It's always a bad sign when you have to explain a joke, but in french a distinction is made between two kinds of aitches: muet 'mute' and aspiré 'aspirated'. The former does not get involved in liaison, e.g., l'heure, but the latter impedes it, e.g., le haricot (which is pronounced with a glottal stop between the vowel of le and the vowel beginning the next word). Also, I've always loved that the word for the letter h in English does not begin with an h or in fact have the sound /h/ anywhere within it. The aitch that does occur at the end of the word is not really /h/. I spent a lovely day in Champagne and even went champagne tasting there. In other parts of France, sparkling wine goes by the name blanquette or crémant. Here in the states, those are often cheaper than French champagne.
