Haitch AIBU

[beluga425]

...to want to scream "it's aitch!!!!!!"

FFS

My family name begins with an H. There are now two children in dd1's class with the same first name so she's MiniBrie H. Fine. Except the teacher pronounces it Haitch. So now all her friends call her MiniBrie Haitch and she even referred to herself as Haitch, like it's a totally separate word from her actual surname. It sets my teeth on edge every time I hear it and makes me wish I'd fought harder for the kids to have my surname!

Haitch is absolutely vile. It's like fingers down a blackboard. Thankfully, not many people I know say it, but I've come across a few fellow teachers that so, which is astounding.

Well I've been educated tonight!!!

In the part of the world I live in we're renowned for dropping "t's" and "h's" so I just always assumed that when I say "aitch" it's my accent dropping the "h" - I did not know that I've actually been saying it correctly all my life!!!!

Who knew??!!! 😆🙈

I really don't think this is an issue worth getting annoyed over. Are you all really genuinely bothered? Do you genuinely not understand what someone is saying if they say haitch?

Surely it’s just an accent / regional thing- I was definitely taught haitch and have never even considered it might be wrong, was told off if I dropped my ‘h’s as a child.... aks (ask) and ‘off of’ (off) now that I can get worked up about

I always forget which one it is

So glad to hear I am right re aitch!! I thought you could say both, but Haitch makes my teeth itch!

It’s the Sky HD adverts that are doing my head in. I get all clenched when Idris repeatedly says ‘haitch’. He is ruined for me forever.

SIL says haitch and her name begins with H. Grates on me no end but then everything she does has that effect.

It’s the height of snobbery to judge someone by whether they say ‘aitch’ or ‘haitch’. Far more uncouth than saying ‘haitch’, imo. It’s classism and regionalism at its worst. And I say this as someone who says ‘aitch’.

In NI it's used to determine Catholic or Protestant.
Obviously with Hibernio-English there is a bit of a evolvement from our own Native language.

@Rinceoir - how on earth can you rhyme scarf with laugh, or greedier with encyclopaedia? They're nothing alike.

That should read "how could anyone" not "how could you". You've already said you can't

I say Haich because it annoys my husband, I know it's wrong.

@theymademejoin They both rhyme in my accent.

Ugh! "Someone says something differently than me! Wahhh"

Tired of these threads now. People speak differently. Get the fuck over it.

@peachgreen - how do they rhyme though? Are you dropping the r in scarf or adding one in for laugh?

Presumably they rhyme because she has a non-rhotic accent and doesn't pronounce the r in scarf.

Ay bee see dee eee eff jee haitch....

I know no one who says "aitch "
(Live in Cumbria )

I can see how they rhyme for people in the SE of England at least. They don’t pronounce the “r” is words and have long “a” sounds so- scarf becomes scaw-f and laugh is law-f. And they’d say greed-EE-aw and encyopaedi-aw. I sound ridiculous if I try to make them rhyme!

(Someone will be better able than me to explain how rhotic vs non-rhotic speakers pronounce these words!).

Making scarf rhyme with laugh is like rhyming apple with orange, i.e. It doesn't . Funny this thread tho !

@sqoosh - and would that also result in dropping the r in greedier and changing the ie to an ia to get greedier and encyclopedia to rhyme?

Yeah. That's what a non-rhotic accent does. They scoot over the letter r. So for them greedier sounds like greediah whereas in an Irish accent for example (which never knowingly leaves a letter unpronounced!) it sounds like greedy-urrrr.

But I'm no linguist so I'm sure someone with more knowledge could explain it with more clarity!

I had presumed it would involve putting non-existent r's into the words, given lots of English people put r's into words like drawing.