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AIBU?

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Original poster

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

245 replies

NowSissyThatWalk · 30/04/2016 18:24

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????

OP posts:
SukeyTakeItOffAgain · 30/04/2016 22:49

Ker... rist.

Here we are again. IT DOESN'T MATTER. IT'S REGIONAL.

livewyre · 30/04/2016 22:52

It isn't regional. That's sort of the point.

It's religious in many areas.

And people being snobbish about how you say "h" is poorly disguised racism. In some areas.

So, as racism, it's actually important we talk about it. And agree not to discriminate or expose our prejudiced based on it.

It may just be a letter, but attitudes towards the pronunciation of it can betray attitudes towards a whole ethnic/religious group.

SukeyTakeItOffAgain · 30/04/2016 23:04

Oh ok then. The Haitch crowd are all ghastly and common Hmm.

Fucking is regional. I grew up in S Wales where we all said haitch and no one got their MN knickers in a twist about it.

Can't believe the sheer strength of feeling over a little letter. Honestly, some of you need therapy. There have been countless identical threads over the years.

Blu · 30/04/2016 23:04

Aitch, but my grandmother from Sheffield said Haitch and most people I know from a Jamaican and some other Caribbean backgrounds in S London say Haitch

SukeyTakeItOffAgain · 30/04/2016 23:05

Sorry but I didn't read your post properly, which I mostly agree with

Blu · 30/04/2016 23:05

And no big deal. So what if people pronounce it differently.

HoundoftheBaskervilles · 30/04/2016 23:06

I'm from Sheffield Blu and say Aitch.

BillBrysonsBeard · 30/04/2016 23:09

I say both... I thought when I was saying Aitch that I was being a lazy Yorkshire woman Grin
Really not worth getting agitated about..

livewyre · 30/04/2016 23:11

in many areas it is religious/ethnicity based. And has been used as a shibboleth to sort "our sort of people" from "other sorts of people".

In most areas, you'll find both. Unless it's historically a very Catholic or very Protestant area, in which case the majority may be perceived as the 'regional pronunciation'.

HelsBels3000 · 30/04/2016 23:12

It isn't regional - we do not have regional dictionaries. Look in any dictionary you will say h defined as 'aitch' for pronunciation.
overly invested in this issue as my name starts with H

HelsBels3000 · 30/04/2016 23:12

*see not say

livewyre · 30/04/2016 23:16

A dictionary produced for a market in the country where, until very recently, the royal family couldn't marry a Catholic? That country that's never known to hold on to snobbish and outdated racism?

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H

Or in Irish, Australian etc dictionaries?

Blu · 30/04/2016 23:16

Good for you, Hound!

All my great aunts and uncles from Sheffield said Haitch, too.

Perhaps they would have said it the same wherever they came from.

They were neither ignorant, uncouth nor uneducated.

Misnomer · 30/04/2016 23:16

We don't have regional dictionaries (that I know of) but we do have regional linguistic differences.

HoundoftheBaskervilles · 30/04/2016 23:23

I wasn't implying they were Blu! (or implying my Aitching was inherently superior).

Just saying that it's not necessarily a Sheffield thing.

SukeyTakeItOffAgain · 30/04/2016 23:57

My name starts with H too, and I don't care!

Saying something is wrong rather than regional because of a dictionary is idiotic. Language and pronunciation is fluid according to many things. Do you all get in a froth about people who pronounce it "forehead" rather than "forred", which was apparently proper?

It's all very "Ha ha ha, I get so worked up about this" and then someone says (apparently seriously) that it gives them "the rage" or it makes them "stabby"". Calm the fuck down!

redexpat · 01/05/2016 07:13

I'm pretty sure aitch was a member of steps. Haitch was nowhere to be seen.

BoogieTime · 01/05/2016 07:22

I think it's a shame how people try to excuse things like haitch and would of by saying, "oh it's just language evolving". Well no, not really. It's more of a race to the bottom. Hmm

LindyHemming · 01/05/2016 07:38

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Kennington · 01/05/2016 07:45

How do people say NHS ?

WankyDailyCuntMail · 01/05/2016 07:47

Dd says haitch but I can't be arsed to get worked up about it. I correct 'brung' to 'brought' obsessively though.

Fanakapan · 01/05/2016 07:51

How do people say NHS?

En. Aitch. Ess.

Narp · 01/05/2016 07:58

I say "aitch" (Essex)

But I'm coming round o the idea that it would be easier for children if they were allowed to say "haitch"

Also W should be pronounced "Wubbleyou"

FrancesNiadova · 01/05/2016 08:01

Aitch for me, although when spelling my name I often get, "do you mean haitch?" To which I usually reply,"No, I mean aitch, as in honour!" Halo

FayKorgasm · 01/05/2016 08:05

I say En Haitch Ess. I am not ignorant or poorly educated or in a race to the bottom.