How do you pronounce the letter H?

[inlawsimnotsure]

How do you pronounce the letter H? Like ‘ach’ or ‘hhach’?

I work in HR and my name begins with H so I have confidently been saying ‘ach’ my whole life, but all of my colleagues say ‘hhach’ so I am starting to doubt myself.

We are all largely from the same region.

It’s driving me a bit crazy!

It is “aitch” - it is how the name of the letter is spelled in the dictionary. It is does not begin with an H.

It's got nothing to do with class. I grew up in a north east pit village, as working class as you'll get, and I didn't even know it could be pronounced haitch until I moved to the north west at 22.

I'm in the North West and they all say haitch except for when talking about the NHS. The only time I've heard N haitch S was from an Irish person. I'm not from here so I say aitch, as it should be. It doesn't bother me though, it's just a regional difference.

I say 'aitch' and taught my kids that despite what their reception teacher said, 'haitch' is incorrect.

I was unaware of the regional/cultural variation with this though, so I will endeavour not to be so pedantic about it in future. I will continue correcting DS when he says 'lever' the American way though (thanks, YouTube minecraft videos!) as it drives me up the wall.

In Ireland and it haitch.
See no issue with that and no problem.

I say switch because my Grandmother used to correct me. She was a bit of a Hyacinth Bucket though 😂

People need to stop blaming their erroneous pedantry for their racism.

Very nicely put.

Aitch. The end.

I really don't think it's class-related either. I would describe myself as middle class, but my family background from parents' generation and consistently back, is firmly East London working class.

It does grate a bit but as I work in (H)aitch R, I've made my peace with it, otherwise I'd spend a large portion of the day being irritated!

SE Scotland here, and I was brought up saying "itch". I'm probably of the last generation that was. "Itch" was the letter's name in the old Scots alphabet, and many Scots still used it, along with "jye" for J, until the 60s.

You still hear "jye" quite a lot, but rarely "itch". Most folk use the fully anglicised "aitch" and "jay" now. I've only heard one person say "haitch", an Irish lass in London. I didn't think it was wrong, just assumed Irish.

I say Aitch but I am from the south of england. It's definitely regional (not class based). Both pronounciations are equally valid!

It is a regional difference not a class one.

It’s not, you know. It’s almost entirely a class issue- apart from in Ireland.

Really? And are you not going to divulge the information to which you are privy?

That “you know” thing is very amusing.

When you say Ireland, to which part of the island are you actually referring?

It is aitch not haitch

Ok so take The Irish pronunciation (as explained previously) out of the equation.

In England, aitch is correct, it is not a regional, dialect issue. I am from the North East and know that aitch is correct. Name areas in England where haitch is grammatically correct? Not where it has been picked up and adopted incorrectly.

Just because groups adopt slang and other ways of speaking doesn’t mean it’s grammatically correct.

It's aitch, but I also work in HR and saying 'haitch r' is very common, even by people who know better.

I don't know about anywhere else but in London it is a sign of class and upbringing. If you drop your T's and H's, chances are you usually say 'haitch'. I'm sure many Londoners will come and tell me they are exceptions to that, I grew up with people that as adults have tried to posh-up or cockney-down their accents, but that old 'H' always gives them away. I don't know about the rest of the English speaking world because .....well, I'm from London and we're self-absorbed, innit?

Aitch here too....

It’s not, you know. It’s almost entirely a class issue- apart from in Ireland.

Well, 10% of the UK population have an Irish-born grandparent. So it seems likely there are other reasons than class why haitch may be a common, if still a minority, pronunciation in England. Or do all Irish descendants automatically code as working class for you, Bertrand?

I know I'm going to regret asking this, but how can 'haitch' be correct anywhere, when the word is spelled A-I-T-C-H? There is no H at the beinning to give an H sound.

100% Aitch

Aitch here. My youngest once got into such a row with his foundation teacher about it that she refused to discuss phonics with him after a while, and swapped him to the other teacher’s group. She said she loved him, but couldn’t change her accent for him!:o

(He was diagnosed with ASD less than a year later)