Aussies pronounce the alphabet H as “heych” instead of “eych”. So does it mean that they’d say “an A”, “a B”, “a C”… “a H” ?
Vickie Diablos is a postgraduate student in Health Informatics, a hardcore gamer geek and a socially awkward logic and science nerd. She thought keeping a "cool blog" would make her a cool person. Alas. More »
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Dee
14 Mar 2008
8:23 am
It depends. And it also depends on who you’re speaking to as to whether they say “heych” or “eych”; it’s a dialect thing.
I know I personally say “an eych”, but I have a very urban (i.e. not occa) accent.
Deanna
14 Mar 2008
12:09 pm
I had a junior high teacher who called heych too. I guess there is some area in Canada (either Cape Breton or Newfoundland) that pronounce it that way. I think they would probably pronounce the other letters normally but I have no proof.
I have a urgent question for you, don’t be scared haha. I am looking for people who have been taught math somewhere besides Canada, USA, and UK. If you fit this category I would love it if you would help me with a math assignment I have to do. But I need you to reply to me ASAP! Thanks so much.
kasper
16 Mar 2008
1:35 am
Fatima
16 Mar 2008
10:14 am
Hmmn… I’ve never really noticed that. I know a few Aussies though..so must listen carefully next time we see each other.
Allison
16 Mar 2008
11:08 am
LOL it took me a few seconds to understand how to prounce them.. but yeah.. when I did say it.. it sounded aussie!
Melle
17 Mar 2008
10:27 am
Haha! Your website was on the random website feed (on Despair) on the sidebar and I caught it before it changed! Hmm..I pronounce my H’s like “Heych”. No one has said anything to me yet, but I know I pronounce everything differently because my parents aren’t American (Thank god…)
Melle
17 Mar 2008
10:32 am
Hmm…I was flipping through your website, because I am THAT nosy, and I see your online characters are soooo cute! I love the “Elven Elder” seeing her inspired me to quickly go back and play my online game. Of course, it doesn’t compare. All of the graphics are dumbed down and not as uhm, graphical? as yours.
But I noticed this too…”…imaginary girlfriend #2.”
She should be your number one–REGARDLESS of chronological order. Haha! You can push me aside now for being so nosy. I’m Sorry! <3
Crystal
18 Mar 2008
7:46 am
Ooo that’s an awkward pronunciation. Come to Canada and we’ll show you how z is really pronounced – ZED!
Skye
18 Mar 2008
2:20 pm
It drives me nuts when people say “heych”.
Possibly that’s because my English teaching mother used to drum the point home – “it’s eych, not heych”. Hehe.
Shae
20 Mar 2008
10:43 am
Haha wow, it was just be pure chance that I came across your site, and then I saw this random thought!
I live in Australia and just yesterday I was having a fight with my Maths teacher about how you pronounce ‘H’.
I have and always will say “heych”.
I used to think that “aych” was the American way, and “heych” was the Australian way, but many people (teachers in particular) have tried to tell me differently.
Kelly
21 Mar 2008
1:44 am
sorry i can’t help you out you there. I have brooklyn italian accent and pronounce everything wrong int he first place.
Amanda
21 Mar 2008
3:18 am
I love the Aussie accent. Hmm being American, I pronounce H as “aych”
Jenny
22 Mar 2008
11:58 am
That’s a new one to me. I could ask my friend. He lives there.
Faline
23 Mar 2008
8:02 pm
haha. I’m Australian.. and I was taught by my father/teachers than ‘heych” is bad English and I was always corrected if I said it wrong.
Lav
24 Mar 2008
5:32 pm
From Australia here.
It’s correct to use atch and we do get taught it.. but it just varies on context. An atch; a haych, it doesn’t really matter
Angela
25 Mar 2008
3:16 am
I never knew that.
It’s certainly something to think about, though.
FruityOaty
26 Mar 2008
1:11 pm
No clue… but I’m studying French right now, so I’d know a teeny eensy bit if the question was pertaining to French language.
Ashley
26 Mar 2008
3:29 pm
Interesting… I love grammatical enigmas like this. I’d ask an aussie if I knew one.
Dre
27 Mar 2008
2:31 am
I never thought about that before, but it’s interesting to know that. I don’t have any Aussie friends, I only hear Aussies on TV.
Emma
28 Mar 2008
1:10 am
*watches Aussie soap Neighbours* Oh yeah
Kay
31 Mar 2008
5:55 am
It depends…I have an accent. And so does aussie. If we’re talking about the same aussie.
John
1 Apr 2008
1:41 am
*blink* I never thought about it like this.
I’m too busy worried about the grammatical nonsense that Americans butcher to wonder about other grammatics elsewhere!
Kylee
1 Apr 2008
12:44 pm
Very interesting, never heard that before.
, my boyfriend is Mexican and he’s always saying the weirdest things wrong, he was born in the US and he’s bilingual in eng and spanish~ anyways, he does that thing where people say Qwhere, like Cool-Qwhip- they add this little q to the “wh” sound. strange thing language!
Amy
1 Apr 2008
12:47 pm
Ah.. I have an american appalachain dialect (aka southern hick). I am sorry to say it, but I can’t help it. Ask a hick why they say “ain’t”. I’m sure they couldn’t tell you
As for me, I try to keep my dialect as neutral as possible.
Kimmy (endless)
1 Apr 2008
4:16 pm
I didn’t know that even the alphabet was different.. I always thought it was just pronunciation of words. That’s very interesting.
Tommy LAM
6 Apr 2008
10:37 pm
Glad to see this new site.
To most of the Hong Kong people (say, me), they seldom consider the effect of the vowel/consonant when the alphabets are individually pronounced.
Here are some examples…..
A RPG vs. An RPG
A mphil vs. An mphil
A UFO vs. An UFO
My kindergarten teacher pronounced ‘eych’. Since then I stick to this convention. It’s not until my Undergraduate life that I discovered that *some* native-speakers do pronounce ‘hhhh…wen’ for the word ‘when’ instead of simply ‘wen’. Perhaps this inherits from the above ‘heych-eych’ demarcation.
Tommy LAM
6 Apr 2008
10:39 pm
Btw, you may like to watch “My Fair Lady” for a clue.