not to want my children being taught to say 'haitch'?

[cutegorilla]

It really annoys me. Now my 4yo DS won't believe me when I say it should be 'aitch' because his teacher says 'haitch' and so does everyone else (perhaps not altogether surprising if that's what they're being taught).

Go on, tell me I'm being a snob.

Those who say 'haitch' do you say N haitch S? I don't think I've ever heard it said that way. Just wondered .

I'm Scottish and say jai to rhyme with pie, DP is Irish and says Haitch and also says tree instead of three.
Our children have no hope.

I come from the north east of Scotland and had never heard the jie as in pie pronunciation until I visited Glasgow. I think it's much more usual there than on the east coast, wonder if that's an Irish/Celtic/poss Gaelic influence, rather than the Viking/Norse influence found in these parts? (just musing)

I dislike haitch and would encourage ds to say aitch but that is because it's what my ear is used to, I hope it's not because I'm being snobby.

Am currently trying to get him to keep letters in not out, "thir-eh" has me yelling from the other side of the house " it's thirTy T T say your Ts" like a demented harridan.

Ha! Don't any of you have better things to get all het up about...I thought the same during the "misspelled names" thread.

Useless snobbery- worst kind.

Popparob. How bloody shallow can you get?

My BIL doesn't pronounce his "th" properly and says fred instead of thread. I find it ironic that he has named his daughter after the top of a house (Ruth/roof).

Buttercup - the Irish accent is lovely, on both men & women (boys & girls). I think when things like Haitch are part of an overall accent they are fine :0) It sounds like you are doing a fab job with him, I'd have been tempted to say - 'Tell them all to mock it all they like now, it'll be you getting all the girls when you are older '

I do wonder how many people saying Haitch have actually stopped to think about it? I wonder how many of them know that the name of the letter H, is aitch (not haitch) and how many of them have ever stopped to think about F eff, M emm etc and just think that saying Haitch with the emphasis on H'aitch is actually correct and others are lazy?

If it's a naturally occuring regional accent thing, then I don't think it matters, however, it annoys me when children are specifically taught to say Haitch and not to say Aitch as though it's the proper way to say it - and Aitch is just lazy.

Haven't read whole thread but YANBU - you just drill it into DCs that they need to say it the right way even if everyone else says it t'other way. It's hard though, isn't it, for a kid to be different to what others are saying.

I've spelled things out on the phone to people and said 'aitch' to have it repeated back, queryingly, as 'haitch?'. I've just said 'aitch' again. I think it's a very regional thing though, isn't it?

Yes. It's regional. You have answered your own question.

It's as stupid and pointless as arguing that lolly ice is the correct term over ice lolly.

I KNEW it was pronounced Aitch..I've been corrected by telesales people in the past when spelling my name out...I've always said "aitch" and they go you mean "HAITCH?"

It's also ZED, not ZEE

In Britain, it's zed. In American English it is zee. Why do you think you're right? It's like picking holes in the differences between Afrikaans compared to Dutch.

are you from up north then? 'alifax?

Guilty of not reading whole thread.

My 1st mn post was in aibu and was about aitch.

I got lynched

It's also ZED, not ZEE

I've given up on this one. The indoctrination of the alphabet song (played at every playschool, pre-school/ other activity) is too strong for me to mount an effective opposition. It does at least say "aitch"

I'm with you there OP about the haitch business. it's aitch.

I hate aitch, it sounds all wrong. It's haitch!!

I was forever being by my DFather correcting my BF. In vain did I try to tell him 'Haitch' was the accepted local way to say it and it just wasn't worth getting steamed up about.

Didn't tell him I used with my friends because 'Aitch' meant endless teasing.

I'm American, but with British DH and children in the UK school system. I honestly don't care whether they say haitch or aitch... as long as they know what the letter is and are doing alright in their reading.

I do find that I am careful to say Zed as opposed to Zee (which I grew up with in the states), mainly because it is the norm to say Zed and I don't want to confuse DS2 or DS3. (DS1 is 27 and DD is 25, so I figure they can cope with either Zed or Zee on their own. )

Yanbu.

I'm from NI & say aitch.

My friend studied english language at uni & they used my hometown as a case study for how religion/heritage affects language. Apparently RC schools taught haitch as a way of distinguishing their pupils from the proddies! There were a few other words/sounds too, but I can't remember. All very interesting though.

I was brought up saying scone to rhyme with gone and vase to rhyme with has. I assumed mine was the 'common' way as a) we're common! & b) Angela Rippon always said scone (cone) & vase (haze) on my Victoria Plum book on tape! Imagine my surprise when I moved to England 13 years ago & was told I was talking posh!

Can I defend the traching profession? I make a point of teaching "aitch" to my primary class. They looked at me as if I was a nutter the first time but have got used to being corrected every time now! I think they see it as one of my funny little ways like saying barth rather than bath (please not I always point out that both of these are acceptable but different). Stephen Fry made a very interesting series about language and he confessed that while he is a great believer in the evolution of language, haitch is the one thing that makes his teeth itch!
My ex husband says "jai" rather than "jay". Very, very odd...

"teaching".... Good grief!

'Apparently RC schools taught haitch as a way of distinguishing their pupils from the proddies!'

I'm sure it wasn't a deliberate strategy, Gaviscon. The rest of Ireland says 'haitch' so I'm sure it's just the way the RC northerners speak, not a strategy to distinguish themselves from their Protestant neighbours.