The Disappearing Act of the Letter 'H'

966. We explore the rise and fall of the letter H: Debates over its name ("haitch" or "aitch"?) and why a once-prestigious pronunciation like "hwhat" now seems old-fashioned. 

The "haitch" segment was written by Kate Burridge, a professor of linguistics at Monash University, and Catherine McBride, a professor of psychology at Chinese University of Hong Kong. It originally appeared on "The Conversation" and appears here through a Creative Commons license.

| Transcript: https://grammar-girl.simplecast.com/episodes/letter-h/transcript

| Share a recording of your familect story with me on Threads, Instagram, or  Mastodon.

| Grammarpalooza (Get texts from Mignon!): https://joinsubtext.com/grammar or text "hello" to (917) 540-0876.

| Subscribe to the newsletter for regular updates.

| Watch my LinkedIn Learning writing courses.

| Peeve Wars card game. 

| Grammar Girl books. 

| Please take our advertising survey. It helps! https://podsurvey.com/GRAMMAR

| HOST: Mignon Fogarty

| VOICEMAIL: 833-214-GIRL (833-214-4475).

| Grammar Girl is part of the Quick and Dirty Tips podcast network.

• Audio Engineer: Nathan Semes
• Director of Podcast: Brannan Goetschius
• Advertising Operations Specialist: Morgan Christianson
• Marketing and Publicity Assistant: Davina Tomlin
• Digital Operations Specialist: Holly Hutchings

| Theme music by Catherine Rannus.

| Grammar Girl Social Media Links: YouTube. TikTok. Facebook.Threads. Instagram. LinkedIn. Mastodon.