and Ŕ.

[@RedTHedge]

**Speaks Mario gibberish assuming you'd understand**

[@Cradle2dagrav]

There was an interview with the game creator forever ago so I feel like the guy who made the game would know.

[@theriffwriter2194]

I grew up around a lot of Italians so I always knew it was "marry." Also it's Tri-co, as in ico part 3, as in tricycle/tripod. Not freakin "tree-co". And for the last time it's Ko-kiri-ko not cock-a-reek-ho!!! Note: clearly I commented before I watched. So all the "Italians" I know were still raised in America and somehow learned the British pronunciation is correct. Which is even another layer to this onion.

[@DeerBonesBaby]

I love how this video is just "No, *we* pronounce Mario wrong"

[@tionaus]

who's "we"

[@AmazingJuniorBros]

@@tionaus Americans and British People

[@tionaus]

@@AmazingJuniorBros I'm not we 😭

[@gab_just_gab]

I mean, he's right, you guys technically do say it wrong lmao

[@crystalalumina]

Well yeah, you all aren't Italian

[@DOCTOR.DEADHEAD]

This was super interesting; wasn't expecting to learn that people actually *hear* Mario's own pronunciation of his name differently. It kinda adds another layer to those auditory illusions that go viral every so often lol

[@SmallSpoonBrigade]

It's not super surprising, that's part of where accents come from. People will pronounce things in the way that they hear them typically. And by the age of 6 months babies already cry in one language or another. If you don't develop the ability to hear the sound, you'll almost certainly never develop the ability to produce it with any consistency because you'll have no way of monitoring to see if you're doing it right.

[@scotterboi9]

It's how humans work. If they have a pre-defined conclusion, they're more likely to cherry pick evidence in their favor.

[@gamerparker123]

I love to bold random words *when* I speak

[@DOCTOR.DEADHEAD]

@@gamerparker123 If you're talking about "hear", that wasn't random.. it's the part I was most surprised by so I emphasized it 😅 Similar to how one would put a word in all caps if they want to communicate through text that there's supposed to be an intonation as you're reading.

[@DOCTOR.DEADHEAD]

@@SmallSpoonBrigade Well it was still interesting to me nonetheless. When you explain it that way I understand how it all makes sense but I suppose it's something I never really thought about until now, haha.

[@darkmatter9651]

the ace attorney ost playing in the background was so on point

[@brippadedp4188]

This is a very interesting video! I'm an American English speaker and I have a very rough and basic grasp of Japanese as a language. Ever since I started learning Japanese, my understanding of how Mario says his name in the games has completely changed. I now hear it much closer to マリオ. I wonder how the perception of Mario's name differs slightly between Italian and Japanese speakers, as the sounds seem very similar but Japanese and Italian definitely sound extremely different, at least to my ears.

[@PeculiarPumpkin07]

Nice to know I say Mario correctly ( I am Dutch ) also, it's not just the "a" that's different, the "r" is also different than how American and British people pronounce it

[@luukderuijter1332]

Based Nederland

[@rosehere3912]

I think that the guys who explained it is also Dutch.

[@wyxyr]

@@rosehere3912 He is

[@fromgames3123]

That's the thing, the R sound from both English is very wrong compared to normal European languages, it's not a arh, it's soft r not vibrating your vocal chords and not moving your lips just hit your theeth with your tongue while expelling air only at the end, try saying Rio instead of Wrheeouh, you can test it yourself it makes much better the pronunciation. After all ä is not very different from the American one, but definitely it's not an æ like in British.

[@aaaaaaaaaa190]

Real reality

[@karolilkarol]

As an italian I like seeing people debate over how Mario is said knowing that no-one is saying it correctly

[@iamstarstreek]

Italian as in you live in Italy? Or Italian as in your great great grandma was Italian and you watch the Sopranos.

[@karolilkarol]

Italian as I was born in Italy and lived in Italy since I was born

[@ChaoticMushy]

@@iamstarstreek why is that even your business??

[@iamstarstreek]

@@ChaoticMushy genshin + Roblox player 🥱

[@fromgames3123]

@@iamstarstreek why would he comment that if he wasn't Italian? You know Italians are normal people that don't only exist in movies right? Pues eso

[@DOGEKB]

Ah yes good *PHOENIX WRIGHT:ACE ATTORNEY* content

[@danieljm1234]

The ad you showed says it both ways

[@djrmx7903]

US: It’s MARio! UK: No, it’s MARRY-o! Italy: You’re both wrong!

[@nintendofan8656]

Good one

[@MartKart8]

US: often say the word Pokémon wrong as well, they don't say the é which is silenced in Japan, I go with the place of origin.

[@AmatMiguel]

Italians: It's Ma-ri-o! Brits & Americans: That's what we said!

[@angellara7040]

​​@@MartKart8 but thats not how you say pocket in English. it literally makes zero sense not to say the e in pocket monsters

[@new0news]

moreo cookies

[@TRMrStone]

This was unexpected interesting, I love how you always get interesting topics I never thought about :D

[@beady5831]

Linguistics are interesting, aren't they?

[@TRMrStone]

@@beady5831 It kinda is, yes :]

[@stoheha]

I know... this is so petty. Thomas is still phonetically correct based on the region he's from. Seeing the American bias, AS an American, just leaves a bad taste.

[@TRMrStone]

@@stoheha Well now my English reaches it's end, I don't fully understand what you mean 😅

[@TachyonKing]

“You know, if you just remove the length of the vowel it sounds just like a British Mario.” “If my grandmother had wheels she would have been a bike!”

[@throwbackswiththetechnodrome]

I’m from Brooklyn and growing up I only heard people say it Marry-o, when I heard actors on tv say “Mahr-io” it was like nails on a chalkboard and sounded fake. Super Mario is from Brooklyn so we are right by default😂 great vid! -Cast

[@timohara7717]

Snus

[@throwbackswiththetechnodrome]

@@timohara7717 snus?

[@srerol003]

as an italian my spaghetti instinct tells me that the american pronunciation sounds closer to the original, but i'm no linguist, far from it, and Yoïn did a great job explaining the matter.

[@AdamFaruqi]

I am a linguist and I disagree fundamentally with Yoin. The American pronunciation is slightly closer to the Italian.

[@SmallSpoonBrigade]

@@AdamFaruqi As a non-linguist English teacher, somebody that spends a lot of time listening to and dissecting accents. The American version sounds closer and I've never met anybody named Mario or Maria that requested the more British version of the name be used. I think it's because people have different cadences, and often times vowels will shrink or be lengthened during songs. Songs themselves usually being sung closer to American English than British English in most cases. I've heard groups like Herman's Hermits use an actual British accent in songs, but those aren't terribly common in my experience. They tend to actually recognize their rhotic rs when singing.

[@bitwize]

We adjoin countries with a lot of Spanish speakers, so we pronounce Maria more like the Spanish name María.

[@srerol003]

@@lrsb1678 aaaaaaaaaand that's not true. in mario the accent falls on the a, màrio, while in maria the accent falls on the i, maría, as if it was an english ee. Mahrio and Mareea

[@DraakjeYoblama]

As someone with ears (and speaking a language that has the ä sound) I also agree that the American version is closer. The linguist says the British pronunciation keeps the sound, but changes the length of the a. That just sounds wrong. When Charles Martinet says it, the a sounds like an a, when British people say it, it sounds like an e. At least the American pronunciation keeps the length of the sound. Also Peach pronounces Mario much more like the American version (in cutscenes like in Super Mario Galaxy)

[@Shadow1Yaz]

As someone who’s really interested in linguistics, I almost never correct someone’s pronunciation. As long as I know what you’re talking about. Loved this video!

[@foodham3277]

Based, never understood why people try to "correct" others when they're not saying a word wrong, just saying it with their accent typically. It's gives same energy as Americans yelling at the British for putting a u in the word colour when they don't lol

[@Shadow1Yaz]

@@foodham3277 OMG!! Exactly!!

[@madisonm1310]

Same! I assumed it had to do with his accent. Plus for me "marry" is more like /meəri/ not /mari/.

[@sulaymanfagirzada3366]

Pronounciation*

[@purploid]

@@sulaymanfagirzada3366 it’s Pronunciation

[@strawberrytofu5174]

I knew this video was going to be interesting as soon as you whipped out the IPA chart. But I was more interested in the conclusions it made. My grandma and I are both American but she speaks a little Italian and pronounces it like MARRY-oh whereas I pronounce it MAH-rio. I always assumed I was in the wrong because of this. Turns out we were both wrong!

[@djb12DeepAcidHouseExperience]

You are absolutely right. As a Long Island New Yorker that’s how it’s said. I hate when people say mahr-io, it’s like fingernails on the chalkboard.

[@thedoomnegotiator9693]

I remember that poll. Did NOT expect this to become a full video topic. I hope we can be satisfied that no one or all of us were uncultured for our opinion on the subject. In any case, fantastic video as always, and its always impressive how you try to source the most relevant information on your topics

[@beanoptodon]

Or that it's something that shouldn't matter and it's something people think they have an excuse to whine about lol

[@GreekShinobi223]

@@beanoptodon Well said, this should have never been a topic in the first place, it's like the GIF and JIF argument

[@jahjoeka]

Of course the voice actor says his name perfectly with the accent. Shame he's not the voice actor for the movie but we'll see.

[@n.andkirby]

i cant allow chris pratt to be a defining answer for this question

[@finnsalsa9304]

Finnish is also a language that doesn't have the Italian a-sound. We use the back vowel /ɑ/ (as in castle but short) when saying Mario. We do also have a sound that's closer to the Italian a-sound, /æ/ which is similar to the English vowel in the word "cat". However, there are two big reasons we don't use this vowel for Mario. 1) This sound is spelt with the letter ä. So if we used this pronunciation, we'd have to spell the name Märio. However, this would not work either because of... 2) ...vowel harmony. Finnish words inherently can not have vowels a, o and u in the same word as ä, ö and y. Every Finnish suffix (ending) has two versions for the different word types. Compare "onnettomuudella" (onni + ton + uus + lla) with "työttömyydellä" (työ + tön + yys + llä) (for you more linguistically oriented, the s in -uus/-yys becomes d when certain case endings are added). So if we were to pronounce the first a as an ä, we'd have to pronounce and spell the last o as ö /ø/ resulting in Märiö ['mæ.ri.ø] EDIT: Fixed a couple typos.

[@littlemacisunderrated412]

Same energy as dream hiring an astrophysicist

[@stinos24]

I know, since i'm Dutch, that in German and Dutch, a lot of words have the a-sound like Mario, so it is very natural for us to pronounce it that way.

[@coolskeleton_952]

Ben jij stinos of Mario

[@rubenvergouwen1280]

Right there with ya

[@yesornohmmmm]

Het is roode luigi not mahrio mario

[@rubenvergouwen1280]

@@yesornohmmmm *Loe-iedzjie

[@tb4u646]

Definitely not the R, though

[@GreenBlueWalkthrough]

As a Mario fan all my life... It brings me so much joy that how Mario says his name is the most Itlian thing about him.

[@mr.junior7880]

Same

[@jengashaviss584]

ever since I stumbled upon your channel, I've always liked the way you say it, even though I'm american

[@20Thomas10]

5:55 I think that you should call it the hell you want (also, if you call it the way the USA calls it, the person hearing it will say that your america and vice-versa with the UK).

[@SheerSonic]

No matter where you're from, or what accent you acquired since childhood, we can all stand united against one thing. The pronunciation of those thousands of dads from America who pronounce it "Merry-oh" for some reason. You know the ones. They have no excuse.

[@gunjfur8633]

Depending on your dialect "merry", "marry" & "mary" might sound the same

[@atsirdsart7386]

Oh gawd my New Jerseian dad does this. Didn't know it was a thing lolol

[@largolagrande]

Never thought this would be even remotely an interesting topic. Was a great watch!

[@pbrunet44]

That's me with basically all deep dive youtube videos. Seeing thumbnail: "Why would I care about the history of the toaster?" 30 minutes in: "OH MY GOD IT'S REALLY COOL!"

[@TiggerTheTiger112]

I always thought that it was marry-oh and mario just held the ah sound to give it a sort of fun and welcoming effect. Finding out that it is said in Italian kinda surprised me. I do think british is the closest, because the a sound in british is just a shortened version of the Italian version but the American is just an entire new sound, just the same length.

[@anonymoususer2756]

Thank you. The British version is literally objectively closer to the Italian pronunciation. People saying otherwise are linguistically illiterate.

[@justsans.]

The British comment at the start was hella offensive. Why do Americans have the idea that they’re right majority of the time, and that if an accent makes someone say it differently, that’s wrong?

[@cosmicwitch-ne8xs]

ITS RACIST 😠

[@hospee]

It’s interesting that you pronounce Charles’ last name “Martinet” like the Us pronunciation of MARIO and not with “merry-oh” way. Glad to hear a linguist’s take on this!!

[@lolcat]

as a Brit I say it like martin ay

[@12DAMDO]

mertinet

[@notwithouttext]

just one comment, "merry-oh" and "marry-oh" are very distinct in british english. merry has an "eh" sound like "met", but marry has an "a" sound like "mat". and also it's not possible in those accents to make "arr" in "marry", because it sounds unnatural

[@anonymoususer2756]

That would be because he doesn’t pronounce Mario like “merry-oh”.

[@qwertyuiopjk.]

*Cries in italian *

[@alexandrealves9720]

I'm from Brasil and I had never noticed the differences between the english and the american ways to say "Mario" before. And is also awesome how Charles Martinet managed to keep his pronuciation the closest to the italian way as he could.

[@KaliBella]

I never realized how many different ways the letter “A” could be pronounced.. awesome job bringing in the linguist, super informative!

[@nocomment00]

Also, the R is pronounced differently. We use the rolling one in Dutch as well as the throat one when we pronounce Mario

[@finixmoon127]

Wait till you find out about Mandarin Chinese

[@LuisDGamer]

For the spanish people, the english "a" sounds like "ei" for us

[@popixel]

This is hilarious... your advert at 1:08 I hear MARI-Oh

[@sprungle]

Thomas tweaking fr

[@amandaperry6327]

The chart in the video is very interesting.

[@lucendo6168]

Americans have been real quiet since this dropped.

[@BrickstyNine]

Americans are loud.

[@AlexWalkerSmith]

7:20 The way you pronounce the A in the word "chance" is how we Americans pronounce the A in "Mario". And, interestingly, the way we pronounce the A in "chance" is how you pronounce the A in "Mario". 😅

[@morganisapro6]

I'm from the UK and I don't say it like "Charnce" or "Carstle" I just say it like you Americans but without the American accent. I still say "Mario" the way the UK says it though

[@yourresume373]

@@morganisapro6 “Without the accent” bruh everyone has an accent. Everyone who speaks differently from you (Americans, Australians, Scots, etc.) hears you with an accent as much as you hear them with one.

[@tainio]

@@yourresume373 hate to break it to you but not everyone has an American accent

[@yourresume373]

@@tainio They just said “without the accent” before the comment was edited.

[@davidb4165]

@@yourresume373 That still doesn't mean the same as "without an accent" or "without any accent". He meant "without THE accent" as in "without the [American] accent" since he had already mentioned "American".

[@theoddone3938]

Thank you for making this video. As an Italian person, it just ever so slightly got on my nerves when my British and American co workers insisted it was marry-o or mar-io.

[@dunkleosteusterrelli]

thinking about it, as a child I played I played Mario games pretty early so I think I picked up the pronunciation more closely up to the vowels and the r sound children tend to pick up sounds more easily than adults also never expected to find a linguistics video on this channel, cool

[@IsomerMashups]

When people tell me how to pronounce it, I ask them when I asked.

[@emiddiosalzano3732]

6:32 Charles Martinet sounds so italian he manages to move his hands how italians do when talking

[@jennfreeman1962]

To be honest, I don't mind how you say Mario, it's actually pretty satisfying for me to hear, even though I pronounce it Mar-i-o

[@lucasmiguel1508]

I think it's cute

[@MavenMouse]

Same, but secretly I always knew it was making someone on the internet seethe

[@brianfong5711]

I mind how he says it, but I am a ghetto speech therpist so don't take my opinion too heavily.

[@SmallSpoonBrigade]

I don't personally mind, I just think it's kind of weird and this is clearly an outsider.

[@TomMcKee33]

Personal experience all my friends from the Philly, NY or Boston say Mary-oh but everyone else I know (including myself) says Mar-io

[@EmbraceTheStruggle24]

Sega genesis hears a mother bleepin' who

[@zeromontalvan1514]

This is pretty consfusing to a spanish speaker, i had to put max volume and use headphones to find the difference and i never thought it was a problem, but now it is for me cause literaly my second name it's Mario

[@WarningStrangerDanger]

It was interesting because I am also Spanish and have family members named Maria and Mario (cute idea to name twins like that) and see people realize their inconsistent pronunciation of the two names which are otherwise very similar. Nobody who calls him Marry-o calls her Marry-a, but when he points this out they just kind of laugh and move on.

[@blueecho9792]

Tbh they do sound different, but I think, since we're Spanish speakers, we just never took notice to it.

[@JorWat25]

@@WarningStrangerDanger 'Mario' has its accent on the first syllable, while 'Maria' has its accent on the second syllable, that's the key reason they don't have the same 'a' vowel.

[@diegone080]

@@blueecho9792 i'm an italian speaker and i can find the difference

[@markusdied5569]

the defeat in Thomas' face when Yoin said 'he's very italian' LMAO

[@Supperbeta]

Buen momento para ser hispanohablante y no tener confusión con la forma en la que decimos Mario.

[@fromgames3123]

Jaja lo decimos bien porque nuestro idioma está bastante bien construido, igual que el italiano. El inglés deriva de una lengua germánica hecha por bárbaros que hablaban más parecido a cavernícolas que a gente del Mediterráneo, fue civilizandose poco a poco pero como no tuvo tanta influencia del latín no pudo estructurarse igual de bien que las lenguas romances, que tenían civilaciones, sistemas educativos y cultura. En el latín las vocales equivalen únicamente a una letra, una letra solo se puede pronunciar de una manera. En inglés no, la o se pronuncia o, ouh, æ, etc. La e se pronuncia i, i:, e, æ. El inglés además tuvo mucha influencia en el francés, que paso de hablar el mismo latín que me España, a cada vez pronunciar raro las vocales y consonantes. Por eso en el vídeo dice que tanto inglés como francés no pronuncian bien Mario.

[@Supperbeta]

@@fromgames3123 Carnal, lo sé, tranquis.

[@RadzKiram]

Borrowing from Ragetti from Pirates of The Caribbean, "It's a mythological creature, I can calls it what I wants." is how I'll refer to Mario. And ain't nobody stopping me from calling whatever I want to call a fictional character.

[@AStrangeTrap]

I find it really strange, because hearing the original Italian one doesn't sound much different than the way everyone I know pronounces it (from the US), but every time I hear the British pronunciation it sounds a mile away from the original even though it's just as close as the united states's pronunciation. Weird how the brain processes stuff like that

[@pennylessz]

It is odd. I am from the US, but have studied Japanese, and it's easier for my to explain how I hear it this way. In Japan, "I" is always pronounced as "ee" and "a" is always pronounced as "ah" So naturally, Mario is Mah-ree-oh. However, "e" is always pronounced as "eh" in Japan, and what I hear from the British pronunciation is like Merio (Meh-ree-oh)

[@Monkchelle_Kongbama]

@@pennylessz im in your boat, I just wrote a _book_ in the comment section but this was one of the logic paths I went down.

[@hiddenguy67]

I'm British and I say mah rio

[@KaliBella]

I think the difference is very subtle, but in the US the way we pronounce “MARio” , the “ar” is pronounced almost like a pirate would. The “r” is a little more pronounced . In the Italian pronunciation “mAHrio”, you get the “ahh” sound of the A, but less of an emphasis on the “r” sound . In Italian and Spanish (and prob other languages), the way the r is pronounced, your tongue kind of touches the roof of your mouth, as opposed to in English where R is pronounced more with the lips. Idk if this makes any sense but I hope it helps in some way

[@acka.]

As an Italian, i think the American pronunciation is closer to ours. Yours sounds like Mahrio, while the british sounds like Merio.

[@rhounin.2115]

As someone who speaks portuguese, I find this whole "controversy" hilarious. I never paid attention to the English pronunciation, and the fact that a lot of people did get bothered by it just to also be saying it incorrectly is priceless 🤣.

[@Kurisu545]

I'm Brazilian, I always find these language quirks really fun, it's cool that in Brazil we really don't have that issue with Mario's name tho, lol.

[@Akito3D]

@@Kurisu545 ikr? It's just so clear that we're saying m á r i o

[@Jabutimado]

@@Kurisu545 yeah

[@Jabutimado]

Pois é, né, mano?

[@blueecho9792]

Yup! Spanish speaker here and as a Mexican American, the argument was pretty hilarious to me to. However, let's not let pride ruin us just because we can pronounce Mario correctly hehe😋

[@JoshDickens-sf9mm]

6:39 that’s not only that “ah” prolungation but also the pronunciation of the “r” couse we in italy say it in another way

[@user-yz6rw3si3e]

Think of the voice over on the OFFICIAL English version of Mario 64, when Princess Peach invites Mario to the castle in her letter. kzbin.info/www/bejne/l4rYioShaM6LmNksi=DDNvxnEKoGUCMJEf Ditto, for Galaxy 1 & 2 kzbin.info/www/bejne/p6OzoWObpcuCidksi=4QcMfYIOgJwkT7SU Also in that weird Sega Sonic game where Mario appears and his name is uttered.... Three OFFICIAL appearances (and that sonic guest appearance game). I'd think that would be "official" proof enough for me to deem this person's pronunciation as "alternate," at the least, and "wrong," at the most. He's free to say it however he wants.

[@ArcticWolfGod]

I've never even thought of the length of the sound, I've always just thought of the difference in the "a" pronunciation, vehemently being in the "a" as in the word "car" camp, as opposed to the "cat" pronunciation.

[@TommCC]

I'm Italian and I never noticed a difference between the two pronunciations, because I never payed too much attention to it (I mean, none of you are Italian, not even Mario himself, since he was "born" in Japan lol). In my opinion the US pronunciation is closer to the italian one, but it's just what I think subjectively.

[@husseinrose4883]

You're correct, although if you asked a new York Italian they'd probably say it like marry o, which is funny considering they're Italian.

[@antoninotorres]

wow la pensiamo allo stesso modo :D

[@HeliosimWorld]

Sono d'accordo,non avevo mai notato questa differenza di pronuncia prima di aver visto questo video

[@algar6616]

Thank you

[@dankblonde7173]

@@husseinrose4883 nobody in New York in my experience has ever said it that way, I'm from Jersey.

[@remioranen8769]

I cant tell the differnce between Marry-oh and mar-ee-oh i only hear mario

[@Beefnhammer]

It's rare but I have occasionally heard other Americans pronounce it the British way, usually older people who grew up before these games existed.

[@tweer64]

Also, the “a” in Marry sounds completely different in American.

[@nintendofan8656]

Call me crazy! But I don't hear a difference.

[@baibac6065]

@@nintendofan8656 British a is ah, but American a is ae.

[@nintendofan8656]

I know that but they sound the same in my ears. #Ican'tcontrolmyears

[@nintendofan8656]

@Baibac

[@nintendofan8656]

Not to be rude.

[@Shadtulip]

Linguistic is so interesting! Thank you for all the work and thanks to yoïn for giving such cool explanations!

[@ClassicshouseOffical]

Classic sonic: no one gets my name wrong people: CLASSIC SANIC

[@LeBabol]

honestly i like how you say it

[@yotetoob]

Didn't think this would be anywhere near as interesting as it was - good job man!

[@Savage_Roma]

1:20 i hear mar'yo

[@amandaoakhart8081]

I personally always go with the source when it comes to these things and I have heard the literal creator and some major fixtures at Nintendo say it as Mah-rio so that’s what makes me me believe it’s that’s. I can’t deny the very people who created him so that’s what makes me think it’s that way. I understand it’s different for British and American. I think what drives me crazy is my dad is full American and he insisted on saying “merry-o” when I’ve heard him say Mah-rio when it comes to other people named “Mario”

[@lordvlygar2963]

Mario after Jumpman, before Mario 64. His backstory was an Italian-American plumber in NYC. Spend time in pre-gentrified NYC and you will see it is certainly "Marry-oh". Captain Lou Albano also backs this up, along with the NY variant of turning vowels into "uh" on the downswing. Mario to Muhhrio, mozzarella to muhtsuhrell, capicolla to guhbigool, the to thuh.

[@Shadow2237]

1:40 Thomas I think you should mention that he also says it like this in newer games as some people may say “oh but that’s an older game it’s not relevant anymore”. He does say it like this in Mario Odyssey.

[@Liggliluff]

(3:30) I'd like to say he's wrong. He said that cat is pronounced [kät], but it's rather [kæt]. So it's still not the correct vowel quality.

[@darthgoku90]

I'm from Pittsburgh, where more often than not I hear people (usually people older than me) pronounce it as "Marry-o" too, but I've always thought that's cuz of Mario Lemieux. It's always been "MAR-io" to me though, and that's how it sounds like to me from Charles Martinet's voice. Still, pretty interesting vid.

[@davidb4165]

I haven't seen anybody else comment upon this so I would like to point out that the vowel I heard was different to both the American and British pronunciations described. Bearing in mind I'd never thought this before and only realised while watching this video. While American people typically use the /ɑː/ vowel and British the /æ/, what I heard was actually a subtle dipthong vowel - where one vowel transitions into another within the same syllable. It starts with /æ/ (as in marry or cat) and slides into /ə/ (as in the second vowel of comma or abbot), also known as the weak vowel, just a split second before the R is pronounced. I listened to it at 0.5 speed to confirm which I recommend you do too. I'm not sure if this is the common Italian pronunciation or just a quirk of the actor's style.

[@iris1568]

I think it just depends on which region you grew up in. Certain regions say it more in the Italian way and others more English or other ways. Edit: Lol I commented this before watching the video and realised after watching I basically just gave the direct answer of the video by making a guess XD

[@salad608]

Thank you for releasing this video! As an American viewer, I have watched your videos and always wondered if there was something to the different pronunciations.

[@user-mr2hv6hg1f]

Say it how you say it. Yahoo!

[@beckyburton7968]

Mario sowns like he's saying mard-oh

[@thepokeybird]

I thought his name was Robert? I remember playing Super Robert Bros when I was a kid, truly a classic!

[@Victini7472]

and in the sequel you could play as his brother Daniel!

[@lukapuka8320]

you still thought his name is that

[@kgratia4748]

Lol..

[@thedoomnegotiator9693]

I thought he was the Bing Bing Wahoo man

[@andrewallstar2719]

robert 64 is the greatest game of all time imo

[@FabiulousGames]

2:55 that how you say Mario. It's italian. Period

[@WiiPhone-ef4hm]

That's how we say in Spanish too!

[@user-vg1pu9rg5p]

I'm American and hear MARRY-OH in the Mario 64 clip

[@alf73]

lol I am from the U.K and I have actually been pronouncing it at maario like it should be because I'm from the south.

[@Quincy35191]

This was actually really interesting. I never really noticed that it was more common for people in the UK to say Marry-oh. In the states if you go further north there are some states where people also pronounce it like Marry-oh instead of MAR-io.

[@geealion]

Yeah, I feel like it’s common in the northeast

[@dankblonde7173]

I have a large group of gamer friends in NJ (myself included) and nobody pronounces it that way here.

[@ThatAnArchyDude]

As the grandnephew of a full-blooded Italian named "Mario", it is actually meant to be pronounced "Mä-rē-ō".

[@necrobach4854]

Was he also a plumber by any chance?

[@ThatAnArchyDude]

@@necrobach4854 No. lol I don't think I'm actually allowed to say what he did.

[@necrobach4854]

@@ThatAnArchyDude Say no more

[@someonecalleddarthjack]

​@@ThatAnArchyDude Say no more

[@diegone080]

It's an I, not an E The correct way is MA-RIO

[@mathdantastav2496]

as a brazillian, its hillarious how booth of you say "the ah vowel" and even when calling it, your "ah" sound is completly wrong from the correct "á" for mario lol

[@theunitedstatesofamerica3556]

There’s my step mom and her kids who say “Merry-o”

[@shrekalmighty3059]

Can we just take a second to appreciate the effort Thomas goes through to make these videos

[@milk.choccymilk]

5:36 Ace Attorney music

[@AxoTheAxolotl1]

It’s interesting that Thomas as a British person would hear “Marry-oh” while an American like me would hear “Mar-ee-oh”

[@justinchang2763]

Actually, now that I think about it, marry-oh seems to make more sense and it’s opinion :)