As regards 'dropping the H', it hasn't so far been mentioned how this was
used in England at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century
as a supposedly comic marker of class.  One might cite a scene in Arthur
Pinero's farce 'Dandy Dick' where a butler with a pronounced cockney accent
is mocked by the daughters of the vicar who employs him.  After a sequence
in which he misplaces a whole series of H's (both missing and unnecessarily
supplying them), one of the daughters calls out to him in cheeky mimicry as
he goes out ". . .and 'ang your Haitches on the 'atstand!"

This item of mockery has now disappeared from the English cultural scene,
reflecting the modern sensitivity to such class ridicule.  On this account,
teachers today refrain from 'correcting' students' pronunciation of the
letter, to the point where many teachers, if not most, say 'Haitch'
themselves.  It has produced one oddity:  the Standard English word for 'H'
is pronounced 'aitch', and this version can be heard daily on television
(for example, in the word game 'Countdown', where the Oxford woman graduate
who puts letters up on a board always says 'aitch';  it is also still the
standard version in the Oxford English Dictionary).  However, the television
Channel 5 puts on daily a popular sitcom from Australia called 'Neighbours'
in which, should reference to 'H' occur, is always pronounced 'Haitch'.  As
a result the two versions are at present fighting it out in English speech.

One aspect favouring the final success of the Australian version is the fact
that, in adding the 'h', one is providing what linguists call a
'transparency', an aid to memory:  the sound 'h' appears in the
pronunciation itself (absent from 'aitch').

Am I right in thinking that 'Haitch' is the standard American pronunciation?

Edmond

;
Dr. Edmond Wright
3 Boathouse Court
Trafalgar Road
Cambridge
CB4 1DU
England

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