Re: How to pronounce the letter "H"

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...
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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.

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On the other hand:
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    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>
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"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).


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