# British English - say the alphabet, and stop when you get to H **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 24, 2021, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-english-say-the-alphabet-and-stop-when-you-get-to-h/933655 "2021-02-24T17:34:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![begbert2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/begbert2/32/3357_2.png) [@begbert2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/begbert2)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2021, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-english-say-the-alphabet-and-stop-when-you-get-to-h/933655/61 "2021-02-26T21:12:13Z")
“I” is pronounced “eye”, because it’s a word. “i” doesn’t have a standalone pronunciation that I’m aware of. Similarly, I don’t consider “e”, “o”, or “u” to be pronounceable. “a” is because it, again, is a defined word. (The pronunciation is “uh”.) ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2021, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-english-say-the-alphabet-and-stop-when-you-get-to-h/933655/62 "2021-02-26T21:25:22Z")
A, E, I, O, and U, are all pronounced as their long vowel sounds. ---
**Author:** ![begbert2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/begbert2/32/3357_2.png) [@begbert2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/begbert2)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2021, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-english-say-the-alphabet-and-stop-when-you-get-to-h/933655/63 "2021-02-26T21:27:59Z")
No, their _names_ are pronounced the same as their long vowel sounds. Only by Observing context can One know how “O” is pronounced - and standing alone it has no such context. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2021, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-english-say-the-alphabet-and-stop-when-you-get-to-h/933655/64 "2021-02-26T21:32:56Z")
Yes that is true, however letting I be spelled “I” makes a lot more sense than letting W be spelled “W”. “Eye” is a sound represented by the letter I and so it makes some sense to just spell it “I”. But I’m not arguing for any particular spelling for any letter except that it should make some kind of phonetic sense, I just think it is ridiculous to suggest that the names of the letters aren’t words at all. Even if they were never written, they would still be words, they get used every time we say the name of a letter. ---
**Author:** ![begbert2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/begbert2/32/3357_2.png) [@begbert2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/begbert2)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2021, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-english-say-the-alphabet-and-stop-when-you-get-to-h/933655/65 "2021-02-26T21:39:57Z")
I find it interesting that for a lot of letters my brain rejects the idea that they _have_ a spelling. For example my brain tells me that the name of the letter ‘b’ is definitely neither “bee” or “be”, because I know what those words mean and they don’t mean the letter. “b”, on the other hand, doesn’t even have a vowel. About the only letter that my brain considers to have a spelling is Z, which in england has the spelling zed. My brain doesn’t like zee as spelling - that’s more an onomatopoeia. It also scoffs at the proposed spellings of H being words. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2021, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-english-say-the-alphabet-and-stop-when-you-get-to-h/933655/66 "2021-02-26T23:39:09Z")
And what does your brain make of “w”? I don’t mean to scoff; I’m genuinely curious. I totally agree w @Richard_Pearse’s POV. Logically. But trying to introspect on the semi-chaos that is English as practiced between my ears I find your ideas compelling and wish to subscribe to your newsletter. ---
**Author:** ![begbert2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/begbert2/32/3357_2.png) [@begbert2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/begbert2)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2021, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-english-say-the-alphabet-and-stop-when-you-get-to-h/933655/67 "2021-02-26T23:46:28Z")
I actually tried to write out double-?, and I got as far as double (which is a word) before slamming into U, which isn’t spelled u, you, or ewwww. I found a half-spellable word kind of troubling, honestly. ---
**Author:** ![Kron](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kron/32/12444_2.png) [@Kron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kron)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2021, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-english-say-the-alphabet-and-stop-when-you-get-to-h/933655/68 "2021-02-27T00:40:00Z")
For what it is worth, I too am on team **Richard\_Pearse**. And it seems we don’t all read the same kinds of books, because I’ve seen the names of letters spelled out many times… and to address something from up-thread, “O” I’ve always seen written out as “oh”. ---
**Author:** ![velomont](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/8491ac/32.png) [@velomont](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/velomont)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2021, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-english-say-the-alphabet-and-stop-when-you-get-to-h/933655/69 "2021-02-27T01:15:58Z")
And eastern Canadian (Ont and Que) and I don’t know anyone who says “haitch” instead of “aitch”. And we say “zed” out here as well. ---
**Author:** ![UDS1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e47774/32.png) [@UDS1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS1)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2021, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-english-say-the-alphabet-and-stop-when-you-get-to-h/933655/70 "2021-03-02T01:30:16Z")
> [@Richard\_Pearse](#): > > The problem with “C” as a spelling for C is that it carries little information about how to say it (it doesn’t have the “ee” sound). An extreme example is W. I, on the other hand, is one of the sounds the letter I represents, and so it is a useful spelling. That may be a problem, but it’s not a problem that would stop “C” being the spelling of the letter C. English spelling is notoriously a poor guide to pronunciation. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-english-say-the-alphabet-and-stop-when-you-get-to-h/933655.md?page=3)