Haitch in HSBC phone message

[ClaudiusTheGod]

Phone HSBC. A voice will thank you for calling Haitch S B C.

This is all kinds of wrong, isn’t it?

It's not so much these days in Northern Ireland since "haitch" has become far more popular right across the UK. Especially amongst the young.

I've never had anyone having a problem with saying "haitch" in NI or anywhere else. 🤷‍♂️

@DownNative Very true.

But to be so snobbish about haitch is to be anti-Irish/anti-Catholic, as it's still predominately split on those lines in the UK.

I disagree, I was raised as a Catholic and was always taught that "aitch" was the correct spelling. My parents would correct me when I used "haitch" after it rubbed off on me from lots of non-Catholics who used it at school.

Generally I've found that people with a lower standard of education use "haitch" and people with an average or higher standard use "aitch" - regardless of their religion or regional background.

It's funny that your parents had a prejudice and now it's your experience too, isn't it? What are the chances?

Generally I've found that people with a lower standard of education use "haitch"

but everyone in Ireland (RoI) says 'haitch' and the standard of education is higher than in the UK. So maybe that's just people you know (and judge)

Do people froth in the same way about Americans pronouncing 'Z' as 'zee'?

I was taught aitch and my mum is from an Irish Catholic background. But my father categorically was not, which might have had something to do with it.

I find reducing it to a sectarian divide is a bit silly though and assumes you even know that it has Irish origin (I think I did but only from a previous discussion on MN) - it's just something that annoys some people, in the same way as I don't like it when people say something "impacts" something instead of "affects" it, or the use of gift as a verb.

On C4 they now have a continuity announcer who says pottery without pronouncing the tt. That annoys me too, although no doubt I'll be called a snob.

It only annoys people because they think it is wrong.

Gift is a verb.

HTH.

Generally I've found that people with a lower standard of education use "haitch" and people with an average or higher standard use "aitch" - regardless of their religion or regional background.

Really? Funny how pretty much everyone in my department at work (university), most of whom have PhDs, all say haitch. Obviously the PhDs were gifted (to annoy further) as opposed to earned.

Hate 'gifted' being used in place of 'given' these days. I do a mega inward eye-roll.

I'm Irish and I 'haitch' although living in the UK I do code switch depending on the situation. R is another one I've had to change my pronunciation of.

I'm from the Westcountry so use pearlers such as 'where ee too' and add random 'er sounds into things. I don't expect criticism but I don't claim it to be correct either.

Haitch clearly isn't correct according to the text book, i.e. the dictionary, but if people have grown up saying it then its petty to correct them. We all know what is meant, and its such a small deviation from the text book.

I find the debate around breakfast/lunch/dinner v, breakfast/dinner/tea similar. Looking down on someone for saying the latter is snobbish and unnecessary, until someone tries to tell me its 'correct'.

At the end of the day, its probably a bigger offense to decency going around correcting people than it is making the error in the first place. Apart from specific/pacific, that is an abomination that should be punnished by the stocks.

It is not an error in Hiberno-English. In Hiberno-English aitch is incorrect.

The dictionary simply reflects usage. From wordsense.eu:

haitch (pl. haitches)
Alternative form of aitch This reflects the pronunciation of the letter name in several dialects of English. See H

According to Oxford reference:

Haitch.

The pronunciation of the letter ‘h’ as ‘haitch’ rather than ‘aitch’ is a distinctive feature of Hiberno-English. ...

From Wickionary.com
Noun
haitch (plural haitches)

(chiefly Ireland, Australia) Alternative form of aitch

My XH used to pronounce it similar to 'etch' and pronounced J as Jai (rhymes with sky) it was a regional thing for him and I never conisdered it wrong. The main question is 'did the fact that the person said Haitch make their message incomprehensible to you' were you so unable to fathom this pronunciation that you couldn't recieve their message ? Because that's what communication is about essentially - understanding and being understood. I suspect you knew the person was referring to the bank Aitch SBC and not some new yet strangely similarly named bank called Haitch SBC.

Scottish, not Catholic. Taught Aitch in school.

Why do you code switch @StrychnineInTheSandwiches?

Do you do it because people don't understand you unless you switch, or because you feel they'll judge you?

When you code switch do you always change
your pronunciation of both haitch and r, or do you just change one or the other depending on the situation? Or have you completely changed how you pronounce r all of the time?

Sorry about all the questions, I'm just curious. I did ask the OP if she felt people who said haitch should be asked to change to aitch if they worked for HSBC, but she didn't reply.

Similar to this is “primark/preemark” pronunciation

technically it is primark but the local pronunciation where I live is preemark. All staff up to store manager level called it preemark.

At least we don't have that gaping social chasm in Ireland. Thanks, Penneys.

I hate this too,but unfortunately it is becoming more and more common lately.

It is hilarious observing English conviction that only one form of pronunciation is 'correct'.

Just maintaing standards - pronunciation lore an ohdah.

But only one is correct - Aitch

Might be an idea to RTFT

Yes. By the very people who throw seemingly random 'r's into words.

But also leave 'r's out of many words that have them.

Americans of course, regard pronouncing the 'h' in 'herbs' as a combination of pretentiousness and ignorance, and Wrong.

I dunno. I'm quite enjoying the confidence of people wading in after three days and 350 posts trying to show off how right they are and how much they know only to make complete eejits of themselves.

Thank you for your valuable, considered input!