Amen? (Edited title)

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Joyce_Elaine

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Wondering why we same Amen sometimes and other times R-men? Just curious why the different pronunciations?
 
Welcome to the forums;
here the difference is simple A (Long A)=men and ah-men. 🙂
 
Thank you for the reply - I know it is AAAAAA-men and the other is RRRRRR-men. I just wondered why we don’t say one or the other all the time? 🤷
 
Joyce_Elaine said:
Wondering why we same Amen sometimes and other times R-men? Just curious why the different pronunciations?
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Welcome to the forums!👋

Some people say ey-men (long A), some say ah-men (short A). I think it is just a different pronunciation of the same word. This seems like a good time to quote Mr. Fred Astaire. 🙂

you say either and i say either
you say neither and i say neither
either, either, neither, neither
let’s call the whole thing off

you say tomato, i say tomato
you eat potato and i eat potato
tomato, tomato, potato, potato
let’s call the whole thing off

Bad idea. Now I am going to be humming that song for the rest of the day.🙂
 
The correct way is “ah-men”, because it is Hebrew. All other languages say it “ah-men”, and only American English started using “ey-men”. Even in Greek, Slavonic and Latin, is it “Ah-men” or “Ah-min”. I’ve been to a Chaldean Catholic Liturgy once and they say, “ah-min”.
 
ConstantineTG said:
The correct way is “ah-men”, because it is Hebrew. All other languages say it “ah-men”, and only American English started using “ey-men”. Even in Greek, Slavonic and Latin, is it “Ah-men” or “Ah-min”. I’ve been to a Chaldean Catholic Liturgy once and they say, “ah-min”.
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I stand corrected and I thank you for the lesson. I did not know that, so I appreciate learning.🙂
 
ConstantineTG said:
The correct way is “ah-men”, because it is Hebrew. All other languages say it “ah-men”, and only American English started using “ey-men”. Even in Greek, Slavonic and Latin, is it “Ah-men” or “Ah-min”. I’ve been to a Chaldean Catholic Liturgy once and they say, “ah-min”.
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Thank you very much for informing me. This information has helped me. We Americans think whatever we say must be correct, lol 👍
 
To-May-To or To-Ma-to Po-Tay-to or Po-Ta-To

Strictly a difference in language.
 
I think it’s partly a difference of accent/regionality. I generally say ah-men, but also at times eh-men. Partly too if there are vowels near each other, many people would pronounce something slightly differently.
 
I have always associated ay-men with Protestant fundamentalist, non liturgical churches.

The first Mass I was ever at I was surprised to hear ay-men. Even Protestant churches main line and liturgical say ah-men.

Why imitate the people who hate us and often deny that we are Christians at all?
 
andrewstx said:
I have always associated ay-men with Protestant fundamentalist, non liturgical churches.

The first Mass I was ever at I was surprised to hear ay-men. Even Protestant churches main line and liturgical say ah-men.

Why imitate the people who hate us and often deny that we are Christians at all?
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I might imagine that many don’t why it’s pronouned ah men. I learned that here 🙂
 
Phemie said:
Remember this?
m.youtube.com/watch?v=rn6w255CGkk
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Of course I remember it, LOTF was required reading and viewing in my Junior English class.

If I remember the plot Sidney Poitier was a BAPTIST “correcting” the sisters.

My grandparents were Baptist, I remember being taken to their church as a small boy and hearing someone shout aymen when he agreed with the preacher. Startled me badly and that is all I remember from that church years ago.
 
andrewstx said:
Of course I remember it, LOTF was required reading and viewing in my Junior English class.

If I remember the plot Sidney Poitier was a BAPTIST “correcting” the sisters.

My grandparents were Baptist, I remember being taken to their church as a small boy and hearing someone shout aymen!! when he agreed with the preacher. Startled me badly and that is all I remember from that church years ago.
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Joyce_Elaine said:
Wondering why we same Amen sometimes and other times R-men? Just curious why the different pronunciations?
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Ay-men and Ah-men are simply different ways of pronouncing the word Amen whereas R-men is simply bad English pronunciation.
 
HelenRose said:
To-May-To or To-Ma-to Po-Tay-to or Po-Ta-To

Strictly a difference in language.
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thistle said:
Ay-men and Ah-men are simply different ways of pronouncing the word Amen whereas R-men is simply bad English pronunciation.
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Actually it’s a bit more than a difference in language. ‘Amen’ was originally the Hebrew word ‘אָמֵן’ that has been adopted into other languages, so ah-men (/ɑːˈmɛn/) is derived from the actual pronunciation of the original Hebrew word which is also ah-men (/ɑːˈmɛn/), while ay-men (/eɪˈmɛn/) is somebody misconceiving the pronunciation of the word from the way it is spelled in English. Note that few other languages use ay-men other than English. This is because it is English that tends to have so many ways of pronouncing the letter ‘a’, hence giving us such an issue. And ‘r-men’ is just somebody trying too hard to sound original. 🙂

Just think how amusing it would be if the Chinese insisted on pronouncing ‘America’ as ‘ay-mer-EE-kah’. It’s not how it was originally pronounced, but one can certainly imagine such a pronunciation from the way it is spelled. That’s the same issue we have here. 😉

Anyway, I’m not saying we should stop saying ay-men, but that’s just how it arose. I personally think it’s really a small issue, and it’s not such a big deal that we should start changing the way we say it. We’re not going to burn in hell for saying it differently, I should think! 😃
 
Filii_Dei said:
Actually it’s a bit more than a difference in language. ‘Amen’ was originally the Hebrew word ‘אָמֵן’ that has been adopted into other languages, so ah-men (/ɑːˈmɛn/) is derived from the actual pronunciation of the original Hebrew word which is also ah-men (/ɑːˈmɛn/), while ay-men (/eɪˈmɛn/) is somebody misconceiving the pronunciation of the word from the way it is spelled in English. Note that few other languages use ay-men other than English. This is because it is English that tends to have so many ways of pronouncing the letter ‘a’, hence giving us such an issue. And ‘r-men’ is just somebody trying too hard to sound original. 🙂

Just think how amusing it would be if the Chinese insisted on pronouncing ‘America’ as ‘ay-mer-EE-kah’. It’s not how it was originally pronounced, but one can certainly imagine such a pronunciation from the way it is spelled. That’s the same issue we have here. 😉

Anyway, I’m not saying we should stop saying ay-men, but that’s just how it arose. I personally think it’s really a small issue, and it’s not such a big deal that we should start changing the way we say it. We’re not going to burn in hell for saying it differently, I should think! 😃
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I’ve always said AH-men. My understanding about AY-men is that it started in an American musical movie and stuck. Personally, I cringe when I hear the word pronounced AY-men.

As for R-men many people from Liverpool in England like Paul McCartney mispronounce words by sticking an r in a word where it doesn’t exist.
 
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