Poll: Pronouncing the letter 'H': hay-ch or ay-ch

[Vampyre]

I thought the difference related to dialect, I know hay-ch is very common in Ireland, I'm an ay-ch.

 

[izzy eckerslike]

I have airy harmpits

 

[jp_bl_68]

Can we have a poll, please mods?

Do you pronounce the letter 'H' as:

• hay-ch [haitch] (the incorrect, but unfortunately increasingly common way)
• ay-ch [aitch] (the correct way)

Didn't we have a poll on this a couple of months ago?

hay-ch [haitch] is how I usually pronounce it.

 

[sswats]

hay-ch although i'm weening myself off it.

 

[Tefal]

“ay-ch”, the other way is for the “innit” brigade.

really I'd have thought saying ay-ch is pretty chavy.

 

[-BA-]

ay-ch, aych, aitch. Any other way is just plain 'orrid. And only Jonathan Ross pronounces it Woubleyou.

 

[Cosimo]

I have airy harmpits

Your hay-charmpits smell.

 

[Hatter The Mad]

really I'd have thought saying ay-ch is pretty chavy.

No, it is the 'chavs' and people with lazy pronunciation who are making the haitch more popular. According to Wikipedia, 24% of the country don't know how to pronounce it properly.

 

[Participant]

Obviously, it's another one of those regional things

Yes, some regions pronounce it incorrectly.

really I'd have thought saying ay-ch is pretty chavy.

You'd have thought wrong.

When you were all at school going through the alphabet, any teacher that taught 'HAYCH' was teaching you wrong and was probably a *****.

 

[RDM]

I thought the difference related to dialect, I know hay-ch is very common in Ireland, I'm an ay-ch.

It is pronounced hay-ch in Hiberno English and ay-ch in British English.

 

[GingerNinja1989]

Aych, fo' sho'.

 

[The Dread Pirate]

Theres the Right way

The Wrong way

&

The Fonz Way

Eyyy!-ch

 

[Smit]

ay-ch [aitch] (the correct way)

 

[Belmit]

Kids are often taught the pronounciation 'haitch' to remind them which letter it is in the alphabet. When you're learning it you're taught a= 'ah' b= 'buh' etc. Since 'aitch' doesn't begin with a plosive, the letter h is appended to the pronounciation. It then becomes a hard habit to get out of.

 

[Hatter The Mad]

Yes, some regions pronounce it incorrectly.

It isn't a regional thing. It is a national thing, and the correct wait in British and American English is 'aitch'. Less than a quarter of Brits don't pronounce it correctly.

The haitch/aitch is not discriminated by region - it is more discriminated by age, socioeconomic background etc, according to the Longman Pronunciation Dictionary.

 

[RDM]

Kids are often taught the pronounciation 'haitch' to remind them which letter it is in the alphabet. When you're learning it you're taught a= 'ah' b= 'buh' etc. Since 'aitch' doesn't begin with a plosive, the letter h is appended to the pronounciation. It then becomes a hard habit to get out of.

Really? So what about the other letters that "suffer" from the same problem?

Like C, U, W, X and Y? The phonetic pronunciation has little to do with the actual pronumciation and everything to do with word sounds.

 

[AHarvey]

As long as you can understand that someone is saying H why should it matter?

 

[gjrc]

ay-ch (the correct way)

this is correct. end of discussion.

 

[gjrc]

As long as you can understand that someone is saying H why should it matter?

because you have to be proper like.

 

[Disco Boy]

It's aitch you plebs.