Amol Rajan pledges to drop his ‘haitches’ in favour of ‘aitch’ in pronunciation row

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Amol Rajan has pledged to change the way in which he pronounces the letter H after complaints he was doing it incorrectly throughout his stint as host of University Challenge.

The broadcaster, and former editor at The Independent, attracted criticism from viewers of the favored quiz present after saying “haitch”, fairly than “aitch.”

In a weblog put up referred to as 7 classes from my first sequence of University Challenge, printed simply earlier than the sequence finale, he wrote: “All my life I’ve pronounced it “haitch”, dimly conscious that I used to be getting it “wrong”. Everyone I grew up with says “haitch”. My mates say “haitch”.

But, expensive reader, I’m right here to let you know: it’s “aitch.” This issues so much to so much of folks, which is truthful sufficient.”

He added that regardless that he’s switching to the popular “aitch”, that “haitch” is listed as a variant in the Oxford English Dictionary.

Mr Rajan, 40, who additionally co-presents Today on Radio 4, didn’t go into additional element about why he had all of a sudden determined to change his pronunciation of the letter.

However he has acquired criticism in newspapers and on-line for saying “haitch” fairly than “aitch.”

Geoff Carr, a Sunday Times reader, wrote into the paper to say: “I agree that the proliferation of ‘haitches’ is truly awful. Amol Rajan on University Challenge (BBC2) sounds like a small child. Where has this come from? ‘Aitch’ is far easier to say and ­kinder on the ear.”

One person on X, previously Twitter, mentioned: “Amol Rajan doing a great job on #UniversityChallenge, but he’s described the 8th letter of the alphabet as “haitch” 2 weeks working now. This kind of factor have to be nipped in the bud…”

Another mentioned: “Why do so many people now pronounce the letter ‘H’ as ‘haitch’, including Amol Rajan on #r4today? It’s Horrible with a capital aitch.”

A quantity of common contributors to the BBC use “haitch”, together with tv host Graham Norton and radio presenter Nick Grimshaw.

Mr Rajan changed long-time host Jeremy Paxman as host of University Challenge in July final yr.

Kate Burridge is a senior fellow on the Freiburg Institute for Advanced Studies and professor of linguistics at Monash University, previously wrote for The Independent that “haitch” might be a helpful pronunciation for folks studying English.

She wrote: “Whatever your visceral reaction to pronouncing H one way or the other, haitch has definite benefits for letter sound learning.

“So it’s not surprising it’s taking off in some parts of the English-speaking world. When the letter H is pronounced beginning with the letter sound it makes, children have an easier time learning its correspondence as they learn to read.”