# H: aitch or haitch? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 16, 2010, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/h-aitch-or-haitch/539656 "2010-05-16T17:18:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2010, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/h-aitch-or-haitch/539656/21 "2010-05-17T12:05:50Z")
> [@Richard\_Pearse](#): > > Is it? Would you also say wubblewoo, sess, memm, nenn, feff, etc? I’m going to do this from now on. ---
**Author:** ![Aspidistra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspidistra/32/3894_2.png) [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2010, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/h-aitch-or-haitch/539656/22 "2010-05-17T12:16:45Z")
> [@Richard\_Pearse](#): > > Is it? Would you also say wubblewoo, sess, memm, nenn, feff, etc? well, no, but hey, _I_ don’t say haitch either. I’m illogical all round! ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2010, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/h-aitch-or-haitch/539656/23 "2010-05-17T12:38:54Z")
Another variant : Most of our programmers from India pronounce it as “etch.” ---
**Author:** ![galen\_ubal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/galen_ubal/32/4440_2.png) [@galen\_ubal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/galen_ubal)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2010, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/h-aitch-or-haitch/539656/24 "2010-05-18T01:12:54Z")
I pronounce it ‘aitch’ - I’m from the States. Most Australians seem to pronounce it ‘haitch’, insofar as I’ve noticed. Two countries, separated by a common language… ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2010, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/h-aitch-or-haitch/539656/25 "2010-05-18T01:58:55Z")
I have never heard anyone say “haitch.” ---
**Author:** ![Staggerlee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/staggerlee/32/3134_2.png) [@Staggerlee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Staggerlee)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2010, 9:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/h-aitch-or-haitch/539656/26 "2010-05-18T09:07:53Z")
> [@jjimm](#): > > In my experience in the Republic of Ireland, nearly everyone says haitch. In southern England, there is something of a class distinction, with middle-class people saying aitch and working class people saying haitch; however further north it appears just to be regional. I’ve heard it suggested that those who ‘drop their aitches’ (i.e don’t pronounce them) are also those who say ‘haitch’, almost as if compensating. Not sure to what degree this holds true. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2010, 9:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/h-aitch-or-haitch/539656/27 "2010-05-18T09:22:44Z")
> [@Staggerlee](#): > > I’ve heard it suggested that those who ‘drop their aitches’ (i.e don’t pronounce them) are also those who say ‘haitch’, almost as if compensating. Not sure to what degree this holds true. I think that would apply to London/Estuary accents, and maybe northern English too, but not Irish ones. ---
**Author:** ![Superhal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Superhal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superhal)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2010, 9:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/h-aitch-or-haitch/539656/28 "2010-05-18T09:57:37Z")
ESL teacher here, been one for 13 years, taught in two countries, and had students from 10 others. Never heard “haitch” in my life. I have heard “zed” from quite a few students, mainly European or Asian. I have studied “naught” and “aught” but usually hear “oh.” ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Mondegreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/91b2a8/32.png) [@Lord\_Mondegreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Mondegreen)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2010, 10:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/h-aitch-or-haitch/539656/29 "2010-05-18T10:07:52Z")
> [@jjimm](#): > > A friend of mine from Northern Ireland told me that was one of the guidelines (among others, including observing which newspaper/s people read in the tearoom) that he and his friends used when in the civil service in the 1980s to establish if someone were Catholic or Protestant (it being a socially forbidden question). Generally, he said, it was Catholics: haitch; Protestants: aitch. Yep. In Australia the nuns in Catholic schools taught “haitch” while the rest taught the correct “aitch.” “Haitch” bugs the hell out of me. It’s still overwhelmingly Catholics who say it. ---
**Author:** ![Wallenstein](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b5a626/32.png) [@Wallenstein](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wallenstein)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2010, 10:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/h-aitch-or-haitch/539656/30 "2010-05-18T10:41:07Z")
My wife (welsh) and I (english) both say “aitch” in normal speech. However, we’re teaching our toddler the alphabet and “haitch” seems to be easier to pronouce, so we tend to spell things out that way. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2010, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/h-aitch-or-haitch/539656/31 "2010-05-18T15:19:30Z")
> [@gotpasswords](#): > > Another variant > : > Most of our programmers from India pronounce it as “etch.” Another pronunciation common in India is “hetch.” One of my relatives confused a lot of people over here when she spelled her name with a “hetch.” ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2010, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/h-aitch-or-haitch/539656/32 "2010-05-19T01:18:40Z")
> [@Giles](#): > > (1) I say “aitch” > > (2) The “haitch” pronunciation is originally Irish, and transported itself to Australia, so that a lot of Australians say it that way. > > (3) By pure coincidence, my user title [エッチ (H)] contains the Japanese way of saying H, which in romanised form would be “ecchi”. So they don’t start it with the h sound – if they did, they’d say “hecchi”. Seeing as I don’t have the fonts installed, I had no idea what that said. Are you an ecchi lover? Anyways, I say aitch, although I tend to think of it as haitch with a silent h. Also as part of my new goal to habituate people to using IPA: Those two options are /eɪt͡ʃ/ and /heɪt͡ʃ/, respectively. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/h-aitch-or-haitch/539656.md?page=1)