chimay Posted August 5, 2010 Share Posted August 5, 2010 It is 'aitch' according to whom? the opinion of individuals You cannot pronounce letters in type It's how you pronouce what you read in type. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IamChiChi Posted August 5, 2010 Share Posted August 5, 2010 the opinion of individuals That doesn't make it factual, which was what I was alluding to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HeadingNorth Posted August 5, 2010 Share Posted August 5, 2010 It is 'aitch' according to whom? Chambers dictionary gives it as pronounced, and sometimes spelt, "aitch." It does also mention that in many words, and by many people, it's not pronounced at all. Over the centuries it has gradually become less and less distinct, and might even disappear entirely as a pronuncible letter in its own right. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darell Posted August 5, 2010 Share Posted August 5, 2010 I remember one of my teachers( Mr Topham) at Yew Lane telling me to pronouce my haitch as I would in Onion,I didn't understand what he was on about,and still don't 48 years later.Can someone explain? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HeadingNorth Posted August 5, 2010 Share Posted August 5, 2010 I remember one of my teachers( Mr Topham) at Yew Lane telling me to pronouce my haitch as I would in Onion,I didn't understand what he was on about,and still don't 48 years later.Can someone explain? What he was trying to get at, I think, is that the name of the letter written as H is pronounced "aitch" and not "haitch." Just as the word onion is not pronounced "Honion." It strikes me as a fairly bad way of expressing the point. I'm not surprised you didn't understand him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darell Posted August 5, 2010 Share Posted August 5, 2010 What he was trying to get at, I think, is that the name of the letter written as H is pronounced "aitch" and not "haitch." Just as the word onion is not pronounced "Honion." It strikes me as a fairly bad way of expressing the point. I'm not surprised you didn't understand him. perhaps that's why I've always thought that I was not very well educated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Player 1 Posted August 5, 2010 Share Posted August 5, 2010 Apparently Australians and Irish say it as Haitch. No the Australians say "eyech" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Babooshka Posted August 5, 2010 Share Posted August 5, 2010 No idea why people say 'Haitch'. For starters, it is incorrect, and secondly, it takes so much more effort, and I, actually, find it quite difficult to say it that way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HeadingNorth Posted August 5, 2010 Share Posted August 5, 2010 No idea why people say 'Haitch'. We can hazard a reasonable guess. Most letters of the alphabet are named with a word that starts with themselves .. bee, dee, jay, zed, and so on. There are very few exceptions ... you, double-you, ex, ef, and aitch are the only ones that come to mind. But four of those couldn't possibly be named with their own sound at the beginning. Nobody would mistakenly pronounce X as "the letter xex." Aitch, on the other hand .. it's very easy, and tempting, to put an aspirant in front of it. Logically, there probably should be one, but there isn't. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IamChiChi Posted August 5, 2010 Share Posted August 5, 2010 No idea why people say 'Haitch'. For starters, it is incorrect, and secondly, it takes so much more effort, and I, actually, find it quite difficult to say it that way. It's extremely easy to say that way. And I'm sure it is for most normal people. There really is no right or wrong when it comes to individual pronounciation. The days of strict Queens English have long gone. As long as what is said is understood, then it's all good. Within reason of course. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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