H "atich" and "haitch" - please explain!

[coppit]

So, the letter H...

"aitch" and "haitch" - are both correct (so you just pronounce it how you like) or is "haitch" actually incorrect.

Thanks!

And on the ax/ask thing - I seem to recall that ax was prevalent in Kent for a long time - possibly even back to Old Kentish.

Well, I mean, I recall being told - I wasn't actually around at the time...

mathanxiety

Frakkinaround - I knew I didn't describe it as well as I should have done

What I meant was that people will say something like "Hopefully I will be there before 10" when what they really mean is "I hope I will be there before 10". Maybe it is just a Scottish thing.

mathanxiety - indeed - and what about ef, el, em and en, etc?

And es, yu, eks, wy? And see (pronounced k- and s-), jee (hard g and j sound)?

hopefully is very well explained by Drew Barrymore in Never Been Kissed: her boss says "hopefully the copy will be on my desk by 5" and she replies that it should be "it is hoped" because hopefully descrbies something that is full of hope and the copy doesn't have feelings.

it can only be used to refer to a sentient being.
Hopefully, Claire can go to the party, as Claire is expressing the feeling hope, but Hopefully the party will be well attended is wrong, because the party can't have the emotion of hope.

(i'm not sure if my party will be attended sentence is correct)

oh, and back to original topic: i had to sit through a conversation this morning in the canteen about HD television.

one man said HD about 80 times and each time said "haitch Dee". It was agonizing!

Thnaks nickelbabe for explaining it far better than I! ....even though I think it is now a lost cause I am sure that the pedants of old despaired in a similar way about the change in meaning of "awful"

Mathanxiety - 'how is W a valid pronunciation of a word that begins with D...?'

It isn't! That's the whole point of this thread! We should not assume that all names of letters (i.e. the written word that represents the letter) should necessarily start with, sound like, or even contain that letter. Most do, as it happens, which is where the confusion has set it with aitch.

W is not a valid pronunciation of the word double-yew, and neither do we need/expect it to be, because we all know that the word double-yew starts with a 'deh' sound. (its name stems from its appearance, though it would be more accurate to say double-vee as they do in French.)

P is a letter, Pee is its name, 'peh' is its sound. Likewise D, B, etc.

S, F, M, N, are the letters, Es, Ef, Em, and En (or double consenants, not sure!) are their names, and 'sss', fff, 'mmm', and 'nnn' are the sounds.

H is the letter, aitch is its name, and 'huh' is its sound.

W is the letter, Double-yew is its name and 'weh' is its sound.

Simples!

There's no confusion where I come from at all (at all, at all). Haitch is its name.

In Ireland, children in National Schools are mostly taught 'ah' for A -- this is the Irish language 'A' name and sound. I was taught 'ay' though.

Well the vowels all have hard and soft sounds, as do some consonants. Apart from that Avril, I am deliberately ignoring you.

we had this thread before and it turns out haitch is correct in Ireland so i'm officially not wrong to say it over here [sticks tongue out in defiance]

have ye moved on to 'zee' or 'zed' yet? [stirs]

HAvril, shouldn't it be "hactually"?

and A is a letter, Ay is its name and ah is how you say it. (which can be aa or ahhh)

Oops just noticed my unforgiveable arror in Pedants' corner: I should of course have said "... explained better than me"

... and of course typos don't count as mistakes!

(if it were a typo)

you should be pleased I overlooked it! (i imagined a little "can" at the end of the sentence and it made it okay)

typos are not mistakes, they're a consequence of having to type everything...

Not everyone who pronounces H Haitch puts one in front of A in words that start with A -- this is never done in Irish English. Actually is pronounced 'actually', never 'hactually'. Which and What and When, etc., are always aspirated. The 'Which witch is which' thing is meaningless to speakers of Hiberno-English (not to my DCs, who speak Americanese). H's are sometimes dropped in the TH blend (I tink, I tought, etc.), while they are sometimes inserted into the word 'Taught' ('I thaught him to ride a bike').

A has both long and short sounds (apple, baby).

LOL @ nickelbabe and 'hactually'

At last - someone else who understands the "Which witch is which?" thing (ie that it is meaningless as they are promounced differently). I thought I was imagining it when another Scot didn't differentiate!

Prettybird - I knew what you meant - just haven't ever come across any scots who pronounced 'witch' and 'which' differently.

mathanxiety - I'm a bit confused.
If 'wh' is always aspirated, then surely 'which witch is which' shouldn't be meaningless....???