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Is the letter 'h'
pronounced 'aich' or 'haich'?
(I helped save b3ta! ArthurTheRat, Sun 10 Jul 2005, 11:16, archived)
First one.
Why, are you meeting Steps?
(I helped save b3ta! Reid got it going on like Donkey Kong, Sun 10 Jul 2005, 11:18, archived)
No, I've always wondered
all my friends pronounce it the second way and I wondered if that was the right one. If it was my world would spin off its axis.
(I helped save b3ta! ArthurTheRat, Sun 10 Jul 2005, 11:21, archived)
I hate it when people pronounce it the wrong way

kids do it all the time coz their parents don't know

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
(I helped save b3ta! diffy maybs, Sun 10 Jul 2005, 11:22, archived)
Or perhaps because socially it benefits them more to pronounce it that way?
Most people don't learn to speak the language of their parents alone, but pick and choose from an amalgamation of different influences to create an idiolect that most benefits them.
(I helped save b3ta! Malchick, Sun 10 Jul 2005, 11:26, archived)

www.b3ta.com/talk/629452
(I helped save b3ta! Hoohah Bibbly-bobbly-bubbly-snibbly wib-wib floppit., Sun 10 Jul 2005, 11:26, archived)
Oi!
*considerably more northern than Malchick*
Bloody southerners. Back in myyy day grumble grumble grumble
(Naughty Tortoise, Sun 10 Jul 2005, 12:12, archived)
Innit.

(I helped save b3ta! Shoosh up your lips Not state-funded, Sun 10 Jul 2005, 11:27, archived)
Innit.
Just because it's socially beneficial to speak in a dialect, doesn't mean it's right, y'dickhead.

Edit: stop pissing on my mind.
(I helped save b3ta! Reid got it going on like Donkey Kong, Sun 10 Jul 2005, 11:28, archived)
Only if you take the prescriptivist view of language
which I normally do

/guilt

And it wouldn't be right for them to speak to us in their dialect because we're pedants, but for inter-chav conversation speaking Standard English (itself a dialect) would be wrong.
(I helped save b3ta! Malchick, Sun 10 Jul 2005, 11:30, archived)
What?
The last bit of this message doesn't make any sense no matter how I rearrange it.
(I helped save b3ta! Reid got it going on like Donkey Kong, Sun 10 Jul 2005, 11:32, archived)
Done it for you.

(I helped save b3ta! Malchick, Sun 10 Jul 2005, 11:34, archived)
Even rearragned I had to read it 4 times before I understood.
I'm obviously stoopid.
(MooCow_Byter, Sun 10 Jul 2005, 11:36, archived)
I think it's possible that I'm not saying what I mean very clearly...

(I helped save b3ta! Malchick, Sun 10 Jul 2005, 11:38, archived)
I get it now, but I think you should use more commas.

(I helped save b3ta! Reid got it going on like Donkey Kong, Sun 10 Jul 2005, 11:47, archived)
Wha??

meh
(I helped save b3ta! diffy maybs, Sun 10 Jul 2005, 11:33, archived)
but it still annoys me

and I was taught at school to pronounce it haich

bastards
(I helped save b3ta! diffy maybs, Sun 10 Jul 2005, 11:29, archived)
Technically 'h' is pronounced
huh (like an exhale).
(I helped save b3ta! Shoosh up your lips Not state-funded, Sun 10 Jul 2005, 11:30, archived)
That's the sound

he's refering to the letter name

/Jolly Phonics
(I helped save b3ta! diffy maybs, Sun 10 Jul 2005, 11:31, archived)
I'm eating yoghurt.

(I helped save b3ta! Shoosh up your lips Not state-funded, Sun 10 Jul 2005, 11:33, archived)
So am I.

(I helped save b3ta! Malchick, Sun 10 Jul 2005, 11:35, archived)
Again

what flavour?
(I helped save b3ta! diffy maybs, Sun 10 Jul 2005, 11:37, archived)
Your mum.
Lemon-Lime
(I helped save b3ta! Malchick, Sun 10 Jul 2005, 11:38, archived)
Mullerlight?

I like that with digestives in it, but only a bit otherwise it's too zingy.
(I helped save b3ta! diffy maybs, Sun 10 Jul 2005, 11:40, archived)
What flavour?

I'm hungry
(I helped save b3ta! diffy maybs, Sun 10 Jul 2005, 11:35, archived)
It's the split pots,
Digestive chocolate bits :)
(I helped save b3ta! Shoosh up your lips Not state-funded, Sun 10 Jul 2005, 11:39, archived)
Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

*whishes she had food in the house*

*HAs food but nothing she wants, you know that mood*
(I helped save b3ta! diffy maybs, Sun 10 Jul 2005, 11:41, archived)
Your friends

are cunts
(I helped save b3ta! diffy maybs, Sun 10 Jul 2005, 11:31, archived)
aich

(I helped save b3ta! diffy maybs, Sun 10 Jul 2005, 11:21, archived)
'Aich'
Unless you're a FILTHY COMMONER.

'Ning!
(I helped save b3ta! Hoohah Bibbly-bobbly-bubbly-snibbly wib-wib floppit., Sun 10 Jul 2005, 11:21, archived)
I am

a filthy commoner but I still say aich.
(I helped save b3ta! diffy maybs, Sun 10 Jul 2005, 11:24, archived)
'aich'
Always
(I helped save b3ta! Hankster, Sun 10 Jul 2005, 11:21, archived)
Haitch.

(Small Beer, Sun 10 Jul 2005, 11:22, archived)
FILTHY COMMONER!
*chases with torch and pick axe*
(I helped save b3ta! Hoohah Bibbly-bobbly-bubbly-snibbly wib-wib floppit., Sun 10 Jul 2005, 11:23, archived)
Aitch.
But I'd say "haitch" because I'm a FILTHY NORTHERN COMMONER.
(I helped save b3ta! Malchick, Sun 10 Jul 2005, 11:22, archived)
FILTHY NORTHERN COMMONER!
*chases with torch and pick axe*
(I helped save b3ta! Hoohah Bibbly-bobbly-bubbly-snibbly wib-wib floppit., Sun 10 Jul 2005, 11:23, archived)
Huh,
I would've said 'haitch', but apparently that's wrong.

How about L? 'Elle' or 'Al'?

/edit: thank you
(I helped save b3ta! Shoosh up your lips Not state-funded, Sun 10 Jul 2005, 11:26, archived)
Elle.
There's just no dispute there.
(I helped save b3ta! ArthurTheRat, Sun 10 Jul 2005, 11:27, archived)
Elle

(I helped save b3ta! diffy maybs, Sun 10 Jul 2005, 11:27, archived)
Commoners say 'elle'
Proper people say 'elle veut quelques gras de foie'.
(I helped save b3ta! Hoohah Bibbly-bobbly-bubbly-snibbly wib-wib floppit., Sun 10 Jul 2005, 11:30, archived)

www.b3ta.com/talk/629451
(I helped save b3ta! Shoosh up your lips Not state-funded, Sun 10 Jul 2005, 11:31, archived)
Answer from an English teacher
The first is the unstressed version, the second the stressed (for example at the beginning of a sentence) so both are correct.
Not that deeming one pronunciation 'correct' is anyone's business anyway. There's nobody governing the English language.
(I helped save b3ta! Zuowan, Sun 10 Jul 2005, 12:11, archived)
Tell that to my gran.

(I helped save b3ta! Reid got it going on like Donkey Kong, Sun 10 Jul 2005, 12:15, archived)
With pleasure.
Where is the old dear?
(I helped save b3ta! Zuowan, Sun 10 Jul 2005, 12:19, archived)
response from another english teacher
you might be an english teacher but you've not understood the question. In received pronunciation, the letter H is pronounced 'aitch', not 'haitch'. No argument about it. It's like saying that W can be pronounced 'double U' or 'Wubble U'.

EDIT:

I just researched this in some etymological books what i've got and apparently the origin of 'aitch' is 'ahha' or 'acha' where the central sound represents the original guttaral 'h' of the semitic language. so there is no need for an initial aspiration.
(Brad Dice, Sun 10 Jul 2005, 13:00, archived)
haitch.
It's got a H in it, duh
(Naughty Tortoise, Sun 10 Jul 2005, 12:14, archived)