ChatterBank0 min ago
IS THERE AN AITCH IN AITCH?
48 Answers
THIS IS SOMETHING WHICH HAS BUGGED ME FOR A WHILE; IF YOU CHOOSE A CAREER IN TV, THEN I BELIEVE A DEGREE IS A PRE-REQUISITE FOR ENTRY AND ACCEPTANCE, OBVIOUSLY NOT WORTH THE TIME SPENT STUDYING. SO, CAN ANYBODY TELL ME WHY SO MANY VOICE OVERS QUOTE; 'ON BBC IN HAITCH D'. THERE IS NO SECOND AITCH IN AITCH, AND THOSE WHO USE TWO SHOULDN'T EVEN HAVE THE PRIVILEGE OF SUCH A JOB WHERE THERE MAY BE YOUNG PEOPLE AROUND AND BEHAVIOUR LIKE THIS SETS A REALLY BAD EXAMPLE, AND I REALLY ANNOYS ME. WHAT DO 'YOU THINK'?
Answers
Sorry jno - it is not a variation it is wrong. The lovely scene in "My Fair Lady" where Eliza only aspirates "hever" in: "In Hertford, Hereford and Hampshire, hurricanes hardly ever happen” is only funny because it is wrong.
20:26 Sun 19th Aug 2012
That doesn't change the name of the initial letter, which is aitch. You don't always pronunce "c" (cee) as " s". Ghoti can be pronounced "fish" - "gh" as in "rough" (but not for example as in "plough"); "o" as in "women" (but not as in "hot" or "woman"); "ti" as in "nation" (but not as in "tip"). One could go on ad infinitem about different pronounciations of word, but the names of the individual letters remain the same.
> There is no 'aitch' in the Russian alphabet.
There is no 'j', 'k', 'q', 'v', 'w', 'x' or 'z' in Scots Gaelic, yet the language contains over twice as many individual sounds as English:
http:// en.wiki pedia.o ...A_fo r_Scott ish_Gae lic
http:// en.wiki pedia.o ...pedi a:IPA_f or_Engl ish
There is no 'j', 'k', 'q', 'v', 'w', 'x' or 'z' in Scots Gaelic, yet the language contains over twice as many individual sounds as English:
http://
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It is regional. I have always said 'aitch', but I've moved around the country (England, when I lived there) and further north they tend to say 'haitch'. They also use different words sometimes, and pronounce various words differently. My mother believed you shouldn't be able to know where someone came from from the way they speak, ie nobody should have an accent other than received English (posh speak). That's not the way life is nowadays - so some people will continue to say 'haitch' and talk of barm cakes and speak in accents incomprehensible to others who live in other parts of the country. That is life.