Radio presenters and politicians saying ‘ay’ instead of ‘a’

[PotteringPondering]

Anybody else noticed the trend among radio presenters and politicians of saying ‘ay’ instead of ‘a’ (traditionally pronounced ‘uh’)?

For example: ‘There will be ay debate in the House’, ‘There will be ay by-election’, ‘At ay meeting of the United Nations’.

I’ve even heard ‘ay-nother’.

‘Ay’ here is clearly not for emphasis (‘How many doughnuts?’ ‘Oh, just ay doughnut’). And it’s clearly not to buy time to think (‘That’s… aaaay… difficult question to answer.’) Some people do it all the time (Boris Johnson, Amol Rajan, Evan Davies), while others never do it (Mishal Husain, Justin Webb).

So grating!

I so agree with your comments on 'ay' & 'thee' before consonants. I can no longer watch University Challenge. Amol Rajan reads competently if rather fast, but is a serial offender regarding pronunciation of the definite & indefinite articles. Cringe, cringe!

Yes I've given up on University Challenge too. Amol Rajan has many fans but I'm not one.

The 'thuh' pronunciation before a vowel sound seemed to creep in initially but is now fairly widespread amongst young people especially.
Georgia Mann on Radio 3 has recently developed this habit, which does sound like an affectation as it's only in the past year. 'Thuh' orchestra and 'thuh' instruments etc etc have me hitting 'thuh' off button ().

On the OP's original point ; someone on Times Radio has just said "...when they're looking for A new party leader..."

My grammar & pronunciation brain hurts 😣

Henry Zeffman(?) has just been aying on the Beeb news,

Yes, I just saw it and thought of this thread!
It's a plague. Sorry - it's A plague.

I started this thread back in June 2022. Gratified to see it's perked up again. Feels like a sort of resurrection!

Thanks for all your comments. I'm still pondering where the whole 'ay' thing came from. I'm convinced nobody was doing it until relatively recently, and even since my original post it's become more common. Especially on Radio 4.

Did it start in a particular subculture or ethnic group, and then caught on...?

The thuh thing has been bedded in for a few years now. Younger people I know (30s and under) would only use this pronunciation and I’m sure it’s now a BBC convention; it is so rare to hear a presenter pronounce the word otherwise that it seems likely they are instructed to do this.

I was watching an old clip from US TV where someone said ‘thee’ and it jumped out at me. I’m guessing the change happened there earlier as it sounded like something from a bygone age in that context! I say change because I think the thuh-thee distinction is on its way out here too. A shame as I like it myself, but there we are.

Otoh...why do some (not all) satnav voices say 'a' 6 not ay 6 if they're trying to direct you onto the A6? Surely it's a simple rule that if directly followed by a number it's a road name not "indefinite article-number" that the most halfwitted AI should be able to deduce?

Is it an African American vernacular thing?

I'm amused thinking what if it extends to 'an' as is 'an apple a day' which is usually pronounced to rhyme with Anne. What if this morphs to 'ayn' to rhyme with 'rain'.

I remember noticing Boris doing it and thinking 'is it just for emphasis?' then realising it was habitual. Maybe public school?!

Ay always faind it's only proper to pronounce thee and ay like Princess Catherine would to elevate one's social standing among the upper classes. Although I do struggle with 'either' - should one say it eye-ther or ee-ther? Vowels are such a maynefield!

Maynefield 🤣🤣🤣🤣

Let's call the whole thing off. Thuh EU, indeed. Aynother vowel, Rachel, please.

Seethe. 😬

It drives me mad how politicians say "listen" before a sentence.

And how actors keep saying, okay or all right after a sentence. Its incredibly common at the moment, not sure if its something taught at acting school but it drives me nuts.

"yes I killed him okay, and then I buried the body all right".

Well no, not really to both but hey! Grrrrrr

And 'So' at the beginning of a sentence!! 🤣

I think that one might've started with scientists. I noticed them using "So" at the beginning of complicated explanations long before I heard sentences starting with "So" from anyone else. Maybe it's influenced by German also (meaning pretty much "so"), which German speakers seem to use a lot as a sentence-starter.

It drives me mad how politicians say "listen" before a sentence.

Agreed. So patronising. It’s as if they’re saying, “you’d understand if you just tilted your stupid little head and cocked your ears obediently and listened to me.”

I suppose somebody told them that "Look…" sounded too aggressive, impatient or confrontative.

I think we're due "Smell — " from politicians around 2029.

This has long been a bugbear of mine. I used to be a teaching assistant and I would try to train children out of it by saying "Ay is a letter, uh is a word." I bet there are twentysomethings running around this town who still remember that phase. I can't seem to get my own husband to get the message though.

why do some (not all) satnav voices say 'a' 6 not ay 6 if they're trying to direct you onto the A6?

That reminds me of the robot lady who reads texts out if they've been mistakenly sent to a landline. "I will see you at nine point four five. Mark."

Also for me not knowing that it’s ’The United States’ ‘The United Kingdom’ - I’m suspicious the BBC are telling presenters and news readers to do this