Enunciation Do you 'ate haitches?

A Polish student asked with puzzlement what the English word ‘chisma’ meant. Eventually established it was the remark given when he held the door open for another student. Get it?

Cheers mate!

Tony Blair was the master of the glottal stop

The glo’al stop? Let’s ba’er that one to death now then? Maybe be’er not, though!

The Glottal Stop?

Thanks for that Jalima! Just Googled it; watched a U-Tube video (Rachel's English) and now I'm tongue-tied, almost speechless and don't know how I'm going to eat my dinner without choking to death! And I'm steering clear of haricot beans on toast!
With your knowledge of "English" you could do a lecture tour down here: help to pay your fare!

The Glottal Stop?

ps then 'what sound does it make? 'Hhhhh

Nothing, by the sound of it! That's the problem!
And next, can we explore the problems with the lack of the letter t , or do I recall that being given a going-over recently?

ps then 'what sound does it make? 'Hhhhh'

Like Greyduster - aitches are lacking in Yorks.
I worked as a remedial reading teacher in Hull ('ell 'ull and 'alifax)) for a few years. Gave up the struggle with that letter in the end.
If I asked them how to say 'h' they said 'haitch'.

I've never been to Melbourne - it sounds very civilised!
I'll send DH down to join you, it sounds like his cup of !

We don’t have aitches in Yorkshire. They are only an ‘a’ removed from witches and, like them, have been hunted down and exterminated! ‘Owever, , I have maintained a secret enclave for them here, where those of a like mind keep the faith! My husband is Welsh; he never drops his aitches.

Must remember to tell that one to my Aussie relatives (who may look bemused as some won't see anything wrong with it!!) grin
You're wicked! But you said recently that you'll be doing your regular pilgrimage to OZ soon. I can give you my phone No. in case you have to flee to Melb. My mates at the "Over 80s Club" will protect you. They're very adept at jousting with their walking sticks. Take great care!

I'm not bothered, but then I come from an area renowned for what has been called 'lazy speech'.
As long as people can communicate with one another, I don't understand why it should bother anybody else.

Coincidentally, I ‘ve just had a phone call from British Gas from someone who couldn’t speak clearly. I had to ask him three times what he’d said. He said it was a bad line, but it was actually just his bad speech.

It’s not a regional thing, Luckygirl. It happens everywhere, but unfortunately makes the speaker sound ignorant.

I do think children ought to be taught how to speak. There are some people round here (near Liverpool) who are incomprehensible. In many other places, too. It puts them at a huge disadvantage, but many don’t realise that. It became fashionable in the sixties to pretend it didn’t matter, but it does. Not as much as it did, but good clear, correct speech will help in life.

I have a friend who taught music in a small private school. The teachers were not allowed to ‘correct’ the children’s speech, but she made the point that in a choir everyone has to pronounce the words exactly the same or the sound is very messy. Standard RP is normally used by choirs. The head conceded she was right, but she still wasn’t allowed to correct their speech except when they were singing. Why not?

Nandalot . Much like Parker in Thunderbirds?

A lot of people in the midlands use haitch when naming the letter H. It is just a regional thing and causes me no distress whatsoever!

My wonderful, late MIL,brought up in the East End,used to drop aitches but would find them elsewhere!

"Emma Chizzit, "he was embarrassed to learn that this was not what the customer was called but a question about the price."

Oh, thank you for that Rufus, I am laughing until I'm crying!!
Must remember to tell that one to my Aussie relatives (who may look bemused as some won't see anything wrong with it!!)

Apparently DH's grandfather, whom he never knew, used to drop his aitches as a form of affectation.

"Hear them down in Soho Square
Dropping "h's" everywhere"

"Why can't the English teach their Children how to Speak?"

And why are children not corrected when learning the alphabet. A, bee, cee, dee, ee, eff, gee, aitch etc, not HAitch!! I corrected my children, and they are as annoyed as me at the added h.
I remember the pull down alphabet that we learned from at school.

I have never understood why people with a good standard of education add in the letter R to random words such as drawing, coming out with the non word drawRing, or baRth instead of bath. Even the BBC seems to let these aberrations through these days.

I was sent to elocution lessons as well luckygirl it was a bid to stop me developing a west Yorkshire accent. It worked in the main but I still say bath & path not barth & parth.
I do pronounce my aitches though.

- I like that!

I was brought up in an area where Hs were routinely dropped, and my mother insisted I had elocution lessons - so now I sound like the blessed queen mother!

Her low point was when there were some children playing marbles in the street in front of our house and one iof them said with glee " 'I' 'i' 'i' !!" - translation : It hit it!!!

Unfortunately my name begins with an H !!