From Newsgroup: sci.lang

Adam Funk wrote:

On 2025-06-09, Tilde wrote:

For English speakers anyways...

https://theweek.com/culture-life/tv-radio/aitch-or-haitch-the-linguisitic-debate-that-matters-a-lot
APRIL 15, 2024

The host of "University Challenge", Amol Rajan,
is to change the way he pronounces the letter
"H" after complaints from viewers that he was

Snobs, presumably. "Haitch" sounds odd to me, because it's rare
where I come from, but I wouldn't send in complaints about it.

Yes, sounds odd. See below...

doing it incorrectly during his first series
presenting the BBC quiz.

Rajan found himself at the centre of a
linguistic storm when he was criticised by
viewers for saying "haitch" rather than "aitch",
an approach described as "horrible with a capital
aitch" on social media and "truly awful" in a
newspaper letters page.

On the other hand:

When the letter H is pronounced beginning with the letter sound it
makes, children have an easier time learning its correspondence as
they learn to read.

<https://www.independent.co.uk/news/long_reads/haitch-or-aitch-pronunciation-letter-h-old-english-a8393766.html>

"haitch" does sound oldish. Wondering if there is a
difference/preference between English as spoken in
America or GB... If you recite the alphabet (again,
this is for English speakers), sure seems to come
out "aitch".

The general rule I learned in pronouncing individual
letters was that if the letter's sound begain with a
vowel sound you used "a" otherwise it was "an". Ex

Do you say an N
or a N

The former is "correct" as N is pronounced "en"

So, is it a H (haitch)
or an H (aitch)

The former is torturous...



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From Newsgroup: sci.lang

On 2025-07-01, Tilde <invalide@invalid.invalid> wrote:

"haitch" does sound oldish. Wondering if there is a
difference/preference between English as spoken in
America or GB... If you recite the alphabet (again,
this is for English speakers), sure seems to come
out "aitch".

I had never head of "haitch" until it was discussed in one of the
usual places (alt.usage.english, sci.lang or Language Log) many
years ago. Wikipedia confirms my recollection: The "haitch"
pronunciation is Irish and in some places it's a shibboleth: If you
went to Catholic school, you learned "haitch", otherwise it was
"aitch".

"Haitch" is spreading in BrE. J.C. Wells in the _Longman Pronunciation Dictionary_, 3rd ed., 2008, cites these figures:
Preference poll: BrE: e+-t-a 84%, he+-t-a 16% (born since 1982, 24%)
--
Christian "naddy" Weisgerber naddy@mips.inka.de
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From Newsgroup: sci.lang

On 2025-07-01, Tilde wrote:

Adam Funk wrote:

On 2025-06-09, Tilde wrote:

For English speakers anyways...

https://theweek.com/culture-life/tv-radio/aitch-or-haitch-the-linguisitic-debate-that-matters-a-lot
APRIL 15, 2024

The host of "University Challenge", Amol Rajan,
is to change the way he pronounces the letter
"H" after complaints from viewers that he was

Snobs, presumably. "Haitch" sounds odd to me, because it's rare
where I come from, but I wouldn't send in complaints about it.

Yes, sounds odd. See below...

doing it incorrectly during his first series
presenting the BBC quiz.

Rajan found himself at the centre of a
linguistic storm when he was criticised by
viewers for saying "haitch" rather than "aitch",
an approach described as "horrible with a capital
aitch" on social media and "truly awful" in a
newspaper letters page.

On the other hand:

When the letter H is pronounced beginning with the letter sound it
makes, children have an easier time learning its correspondence as
they learn to read.

<https://www.independent.co.uk/news/long_reads/haitch-or-aitch-pronunciation-letter-h-old-english-a8393766.html>

"haitch" does sound oldish. Wondering if there is a
difference/preference between English as spoken in
America or GB... If you recite the alphabet (again,
this is for English speakers), sure seems to come
out "aitch".

I'm pretty sure I've never heard "haitch" in AmE (but I can't promise
it doesn't exist in some dialects).
--
There is nothing like looking, if you want to find something. You
certainly usually find something, if you look, but it is not always
quite the something you were after. (Tolkien: The Hobbit)
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