Hilary Barry hits back after Seven Sharp viewer complains about her mispronouncing the word "worry"

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 Seven Sharp viewer wrote a letter to the New Zealand Herald editor complaining about Barry's pronunciation - specifically of the word "worry" - the TV host 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'."

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"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.

We wonder if he will take her up on that offer ...

This article was first published on nzherald.co.nz and is republished here with permission.