To ask you how you say the letter 'H'???

[NowSissyThatWalk]

Okay.
So this may have been done to death, but I am a woman close to the edge.
I pronounce the letter H as 'Aitch', not
pronouncing any 'H' sound at the start.
I have always been told this is the 'right' way to pronounce it, and so it's stuck.
But I seem to never hear anyone ever saying it like this and instead pronounce the 'H', as 'Haitch'.
I can't take much more of it. My DP says 'Haitch' and corrects me every time I don't.
I should LTB shouldn't I????

I love the argument that we shouldn't say 'haitch' because it's not how the word is spelt. English being known for its rational spelling.

debbie Hiberno-English is not English. It is Irish-English. Therefore you are wrong to assume Aitch is the only pronunciation and rude to tell people that the language they speak is wrong.

debbie it's not political when people take the trouble to explain to you how variation arises in language, and how linguists (and polite people) the world over acknowledge that variants exist of almost any given pronunciation, and that all these variants are valid.

Would you feel the same if I said that people who fail to pronounce the R at the end of words are wrong, uneducated, and lower-class? It's clear not cleah, war not waw, rare not rae, etc. Oh why do people do it? Don't they realise it's wrong?

Variations in pronunciation are an accepted, valid, part of every single language in the world. English has lots - aitch/haitch, clear/cleah, tomahto/tomayto, leftenant/lootenant, etc.

All variants. All valid. Why do you find that so hard to understand?

Cheesy

I don't think you heard that correctly, or the teacher has it wrong. What you describe is the child learning to voice the "h" sound.

... your son may have extrapolated that to voicing a "h" in aitch, but the teacher should not be teaching him to say "haitch".

As I said before, though, I can see how this is confusing for children

I've always said haitch. My family always have too. Aitch always seemed weird and it wasn't until I was a young teen I came across it. Always wondered why my family pronounced it like that - this thread has pointed out it probably because we're Irish! With a decent Gaelic explanation too.

I have now realised I have lessened the huh at the start of haitch as I've gotten older. It's still there but less pronounced. Definitely say haitch em ess for hms though.

N aitch S. Rolls off the tongue easily. One less micro-effort in my day.

Is anyone else's phone autocorrecting aitch to witch?

Racism is what makes me itch.

Variants in language between different groups- not so much.

And just to be sure about this, I took the eleven plus exam, went to grammar school. In Northern Ireland. Plus, I want to a boarding school.

I care not re the pronunciation of a letter, but I won't let it pass that one pronunciation is better than t'other.

It's not the Irish/political thing pissing me off personally because I have not a drop of Irish blood in my veins. It's just the lofty assertions of correctness/better education/less common etc which are pissing me off. I have two degrees, not that this should matter, and I say haitch. Mostly anyway...

Do the Aitch Only Club not realise that correcting people's speech and calling them uneducated etc is actually really bad mannered?

Aitch ...see dictionary (or rather point dh to it). You are right, of course!

Sukey

I agree

This comes up time and time again, and snobby people do not be able to challenge their prejudice

Last time it was about the phrase "I was sat"

AArgh

Snooby people don't seem to be able to challenge their prejudice

snobby

Live the word snooby though!

Sukey

Love the word "live"

Ah fuck! Fat fingers :o

As my mother always taught me....there's only one H in aitch.

I am going to use snooby tomorrow. My mission is to slip it in so casually that noone actually asks me what it means. Maybe I could refer to the weather "yes,it was sooooo snooby yesterday evening" or tell my exam class that they must pay attention to the snooby taxonomy when the revise.

Haha. Does one say snobby or snooby. Who gives a Scooby?!

Haitch. 😀