Do YOU say your H'S??

[DawnCt1]

There are some people who do NOT say their H's. In our area, Bob's Discount Furniture talks about 'UGE' sales, not huge sales. I here 'Uman' instead of Human. I had a friend who never said her H's. I don't get it. It is there for a reason. Note, these are "English as a second language" issues either.

 

[Hedy]

I think the the dropping of H's in hu words is a northeast thing, but I don't, and it drives me nuts when people do.

 

[plgrn]

here in alabama we say our h's. we say them really long and slow too! guess that makes up for those who don't say them at all.

 

[sweet angel]

Unless it's "herb", I pronounce my H's. I can't stand when people say "uge" or "uman".

 

[DawnCt1]

Unless it's "herb", I pronounce my H's. I can't stand when people say "uge" or "uman".

Same here. I don't see how anyone can ignore a whole first letter.

 

[sweet angel]

I know of a band called "Yuj" -- their website says "pronounced HUGE". I'm guessing they're leaving off the H.

 

[LindsayDunn228]

Unless it's "herb", I pronounce my H's. I can't stand when people say "uge" or "uman".

Same here. I have never gotten that. It makes people sound a little ignorant.

 

[Evil Princess]

I think it might be a NY metro area thing. I never realized that I did it, until my boyfriend during my CP, who was from Staten Island, excitedly remarked, "You say huge like I do!"

I had never been called out on it before, it's weird, I feel like I only make the half sound of the h, if that makes sense. It's not a straight up UGE, but it's not a distrinct HU-GE either.

My accent is admittedly, kind of atrocious, but I'm told it's not as bad as most people from Long Island. Living in Boston and having friends from all over the country down in Florida has kind of smoothed it out a bit. It's a hybrid accent now, lol.

 

[Maleficent13]

I have never heard anyone drop an H in my life. Must be a regional thing.

 

[Luv'sTink]

I have never heard anyone drop an H in my life. Must be a regional thing.

Me either

 

[Disney Ella]

One of the announcers on the news radio station here drops the Hs from some words - human, huge, Houston. So why not drop the H from Harry or hip? What is the rule governing when you drop the H? And why do it with H and not L or S?

 

[oxfordcircus]

OT: I know it's not quite the same thing, I think it's funny to hear NPR's readers say UUUUUUgo Chavez. It reminds me of the SNL skit where all the news readers exaggerated their Spanish pronunciations.

Carry on.

 

[oxfordcircus]

One of the announcers on the news radio station here drops the Hs from some words - human, huge, Houston. So why not drop the H from Harry or hip? What is the rule governing when you drop the H? And why do it with H and not L or S?

related question: I learned that the article to precede a word beginning with a consonant is "a". "An" precedes words beginning with vowels. So why is it "an historic occasion"? This thread is making me lose respect for the letter H.

 

[phamton]

Actually, the adding of the "H" sound is rather recent. The "h" sound was mostly silent for centuries (this link also explains the "an" rather than "a") :
http://www.askoxford.com/worldofwords/wordfrom/aitches/?view=uk

On a related subject: Why do we Americans remove the H when pronouncing school and schedule. We say "skool" and "skedule" while Brits pronounce it with "sch". I can't even make the "sch" sound.

 

[pennst8r]

Don't hate me because I don't say my H's!!

I'm one of the ignorant DISers.

It is definitely a regional thing--I grew up near Pgh. I don't do it so much now that we've moved, but yes, 'uge does still slip out now and again.

 

[JuliaEeyore]

There are some people who do NOT say their H's. In our area, Bob's Discount Furniture talks about 'UGE' sales, not huge sales. I here 'Uman' instead of Human. I had a friend who never said her H's. I don't get it. It is there for a reason. Note, these are "English as a second language" issues either.

Do you get the Barbarino commercials where you are? The big guy who says "We use 'umor to sell our cars..." (or whatever it is he says I always get hung up on his 'umor line... cracks me up every time.) Definitely must be regional. I do, however, say all my Hs.

 

[Kimberly]

Never heard of it before, and I live in a state where people can have some pretty notorious accents. Thankfully I never got one though!

 

[Narnian_Princess]

I say my H's, and it does drive me up the wall to hear people leaving them off. I don't think it reflects on anyone's intelligence, though.

 

[snowman]

I don't drop the H at the beginning of words....however, I'm from Maine and used to be very guilty of clipping the "hard" letters off the ends of words. For example the T at the end of Don't gets clipped off so that its mostly Dohn with very little of the T sound. Its hard to explain unless you can hear it.

Nowadays I don't admit to having a Maine accent unless I'm weary...or drunk (or Drun', no K). I worked for a long time to smooth my accent out, but little pieces pop up now and again.

 

[arielsleepingbeauty]

I can sympathize with those that don't pronoune their H's. I am from MA and some of us don't pronounce our r's. When i went to college I tried really hard to change the way I spoke.

Anyone else come from somewhere that they don't pronounce a letter?