Why do some people pronounce the letter "H" Haitch? It's spelt Aitch, so where does the extra at the beginning come from?

[lardhelmet]

[zzxxee]

depends where your from i suppose being from the west country we would always drop our haitches so house would become ouse
harry would be arry
and so on !!

[Mustardmit]

They're the same sort of people who say "skellington"

[Mustardmit]

...and think "ignorant" means "rude".

[lardhelmet]

"Skellington?" Love it! Or "Westminister"! Or "Cerstificate" or "Nucular". We have a garden centre near where I live called "The Poplars" and it's amazing how many people call it "The Populars"! Why?

[fbg40]

Also prostRate instead of Prostate !!
Reminds me of the P that is silent - as in bath ??
Think about it !!
FBG40

[madmaggot]

'h' always used to be 'dropped'; that's why it used to be correct to say 'An '(h)otel'. Common usage started to pronouce the 'h' which is why it is now grammatically correct to say 'a hotel'.

[joggerjayne]

Aspirators !

[zzxxee]

exactly madmaggot the west country accent is the correct wat to talk

allllllllllriiiiiiiiight myyyyyyyyyyyyyyy luuuuvvvvvvvvvvveeeeeeeeeerrrrrrrr !!!!!

[NoMercy]

What about My Fair Lady.... "In Hertfordshire, Hereford and Hampshire, Hurricanes Hardly Happen...." ??

[Quizmonster]

The addition of the letter ‘h' to the front of ‘aitch'...ie the name of the letter itself...is generally regarded as uneducated. In fact, The Oxford English Dictionary - the ‘bible' of English words - does not even list it.
It appears to have originated in Irish English and is relatively common in Australian speech. That is possibly because many Irish religious Brothers took teaching positions in the early days of settlement there. Maybe it's creeping into British English because of the influence of Australian soaps, just as the question-tone in statements seems to have done.

[sara3]

lardhelmet (interesting name!), The Poplars in Flitwick?

or maybe there are lots of them!

[beejay1124]

hi quizmonster- here in N Ireland-
the protestants pronounce it -aitch
the r catholics pronounce it - haitch
--- seems to back up your explanation

[Quizmonster]

That's interesting, Beejay. It didn't occur to me that there would be a religion-specific connection and especially not one still in force! Obviously, the teaching Brothers in Australia were RC.

[beejay1124]

yes quizmonster- it is even 'joked' about here-(if you want to know 'what sort' someone is get them to recite the alphabet)
even RC's who havent been educated by 'brothers' pronounce it -haitch
i assume they learn the pronounciation at primary school level

[TCL-MUMPING]

I say "aitch" but maybe folk add the "h" because
a they think it's been dropped in error
b the letter being named usually appears near the start of its name.

[willowman]

One for joggerjayne -
A parlour maid once said to her mistress:
"What can I take for an 'orrible 'eadache?"
Her mistress replied :
"How about a couple of aspirates"

[willowman]

In answer to the original question, I think it's because uneducated people remember being told not to drop their "h's" so they think that they must put an "h" at the front of "aitch" so as not to sound thick.
Sadly by doing so they only show up their ignorance.

[willowman]

Mustardmit - some of this type of mispronounciation is due to dialect.
I had a pal from Kidderminster who would always say "The Miglands" and he travelled on "buzzes".
Oh, and he came from "Kiddyminster"

[daftgrandad]

I had an uncle who used to say bonzano for bonanza
and p seudo for pseudo.