Good job, Phil. Also, if I recall correctly, BrE used to be rhotic, they dropped it, we kept it.

There are many different words with different pronunciation in English. It is mostly regional, but not always. It happens in other languages too. Look at Spain vs Central America, gracias in Spain sounds like "Grathias". Cincuenta sounds like "thincuenta". Other English words with different pronunciation; The, can sound like "thee" or "thuh" depending on the words which comes after or if you are from England or US.

We're just that way! Meaning English speakers. That's what makes English so hard to learn. There's even a song along these lines: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZ3fjQa5Hls

http://vocaroo.com/i/s1z7dXFx5e44 EE-thur EYE-thur Here is an interesting discussion about it: http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/776/why-are-there-two-pronunciations-for-either

I speak American English and that's difficult because here in the U.S. you could really pronounce it both ways - sometimes I say it both ways depending on the sentence, the context, or even the sounds of the other words around "either" when I'm talking. I think I would say "EYE-thur" if I said "either one" in response to a question but I'd say "EE-thur" if I said "either or." Same goes for "neither."