posted on Thursday, March 13, 2008 @ 4:39 pm
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” ?
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March 14, 2008 at 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.
March 14, 2008 at 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.
March 16, 2008 at 1:35 am
March 16, 2008 at 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.
March 16, 2008 at 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!
March 17, 2008 at 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…)
March 17, 2008 at 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
March 18, 2008 at 7:46 am
Ooo that’s an awkward pronunciation. Come to Canada and we’ll show you how z is really pronounced – ZED!
March 18, 2008 at 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.
March 20, 2008 at 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.
March 21, 2008 at 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.
March 21, 2008 at 3:18 am
I love the Aussie accent. Hmm being American, I pronounce H as “aych”
March 22, 2008 at 11:58 am
That’s a new one to me. I could ask my friend. He lives there.
March 23, 2008 at 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.
March 24, 2008 at 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
March 25, 2008 at 3:16 am
I never knew that.
It’s certainly something to think about, though.
March 26, 2008 at 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.
March 26, 2008 at 3:29 pm
Interesting… I love grammatical enigmas like this. I’d ask an aussie if I knew one.
March 27, 2008 at 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.
March 28, 2008 at 1:10 am
*watches Aussie soap Neighbours* Oh yeah
March 31, 2008 at 5:55 am
It depends…I have an accent. And so does aussie. If we’re talking about the same aussie.
April 1, 2008 at 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!
April 1, 2008 at 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!
April 1, 2008 at 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.
April 1, 2008 at 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.
April 6, 2008 at 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.
April 6, 2008 at 10:39 pm
Btw, you may like to watch “My Fair Lady” for a clue.