Saying haitch.

[Chunkymenrock]

I almost never hear anyone saying aitch anymore. It's so infuriating! There is no such word as haitch. Am I alone in feeling so irritated? 😕

@Cutabove Do the native Spanish speakers on Latin Ammerica not speak Spanish because it's different than what they speak in Spain?

They would be speaking Latin American Spanish then wouldn't they.

As people in the US speak American English.

In English, the correct pronunciation is "aitch".

This is not to make a judgement on how others pronounce it. It's just the correct way to pronounce it in English.

🤷🏻‍♀️

"In England the correct pronunciation is "aitch"."
Corrected that for you @RubySlippers123. You're welcome.

In English, the correct pronunciation is "aitch".

I think what you're trying to say is 'in many regional pronunciations of modern RP English, the usual pronunciation is 'aitch'. In other versions of English, including Irish English, Scottish English, Australian English and others, the pronunciation varies by region and by other factors, including religious background.'

Otherwise you're just not being very accurate, and very confused between England the place and English the language.

[quote RubySlippers123]**@Cutabove* Do the native Spanish speakers on Latin Ammerica not speak Spanish because it's different than what they speak in Spain?*

They would be speaking Latin American Spanish then wouldn't they.

As people in the US speak American English.

In English, the correct pronunciation is "aitch".

This is not to make a judgement on how others pronounce it. It's just the correct way to pronounce it in English.

🤷🏻‍♀️[/quote]
American English is English. Hence the name.

[quote RubySlippers123]**@Cutabove* Do the native Spanish speakers on Latin Ammerica not speak Spanish because it's different than what they speak in Spain?*

They would be speaking Latin American Spanish then wouldn't they.

As people in the US speak American English.

In English, the correct pronunciation is "aitch".

This is not to make a judgement on how others pronounce it. It's just the correct way to pronounce it in English.

🤷🏻‍♀️[/quote]
You're talking as if American English is an entirely different language to English. It is the same language with some regional variations in spelling and pronunciation. The clue is in the name.

You should really try to broaden your horizons a bit.

[quote RubySlippers123]**@Cutabove* Do the native Spanish speakers on Latin Ammerica not speak Spanish because it's different than what they speak in Spain?*

They would be speaking Latin American Spanish then wouldn't they.

As people in the US speak American English.

In English, the correct pronunciation is "aitch".

This is not to make a judgement on how others pronounce it. It's just the correct way to pronounce it in English.

🤷🏻‍♀️[/quote]
Your logic fails there somewhat.

In the Us people speak American English.

In Ireland people speak Hiberno-English.

In GB people speak British English.

All three are subsets of the superset English. The sheer arrogance in insisting that a subset is the only correct one is astonishing.

Not really astonishing. Most people think theirs is the one true religion and the rest of us think we’re surrounded by idiots. That’s just how people are.

@TheBraveLittleTailor - Not really astonishing. Most people think theirs is the one true religion and the rest of us think we’re surrounded by idiots. That’s just how people are.

It seems to be more an English peculiarity wrt language. The rest of us know there is more than one way.

Just to clarify - I mean a peculiarity of English people.

I'm not sure why you're telling me it's not haitch in the north west where I'm from. I say haitch, all my friends and family say haitch, so it's haitch where I'm from. It's as simple as that.

And that was aimed at @AnnieSnap because I forgot to reply directly, whoops 😅

It's always been spelt Halloween in Ireland as long as I remember. I think Hallowe'en is a bit notiony but it is presumably an older version and is a contraction of All Hallows Even.

I was always taught (in Ireland) that it's Hallowe'en. I'm no spring chicken, but I'm not that old.

Perhaps the similarity of English dialects makes that harder to grasp.

I would hazard a guess that it's ignorance of the wide variety, and the huge divergence from RP, of many dialects in England that is the problem.

A small example.

@Doggiedementia, yes, I know so I said 'American' as opposed to American. Proms, Hallowe'en and haitch provoke apoplexy among a certain group of posters here.

Are proms and baby showers also of Irish origin? It is best to clarify.

@TheBraveLittleTailor
Proms have been a feature of life for 17/18 year olds in Ireland since there have been secondary schools. They are called 'debs', short for debutante balls.

Entire towns turn out to wave off the young people in their finery.

I threw in baby showers as an example of complete inability to understand that people in other places do things differently, and that they are neither superior or inferior. Baby showers are a cultural fault line imo. I could have included wedding registries as an example of a blind spot too.

You mean people think American imports threaten English people’s place in the world in the same way that imports to RP of lower socioeconomic pronunciations threaten RP speakers place?

@TheBraveLittleTailor - yes, that's my sense of what's going on here.

Lower socio-economic pronunciations, or foreign, when the assumption is that foreign equals inferior.

@mathanxiety

It's always been spelt Halloween in Ireland as long as I remember. I think Hallowe'en is a bit notiony but it is presumably an older version and is a contraction of All Hallows Even.

I was always taught (in Ireland) that it's Hallowe'en. I'm no spring chicken, but I'm not that old.

Maybe it's regional? Or maybe I just grew up in an unrefined environment.

By older, I meant really older. As in centuries.

I remember being taught to use Hallowe'en in late primary school, but that teacher had definite notions.

Just came from a vaccine thread where people are sneering at the use of "gotten". Sitting on my hands so as not to derail the thread so came here to moan instead.

@RubySlippers123

www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-58558396
The prestigious British-based £50,000 award is open to any authors writing in English, and the scarcity of UK authors was "just a coincidence", according to one judge.

This year's Booker Prize finalists are:
Anuk Arudpragasam - A Passage North (Sri Lanka)
Damon Galgut - The Promise (South Africa)
Patricia Lockwood - No One Is Talking About This (US)
Nadifa Mohamed - The Fortune Men (UK via Somalia)
Richard Powers - Bewilderment (US)
Maggie Shipstead - Great Circle (US)

What a shame most of them will have to be disqualified.

It will possibly come as a relief to many students of English Literature that the works of James Joyce, W.B. Yeats, William Faulkner, Seamus Heaney, Mark Twain, Ernest Hemingway, Samuel Beckett, Toni Morrison, Alice Munro, Saul Bellow, Isaac Bashevis Singer and many others will no longer be part of the English Lit. syllabus.

@MindyStClaire

I remember being taught to use Hallowe'en in late primary school, but that teacher had definite notions.

Just came from a vaccine thread where people are sneering at the use of "gotten". Sitting on my hands so as not to derail the thread so came here to moan instead.

I'll go.

Go Geamhradh, go Geamhradh, go go go Geamhradh!

@MindyStClaire

Go Geamhradh, go Geamhradh, go go go Geamhradh!

Sorted.

I'm from the Midlands, I think we all say haitch. I didn't even know aitch was meant to be the correct way to say it until my 30s so I think YABU.

I'm working class but went to grammar school and have a degree but no one has ever corrected my pronunciation of a letter, at least not to my face!

I don’t remember haitch being very common in the Midlands in the seventies. None of my primary teachers said it, as far as I remember, other than the headmistress. I remember her getting very exercised about us all supposedly dropping our ‘haitches’ when practising carols or songs for a concert. Other than that, I can’t remember a specific instance of anyone saying haitch ever so I suspect most of us just don’t notice either way most of the time.

You bunch of snobs!
All my kids say haitch from posh prep and non posh Catholic Primary.