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've always said "haitch" as one of my name begins with H and it's a tricky spelling so forever having to spell it out. Everyone I know says haitch. Been saying it that way for nearly 50 years and I'm not going to change how I say it now. Outside London here.

(next I'll be told I should be saying "herbs" with a silent "h")

Aitch or "huh". Huh is what I was taught first at school and it sometimes makes a reappearance when I'm not thinking

If you want to be really poncy, go with Hotel!

Aitch is correct.

Haitch isn't.

But people seem not be able to accept it. Weird! It's very divisive, isn't it!

Aitch. That's how 'h' is spelt.

The name of the letter and the pronunciation of the letter have nothing to do with each other. I wouldn't say Haitchastings either. Do you pronounce Nancy as Ennancy, William as doubleyouilliam etc

Is there a prescriptive form of letter naming in British English ?

en (long sound) can just as easily be ne (short sound) ?

And that's before we stray into dialects ...

Aitch here, but this is interesting...

Aitch vs Haitch
British English dictionaries give aytch as the standard pronunciation for the letter H. However, the pronunciation haytch is also attested as a legitimate variant. We also do not ask broadcasters who naturally say haytch to change their pronunciation but if a broadcaster contacted to ask us, we would tell them that aytch is regarded as the standard pronunciation in British English, people can feel very strongly about this and this pronunciation is less likely to attract audience complaints.

Haytch is a standard pronunciation in Irish English and is increasingly being used by native English-speaking people all across the country, irrespective of geographical provenance or social standing. Polls have shown that the uptake of haytch by younger native speakers is on the rise. Schoolchildren repeatedly being told not to drop Hs may cause them to hyper-correct and insert them where they don't exist.

Jo Kim

BBC Pronunciation Unit

Aitch

North West.

My dad used to say Haitch though. Irish Catholic.

Haytch because I'm Irish :p

I say aitch- I’m in Ireland though and the teachers teach my kids haitch which drives me up the bloody wall. I give them death stares if they do it at home.

It’s an irrational pet peeve of mine, people saying haitch is like nails on a blackboard to me.

I say Haitch. I also grew up saying Jai for J.
Tis a sometimes Scottish thing I think.

I do know it's said Aitch but it's hard to train myself out of it. Or actually I don't care enough to. The jai thing had to go as posher Scots than me were wankers often enough about it for me to stop.

thank goodness no one asked about memorize or synchronize ....

oops

I notice that a lot of you attach class connotations to a lack of aitches and overcompensate. I can confirm that it is most definitely said Aitch. To throw a spanner in the works I find that asa general rule the upper class and lower class in this country have more in common with each other than the middle. Never feel insecure about seeming working class, that reveals you as lower middle (arguably the most despised class of all).

Aitch is correct.

I have refused to recruit people on the basis they said "Haitch" because I know I would be ripping my own hair out having to listen to them in the office

Aitch. But that is because I went to a girls’ grammar school decades ago. My Irish parents (and my siblings and I) said Haitch . I moved to aitch as got fed up of girls and teachers correcting me.

I say haitch but have been corrected before as I think aitch is considered more correct. My name begins with H but is sometimes pronounced without it in some regional accents and the dropped h annoys me so I am pro h sound!

”But if your name is Hastings you wouldn't say Astings would you.”

What’s that got to do with the price of fish? We’re talking about the name of the letter, not how (or whether) it is pronounced!

Aitch

Aitch

Just because the letter itself is pronounced aitch, that does not mean the letter H - as used at the start of a word - is pronounced in the same way.

I have rarely heard a broadcaster use haitch.

Aitch

It is correct to say aitch. However, round us most people say haitch, and I often forget myself and say it too. But it's wrong!!!!

Why is lower middle (arguably) the most despised class of all?

I say 'aitch' btw and get very irritated whenever I hear 'haitch'.

English isn't a language that has rigid regular pronunciation rules so trying to make comparisons to Hastings etc is meaningless.

There's no doubt that aitch is correct.

The majority of the ROI must be common so.. why is there so much snobbery over the sound of a bloody letter. I’m Irish, we were taught and children still are to say Haitch. To be honest I didn’t have a choice whether I learnt English.. I would much rather be speaking my native language