The alphabet and 'H'.

[Thatbliddywoman]

So we say
Ay.
Bee
Sea
Dee
Ee
Eff
Jee
Aitch. Except we don't. We say 'Haitch'.
Why?
We make the aitch have its own letter as the sound of the word for it
We don't do that with any other letter. Why H?
We don't say 'wubbleyew' do we, It's 'doubleyew'?
I don't understand it.

^"Haitch is incorrect - it’s pronounced Aitch"
Read the fucking thread.^

Maybe you should do the same. Especially the bit where it explains that the Normans brought the letter "hache" to our country almost 1000 years ago.

What is "our country"? The Irish posters who say haitch might disagree with you on that but then again when has their input ever counted for anything?

@EarringsandLipstick

You do go on. Do stop, you're looking a bit silly now.

I 'go on' when someone is being endlessly racist & goady to boot.

I really don't think it's me looking silly 😊

It really isn't racist to agree with the OED about how a word should be pronounced.

Give your head a wobble. Racist? Too, too silly. Get a grip.

Well the Normans invaded Britain first and brought their language over so I imagine that’s what @ForrestTrump means. I’m not sure but I imagine the invasion of Ireland wasn’t long after (?) and that’s when “Haitch” got carried over.

16 pages when the correct answer of "It depends (and also if you insist on it being one way or the other, you're a dick)" was on the first page.

Jesus fuck.

I just can't believe Ireland went through 500 years plus of rebellions, civil wars, murders and massacres when apparently all we had to do was walk around chanting "HAItch HAItch HAItch" and the invaders would have upped and left in disgust.

I can’t bear the snobbery on MN about haitch.

Loads of accents and dialects have it. S London has commonly adopted ‘haitch’ because, for example Jamaican English places an ‘h’ sound at the beginning of many words, not just aitch.

There are lots of peoples with different accents and dialects and different sounds in words.

Just stop this judgement and snobbery.

FlySheMust have a think about colonialism, slavery, indentured labour, forcing people to speak your language, importing them to the ‘mother country’ as cannon fodder, and to low paid jobs on the railways and hospitals..., and then despising them for the way they speak the language.

@DidoAtTheLido

I can’t bear the snobbery on MN about haitch.

Loads of accents and dialects have it. S London has commonly adopted ‘haitch’ because, for example Jamaican English places an ‘h’ sound at the beginning of many words, not just aitch.

There are lots of peoples with different accents and dialects and different sounds in words.

Just stop this judgement and snobbery.

I find these types of posters aspire to being superior beings and truly believe they have a higher intellect and social status because of their education, social status etc. Unfortunately intellect, decency, common sense and the ability to see that there is often more than one way to do or say something does not come naturally and it is so cringeworthy to read their crap. Yes we can all read the Oxford English dictionary but that does not mean Haitch is an incorrect way to pronounce the letter H.

Some people inhabit very small worlds!

You need a hobby.

I say "aitch" but have often wondered if the use of "haitch" is for use on the phone so it doesn't sound like "eight"?

@Sceptimum

I just can't believe Ireland went through 500 years plus of rebellions, civil wars, murders and massacres when apparently all we had to do was walk around chanting "HAItch HAItch HAItch" and the invaders would have upped and left in disgust.

Literally snorted.

The question is who thinks that they get to decide what the one true correct way of saying various words, and WHY do they think they have that right? 🤔

@DidoAtTheLido

FlySheMust have a think about colonialism, slavery, indentured labour, forcing people to speak your language, importing them to the ‘mother country’ as cannon fodder, and to low paid jobs on the railways and hospitals..., and then despising them for the way they speak the language.

Have I said I despise anyone? No. I wonder why you feel you need to lie.

I think a word should be pronounced the way it is in the OED. I haven't said I despise those who don't.

Not sure anyone else has either. If you need to make things up anything else you say means nothing.

I find these types of posters aspire to being superior beings and truly believe they have a higher intellect and social status because of their education, social status etc. Unfortunately intellect, decency, common sense and the ability to see that there is often more than one way to do or say something does not come naturally and it is so cringeworthy to read their crap. Yes we can all read the Oxford English dictionary but that does not mean Haitch is an incorrect way to pronounce the letter H.

Yes, you see it a lot of MN, and it does make me chuckle. This absolute desperation to appear intellectually superior, more refined, more worldly, erudite, polished and 'classy' is far more cringey than anything those dreaded working classes could possibly so.

For what it's worth, my list of postgraduate qualifications is longer than many an arm, I am well read and multilingual, and I still say 'haitch'. And it doesn't grate on me at all, neither does it annoy me when people's SPAG isn't up to scratch. I find the performative MC annoyance far, far more annoying.

My boss, who speaks fluent Irish as well as English, says zee. There's no z in Irish, I have no idea why he says zee.
Luckily he says it rarely.

It is really really really annoying. It makes me feel really stressed.
If you go to the dictionary and look it up it clearly says it is pronounced 'aitch'.

When people insist on saying it I start saying 'feff', 'lell' and 'mem' until realisation dawns.

When people insist on saying it I start saying 'feff', 'lell' and 'mem' until realisation dawns
Don't visit Ireland or you'll find yourself doing lots of 'feff', 'lell' and 'mem' and be left waiting on realisation too dawn.

Wow 16 pages of people unable to accept language changes over time and there are regional variations. Pretty sad really

When people insist on saying it I start saying 'feff', 'lell' and 'mem' until realisation dawns. You sound tedious.

"I think a word should be pronounced the way it is in the OED"

Which is a slightly stupid thing to think, given that dictionaries are merely reflections of current trends written from one point of view, and are not, in fact, a set of prescriptive rules.

"When people insist on saying it I start saying 'feff', 'lell' and 'mem' until realisation dawns."

Oh wow you're so clever and witty.

I say 'aitch' too - never haitch.

@BoingBoingyBoing

"I think a word should be pronounced the way it is in the OED"

Which is a slightly stupid thing to think, given that dictionaries are merely reflections of current trends written from one point of view, and are not, in fact, a set of prescriptive rules.

Maybe you need up the word manners. You seem to have lost yours.

If you understood anything about dictionaries you would know they are regularly revised and meanings altered after discussion.

A thread on the internet doesn't count as learned discussion.

HTH.