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.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiberno-English#:~:text=Hiberno%2DEnglish%20(from%20Latin%20Hibernia,of%20Ireland%20and%20Northern%20Ireland).

I really doubt care about different pronunciations but the one that caught me off guard was when I was noting a colleague's name shop I could forward a link to him. "Forpe?", I said. "Yes, t.h.o.r.p.e".

Apologies for the typos.

@nestisflown

And Ireland isn't a region of the UK.

NI is, and Wales is where we’ve established Haitch is normal there too.

Oh yes, absolutely. I was responding to Sounds fine to say Haitch if you're Irish. It's a regional thing.

It's Aitch. Check the dictionary. I only care when teachers say 'Haitch.'

@alittleprivacy this is the post I was responding to

Thank you for the replies. A lot of them are fascinating. Of course I have no issue with how a different language says things. I should have specified 'english people's pronunciation' in my title
I also should have specified that I don't personally say the 'H' sound. smile

It's always been haiitch to me, my mum would have you believe aitch is rather common.

But she is an NI catholic so perhaps is stems from that.

but it is classified as it's own distinct dialect.

But not it’s own distinct language.

*its

Haitch should carry a heavy fine if you're on TV.

Ignorant.

@FlySheMust

Haitch should carry a heavy fine if you're on TV.

Ignorant.

What if you’re Irish?

My Irish Mum always said aitch. I can't begin to tell you how judgy I am towards people who say haitch 😂. And that my Dd deliberately says "haitch" for the craic because she knows it pisses me off.

I never new about the aitch, haitch thing in NI as a Protestant catholic thing.

Growing up in the west of Scotland it was generally “wit team dae ye support?” to establish your religion.

Aitch

I say Haitch but then I am common, Northern and the daughter of an Irish immigrant

I say “aitch”. I know it’s snobby but I also find “haitch” like nails down a blackboard.
It is not snobby to pronounce something correctly.

I say 'feff' for F, doesn't everyone?
😂

We don't do that with any other letter. Why H?
So, if you say 'aitch' why did you state "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?"

Do you know what the word 'we' means?
It includes you along with others......well, it does until you realise that your OP was wrong and you need to backtrack. 😂😂😂

@nestisflown

Grew up in Wales and was taught Haitch. I did go to a Catholic school but I’m pretty sure most people there say Haitch. To be honest I can’t even imagine “Aitch” - I’ll have to listen out for it

But can’t stand the mumsnet snobbery- already had people calling it common etc. And then the middle class English wonder why so many Scots/Welsh/ Irish dislike them - maybe try and speak more kindly about legitimate regional varieties without turning it into classism. Just a suggestion.

Hear hear!

I say "haitch"...perhaps because my teacher pronounced it that way at school!

Irish people speak English due to colonialism.

English people speak English due to colonialism - only the Anglo-Saxon/Norman and Viking kind. Not really relevant to anything but just saying.

I didn't realise it was this contentious

I'm from Yorkshire (catholic mum, Protestant dad if that helps!) and I say 'haitch' if I'm spelling a word out, but in NHS I say aitch as it flows better.

@mrshoho so would you say Huh Ouse for house? Huh ot for hot? It’s a breathy sound . Say the words slowly. Same as we were taught “muh” for m, in phonics it’s a mmmm sound.

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'?

You've literally just contradicted yourself right there.

Aitch issue aside here.

I’m playing word inception here trying to listen to the first letters of each alphabet letter and I still don’t know what you mean.

We do have several letters that have their own sound at the start, unless I’m lost somewhere here? For example:

J - jay
Q - Queue

Or have I completely misunderstood you?

I say haitch! and never thought about it before:) I wonder what my children say?:)

I was taught H in Wales but say Aitch now I’m in England, however a quite search about the origins of Haitch/Aitch is really interesting:

• Haitch has the pedigree The name aitch might be a sign of high education in some circles, but is itself an example of H-dropping. Deriving from medieval French hache or “axe” (hatchet and hashtag are relatives), it also arrived in English H-less (like humble and herb)*

Here’s a short article on its history here and why H dropping fell out of favour and now it’s back.

www.independent.co.uk/news/long_reads/haitch-or-aitch-pronunciation-letter-h-old-english-a8393766.html