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#112403 - 09/18/03 12:01 PM the letter H
belMarduk Carpal Tunnel Registered: 09/28/00 Posts: 2888	Hi everybody, I need to find a couple of on-line dictionaries that will give me the pronunciation of the letter H. Big argument going on here with some saying your pronounce the H (Haitch) and others saying you don't (aitch). I'm thinking there might be a difference between North Amercian pronunciation and British pronunciation. I'd really appreciate your help. I admit to being quite bad at finding stuff on the net. I know we've discussed this here before but dang if I could find it. I did the search button thing and came up empty.
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#112404 - 09/18/03 12:04 PM Re: the letter H
Faldage Carpal Tunnel Registered: 12/01/00 Posts: 13653	Far as I know, ain' no USns pronounce it haitch. Some of us think haitch is British and some think it's only the Cockneys who pronounce it like that. Probably it's something in between, them UKns having so many dialects and all.
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#112405 - 09/18/03 12:10 PM Re: the letter H/a tangent
Wordwind Carpal Tunnel Registered: 09/30/01 Posts: 6296 Loc: Piedmont Region of Virginia, U...	While we're discussing 'aitch,' may I add this question: Long time ago, we in the States would write "an historical." But I think 'an historical' sounds quite affected to my contemporary ear. Isn't it quite proper these days in the States to write 'a historical event'?
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#112406 - 09/18/03 12:16 PM Re: the letter H
AnnaStrophic Carpal Tunnel Registered: 03/15/00 Posts: 6511 Loc: lower upstate New York	bel, onelook.com is a whole bunch of dictionaries in a single web site. It has NO listings for aspirated haitch and 13 for aitch. Take a look! http://onelook.com/?w=aitch&ls=a
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#112407 - 09/18/03 12:18 PM Re: the letter H/a tangent
AnnaStrophic Carpal Tunnel Registered: 03/15/00 Posts: 6511 Loc: lower upstate New York	WW, Well, we aspirate the H in 'historical' so the article should be a. But still I say 'an historical,' even if I don't write it. Go figger. :)
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#112408 - 09/18/03 12:19 PM Re: An historical aitch
Faldage Carpal Tunnel Registered: 12/01/00 Posts: 13653	There used to be a rule that a word starting with an aspirated H would take "a" if its first syllable was stressed and "an" if it wasn't. Although you will still find some who follow this rule, it has pretty much gone by the boards.
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#112409 - 09/18/03 12:38 PM Re: the letter H
WhitmanO'Neill Carpal Tunnel Registered: 03/13/01 Posts: 4189 Loc: Rio Grande, Cape May County, N...	aitch like eight, here.
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#112410 - 09/18/03 12:42 PM Re: the letter H
WhitmanO'Neill Carpal Tunnel Registered: 03/13/01 Posts: 4189 Loc: Rio Grande, Cape May County, N...	Enigma 1. http://wordsmith.org/board/showthreaded.pl?Cat=&Board=wordplay&Number=32709
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#112411 - 09/18/03 01:29 PM Re: the letter H
dodyskin addict Registered: 04/24/02 Posts: 475 Loc: manchester uk	I'm with Whitman on the pronunciation front, but I don't think there is a 'right' way to pronounce anything, just your own accent or dialect norm . [rant] apart from herb you crazy h-dropping loonies [/rant]
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#112412 - 09/18/03 02:10 PM Re: the letter H
belMarduk Carpal Tunnel Registered: 09/28/00 Posts: 2888	So does nobody pronounce it out like in Hat, Hampton, Hog when you say your A,B,Cs? (Ay Bee Cee Dee Eee Eff Gee Haitch...) ?? Do you all say at, ampton and og ? P.S. I'm with you on the Herb thing Dody. That new cuisine "erb" grates on me. I know they're going for the French sound (the H is always silent in French) - but to me Erb is the sound you make when you're trying to stifle a burp while in front of company and the next words outta your mouth should be "excuse me."
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