University Challenge

[Paul22118]

I have persevered with watching the new styled University Challenge. I do like AR's style and him as a personality but there were a few issues he needed to deal with. One has been rectified but the other two have not (yet).
Speed of delivery now sensible not rushed.
Still pronounces the letter H incorrectly - two haitches last night.
The oversized screen cowling is still on the desk instead of being sunken, similar to newsreaders desks.
What do you think.

[Zacs-Master]

I think you need to ‘chill’ a bit.

[douglas9401]

Some people are universally challenged. :-)

[brainiac]

I like the speeded up delivery - both teams scored over 200 last night - but he could do with a booster cushion.

[cashier]

He could do with speaking louder when giving the answers, i can barely hear him, and he needs to stop putting his hands in front of his face. He also gives them far too long to answer.

[ouibonjour]

And for heavens sake stop twiddling the pen!

[ladybirder]

Then his legs might not reach the floor brainiac.

[brainiac]

Don't think that would matter, ladybirder - he could be trouserless for all we know :)

[ladybirder]

OMG! Watching him is never going to be the same now you've put that vision in my mind brainiac;-)))

[ClareTG0ld]

// Still pronounces the letter H incorrectly - two haitches last night. //

Both "aitch" and "haitch" are correct -- I admit, I too prefer the former, but "haitch" is not wrong, any more than, say, one of the two different pronunciations of "bath" is wrong.

[brainiac]

It remains to be heard whether he, like Paxman, pronounces 'sixth' as SIKTH

[ClareTG0ld]

Personally I'm still too used to Paxman, but in any case I'm interested in the questions and the performances of the teams. Who hosts it is less relevant and won't affect at all whether I watch it or not.

[ToraToraTora]

when did Bambi leave?

[Floko]

fingers on buzzers.........Bamber left in 1987.
I used to have a quick chat with him on my train into Richmond . He was a true gentleman

[jourdain2]

Some pronunciation issues still, otherwise he's doing fine. He gave the average age of a team as 'twenny-two' for example. No matter what Clare says, 'haitch' is incorrect - it may be widely used, but it's wrong.
Yes, on the whole I think he'll do when these bits of things are cleared up.

[ClareTG0ld]

// No matter what Clare says, 'haitch' is incorrect - it may be widely used, but it's wrong. //

It's better, I think, to say that "aitch" is *standard*, rather than *correct*. The former is merely an acknowledgement of what's normally used, or normally indicated in dictionaries, but the latter implies a judgement that really amounts to a question of what "wrong" even means in languages.

(a) Presumably you'd intend to point to a dictionary, but this is problematic: which one? Both dictionaries I have in my house only give "aitch", and don't even acknowledge "haitch" as existing, let alone wrong, but it can be found in a couple of more obscure and all-encompassing resources. (Note that my Collins only gives "barth" for "bath", and not the Northern pronunciation of "baff", again showing that just because it's not in a dictionary doesn't mean it's wrong).

(b) even still, dictionaries are generally not seen as prescriptive, whether the authors intend it to be or not, and besides it's usual that they only record the received pronunciation rather than any/all dialects.

(c) As debated in, for example, https://www.independent.co.uk/news/long_reads/haitch-or-aitch-pronunciation-letter-h-old-english-a8393766.html , "haitch" is arguably the more historical pronunciation. In itself, that doesn't entirely matter (just because one was "correct" centuries ago doesn't mean it's "correct" today), but does serve to show yet again that language is constantly changing both over time and across social classes and regions (or even religions).

"Haitch" is seen as standard in, among others, Australian English, Hiberno-English.

(d) As for the continued evolution, it seems that "haitch" is increasingly popular, and it may well be only a couple more generations before "aitch" is regarded as a mere historical relic.

[jourdain2]

And I continue to use the unaspirated 'h' for History etc., Clare. Language does evolve but Australian English etc. is not relevant here.
Mr. Raj needs to use accepted norms. :)

[Zacs-Master]

Accepted for which generation?
Being precious about language and pronunciation is like trying to keep a river the same shape. Futile.

[ClareTG0ld]

The fact then that about a quarter of all English speakers (born after 1982, at least, according to a survey I saw) use "haitch", though, *is* relevant. It's also probably not irrelevant that Rajan wasn't born in the UK.

He pronounces H differently, in a non-standard way. It's not wrong. It's different.

[Lie-in King]

I like AR & think he's doing a perfectly good job & although "haitch" has always made my brain itch, it's infrequent, so meh.

[jourdain2]

Thank you for B.A., Paul22118.