Seven Sharp host Hilary Barry fires back at Herald reader over mispronunciation claim

Seven Sharp host Hilary Barry isn't afraid to stand up for herself.

Hilary Barry has never been afraid to call people out, with a well-documented history of responding to viewer feedback and social media trolls.

So when a Herald reader wrote a letter to the editor complaining about Barry's pronunciation - specifically of the word "worry" - the Seven Sharp presenter was quick to respond, writing a letter of her own to the editor.

Sent this morning from her TVNZ email address, Barry's letter begins: "What a thrill it is to respond to your correspondent Ron Bredenbeck of Gisborne about his pronunciation gripe regarding the word, worry."

Bredenbeck's letter was published in the New Zealand Herald on Thursday, where he wrote: "Media person Hilary Barry recently took Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern to task for mispronunciation of what was not an easy word. But Hilary herself regularly mispronounces a very simple word and that is a bit of a ... 'wurry'."

Barry isn't the only person Bredenbeck took issue with. He also called out opposition leader Simon Bridges for his pronunciation of the word "women".

"He can never get the word right," wrote Bredenbeck, who went on to question whether teachers were to blame for the decline in proper pronunciation.

"I was education [sic] at a very exclusive school - Te Kuiti District Primary School - back in the mid-1930s but thank God we had good teachers. Is it the teachers who are at fault or are too many people relying on Google?"

Barry, however, says Bredenbeck need not worry as she is, in fact, pronouncing the word correctly.

"I'm delighted to report to Mr Bredenbeck that he has no need to worry or 'wurry'. My pronunciation is spot on.

"I won't bore your readers with the International Phonetic Alphabet dissertation on open-mid back rounded vowels but I'd be happy to correspond further with Mr Bredenbeck," she wrote.

"Since he's clearly a regular viewer of Seven Sharp he's most welcome to make contact via our Facebook page."