IS THERE AN AITCH IN AITCH?

[wazzaa]

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'?

[MarkRae]

Turn your Caps Lock off, please. Posting all in upper case sounds like YOU'RE SHOUTING!!!

[factor-fiction]

I am not aware that you need a degree for entry into a TV career, but a degree doesn't cover pronunciation and can be obtained in a subject you are good at even if you don't speak proper like what I do, i fink

[Infomaniac]

Yaaawn!!

[MarkRae]

I think there are worse mispronunciations than 'haitch'.

Wensdee instead of Wednesday
Pleece instead of police
LIE-bree instead of library
FEB-you-werry instead of February

Etc...

[Graham-W]

Not heard chimnee for a while.

[factor-fiction]

^ do you mean "exetra"

[Graham-W]

Sorry, meant chimlee.

[factor-fiction]

Chimnee? Chimlee was more common at one time up north

[factor-fiction]

Oops- crossed posts

[dotty.]

mark's talkin in a scouse accent

[factor-fiction]

He can't be, dotty. - he'd have said "the bizzies" rather than 'pleece'

[dotty.]

true, round here they call them 5 o

[Infomaniac]

Even people with a degree mispronounce "aitch" as "haitch", and I've heard people who should know better, like teachers, saying it wrong too. I've even heard "En Haitch Ess" for NHS. Really annoying but what can you do? Some people won't learn or accept the correct pronounciation even when it is pointed out to them (or perhaps BECAUSE it is pointed out to them).

[Infomaniac]

Sorry for the caps Markrae!

[jno]

I don't say haitch but I'm well aware that many people do. It's too widespread to be simply called "wrong"; it's just a variation.

THERE IS NO SECOND AITCH IN AITCH

I guess you mean there's no first aitch. Otherwise haitch would be haitc.

[thenry]

'There is no 'h' in aitch !

[Infomaniac]

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.

[tenrec]

I totally agree with wazzaa. It bugs me everytime I hear the letter H pronounced by starting with a "Hay" sound. It is Aitch.

[jno]

it's not wrong, it's just that she doesn't talk like a duchess, and Higgins wants her to be able to.

I have no idea how the duchesses of today pronounce it. But it seems more a regional thing than a class one these days. In fact, this piece says it's actually on the increase

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-11642588

[tenrec]

I know my ABC and Haitch is wrong. Would you say Hay for the first letter of the alphabet, I don't think so, so why say Haitch when it should be Aitch?