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!

I'm going to guess the vast majority said Haitch. I don't know any Irish (ROI) people who say aitch, I'm guessing you just didn't notice.

There is only one way to pronounce it correctly. Aitch. It has no H in front of it. Check the dictionary. You are correct. They are uneducated.
This is one of my more pressing pet hates 😁

Who the fuck even cares?

Rotten thread.

AgileLass there are literally hundreds of posts from people who care!

there are literally hundreds of posts from people who care!

Yeah mainly people who like sneering at others. Pathetic.

Aitch.

Scouse Dee Aitch pronounces it ‘Haitch’.

I’ve reconciled myself to this by telling myself that Liverpool is only a stone’s throw across the water from Ireland, so it’s not his fault, poor lamb.

An hotel is corect,, do you say a hour

Now I'm properly confused! With 'hour', you don't say the aitch, so in effect the word starts with a vowel (aurally at least). Whereas with hotel, the aitch is pronounced, so why should it be an hotel? Should we be sayng an hospital, an house and so on?

An Irish person wouldn’t say somethink that’s reserved for English people. I doubt you’ve ever met an Irish person flamingjune Many of us say Haitch..people would think you had notions if you said aitch

I doubt you’ve ever met an Irish person flamingjune
Ah but didn't you read that I said I have? I really don't think that's something I'd bother lying about! So I'll repeat that I never heard any of my Irish nursing friends say Haitch. Maybe they actually did though and I didn't notice. Hth

Saying aitch is not just reserved for English people though, no North Americans appear to say haitch.

So whilst haitch seems to be correct for Irish English, aitch is the default in most of the English speaking world.

And it is what is in the English Dictionary....

I'd rather be someone who says haitch (which I do) than someone who says "boils my piss" or "makes my teeth itch" itch, tbh.

If that means the relentless snobs of MN think I'm stupid or common then so be it. I can live with that.

boils my piss" or "makes my teeth itch" itch, tbh.

Ugh. I hate those vulgar expressions too. Still say aitch, though.

AgileLass

Who the fuck even cares?

Rotten thread.

Clearly, judging by the response many people do. People are merely indicating that “aitch” is the correct sound for the letter H when it is being recited as part of the alphabet, for instance.

I think people do care. Grammar is imp

Ha whoops. Grammar is so important I posted a half finished post.

I guess it’s important to some people.

notaclevername There are so many on this thread with itchy teeth, weird!

Hay-ch.

brie I've read. an hotel in books (and more than once) and at the time I thought wtf!? Surely it's a hotel, but now I'm wondering if there's people out there who do drop the H in hotel! Is it like herb?

I was taught that you use “an” in front of words beginning with H (aitch). Grammar checks on the PC don’t try to correct this so it must be (one of the) correct option.

BuggerOffAndGoodDayToYou I was taught you use an if the H is silent because the word makes a vowel sound. So 'an hour' or 'an herb' in American English etc but words with a sounded out H follow the 'a' rule because H is a consonant.

Aitch.

And what Linoleum said.

“An hotel” is a hypercorrection thing, I think, and no longer much in favour these days (if it ever really was).

You do see it in print sometimes, but I would generally be expected to get rid of the n when copyediting.

www.lexico.com/en/grammar/a-historic-event-or-an-historic-event

Haitch

Never knew that wasn't the correct way. have an Irish parent though so maybe why- wasn't aware it was an Irish/ UK thing

An before hotel is dying out these days.
Hour, honour, heir and their derivatives will hang on in there.

As many have said, grammar is important. The aitch/haitch discussion isn't grammar. Regional differences in pronunciation can be big, noticeable ones (pronunciation of "a" in bath between north and south, rhotic and non rhotic etc etc) or far more subtle and not that noticeable (length of a vowel between Lancashire and West Yorkshire) All of them are correct.

The people who enjoy calling others uneducated on threads like this always show themselves eventually to be the least knowledgeable about language. Which is satisfying.