I only hear "buoy" pronounced "boo-ee," whereas "buoyed" is pronounced like "boy'd."

I know you asked for an AE perspective, but FWIW I pronounce "buoy" more or less like "boy", and "buoyed" would then sound like "boyed" or "boyd". If anyone talked about a "byoowee" or a "boo-ee" to me I wouldn't have the faintest idea what they were on about ;o)

Click the speaker and listen: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/buoy
Actually, there are two speakers, one for each pronunciation: buoy noun \ˈbü-ē, ˈbȯi\

I guess it depends on what part of the US you're in. :-)

OT (because am BE too) re #2: I pronounce "buoy" more or less like "boy"

I pronounce them identically :-)

So do I actually ;o). And so does LEO: Siehe Wörterbuch: buoy

Dude,

Not that I'm any sort of expert on the US use of English, but I spent two years in San Fran and then another two in Chicago. In both places they had the "byoowee" thing going. Although at the time, I never thought to ask what happens when the word's used as a verb.

The English I learned as a kid in Ireland was BE and so I also pronounce it as "boy", i.e. little male kid. But it still intrigues me how the deviation came about in US English and how it's used as a verb - something no-one's actually answered yet.

"buoy" is not a word that's frequently used, but in my many years in the US and many parts of the country that I have lived in and visited, I have never heard it pronounced "byoowee." That seems totally unnatural to me. AE uses the "yoo" sound much less than BE does, so it would really surprise me that "buoy" would have it, especially since even BE speakers don't seem to pronounce it the way you suggest.

RE #6: Really, Bugay? That surprises me. Not that I'm an expert on American pronunciation, but I grew up not too far from Chicago (about 3 hrs.) and spent quite a bit of time on lakes. That's hard not to do when you're from the Great Lakes region. Anyway, I never heard anyone pronounce it like "byoowee". There are Buicks, of course, but that's an entirely different matter. ;-)
In my experience it was pronounced exactly as M-W describes: either "booee" or "bowee", but in either case it has 2 syllables.

AE uses the "yoo" sound much less than BE does, so it would really surprise me that "buoy" would have it, especially since even BE speakers don't seem to pronounce it the way you suggest.
That was exactly my thought. If anything, I would have expected the reverse to be true.

As a verb I would pronounce it the same way: just add a normal "d" sound to the end. No other change in pronunciation is made.

Now you come to mention it, Wupper, aye, it was more of a "boowee" sound in Chicago, and not so much "byoowee". Although in California I definitely heard "byoowee" more. Thanks a lot for your input.

I live in California, so I seriously doubt that, unless it was someone who didn't know how to pronounce the word. It happens, even among the natives.

I agree with dude, wupper, and M-W. On the rare occasions it's necessary, I would pronounce 'buoy' as 'boo-ee.'

I've definitely never heard anyone pronounce it 'byoo-ee' as in Buick, including in California. It's true that the Y sound in words with long U is generally less common in AE: dew, due, duplicate, new, news, neutral, tumor, tumult etc. are often /oo/, though I personally say /yoo/. (However, sometimes it's the other way around; I've never understood why so many Britons seem to have trouble pronouncing Houston, as in Whitney or Texas, since it's the same sound as Hugh/hew/hue, but a lot seem to want to say who.)

For the verb 'to buoy,' something closer to 'boy' might be more thinkable, but not for the noun, to my ears; I always assumed those puns about the gulls and the buoys were just not very good puns.

If you like this one, you should also like 'Bowie knife,' which in my region at least is also 'boo-ee.' I bet the guys on the military forum would enjoy helping you with that one too, if you refrain from calling them 'thickie squaddies,' which may just sound to them like nonsense baby talk. (-:

I've done a lot of sailing in the Midwest and on the SF Bay and elsewhere. Dude, as usual, has it right.

I pronounce "buoy" the same as "boy". I have often heard the noun pronounced "booee", and accept that as a normal variant. I don't think I've ever heard "byooee" (here in California or anywhere else.)

I agree with dude: "buoyed up" is pronounced like "boy'd up".

Edit: Bugay, if the responses you got to your inquiry on military.com are accessible to the outside world, can you post a link?

OT re #11: I've never understood why so many Britons seem to have trouble pronouncing Houston, as in Whitney or Texas, since it's the same sound as Hugh/hew/hue, but a lot seem to want to say who.

In fairness, doesn't it depend on the Houston? I'm also finding it hard to think of another word with "ou" that we Brits would pronounce as in Hugh/hew/hue - so that might be the explanation you're looking for ... :-) I'm not sure.

Re #11, 14 Indeed - we know the sound; it's the irregular spelling that throws us. Plus, isn't Houston in Scotland pronounced "House-ton" (Standard English) or "Hoos-ton" (Scots) rather than "Hugh's-ton"?

And re pronouncing "Houston", doesn't it depend on which place it refers to in the U.S., even for Americans?

Houston Street in NYC is pronounced How-ston, but I think all the towns names are pronounced like Houston TX. Not 100% sure though.
On the other hand, I think some people in NYC (and maybe elsewhere too) pronounce Houston (as in Texas or Whitney) like Euston.

From a 'merican:

Where I come from, it's called a boo-wee, someone is boo-weed up.

never mind (EDITH)