Do you aspirate the 'h' in 'vehicle'?

I pronounce it as vee-hick-all. It could have something to do with where I grew up. I have a friend who, like me, has lived in North Central Arkansas her whole life and she slurs the first two syllables together so it comes out as something like veeck-al. I sometimes play a game where I try to see if I can make my friends say certain words that I know will get completely botched during their pronunciation. It’s best when it’s a word that new people couldn’t even comprehend without a translator.

I don’t know how to write it out, but ill attempt it anyway. I say vee – ick – ull. It annoys me when someone prounounces the silent “h.”

You should not pronounce the H in “vehicle”. But you should pronounce the H in “herb”.

View-ick-al!

I used to pronounce it ‘vee-hick-al’, with an emphasis on ‘hick’. Due to being teased, I now put the emphasis on ‘vee’. I think it is a colloquialism.

My sister made fun of me yesterday for pronouncing the L in calm.

I say vee-ic-cul.

vee-hickell.

With a very, very slight “h” sound. It took me forever to think about it just now because I’m almost a mash of veeickle and veehickle. The “h” is quite slight, but there.

here is Boston we just say “cahz” (cars) or you might here someone say vee-ah-kull but vee-hick-all sounds weird.

@pete: How else would you pronounce “calm” if not for adding the ‘L”. I don’t get it.

Oh, and it is vee-hick-all for me, as well. I also pronounce the first ‘R’ in February.

Soft h, vee-hick-ul.

I put the stress on the first syllable as well, but the h isn’t soft, as Pup pronounces it.
What I’m curious about is how everyone pronounces often. I’ve always pronounced it without the t, but nowadays I’m finding more and more people (including my wife) pronouncing it with the t. For some reason that bothers me, but not as much as when people drop the g when pronouncing strength & length.

@Astro: I say often without the ‘t’. Hearing that ‘t’ is like nails on a chalkboard. As for strength and length, I hear what you’re saying. What I hate is when people pronounce ‘height’ as if it were spelled ‘heighth’. Ugh. So not right.

no h for me! lol…i say “via-cle”

Whoa. I found an awesome site: http://www.yourdictionary.com/library/mispron.html
Holy moley, there are some funny ones. Including ‘often’.

You know, for years and years and years I thought there were two words: epi-tomb and ep-it-uh-me.

In 6th grade I had to give an oral civics report and said the event occured was from in Tuxon, AZ.

The only people who use “vehicle” are those who speak law-enforcementease. Just say car, truck, semi, bicycle, scooter, etc.

(The last “s” is pronounced in “Vichysoisse, BTW…vichy..swazz.)

Gail- Postal employees are among those who say vehicle instead of car, truck, etc.

I say it both ways, depending on how I feel. :)

@Gail- I never knew that. I always thought it was pronounced vish-e-swah.

No ‘h’ for me, but around here a lot of people say vee-HICK-ul.

Vichyssoise, no idea what it is, but it sounds French. The general rule with French is that you pronounce the letter before the ‘e’. But if it’s spelt vichyssois (for example) then the ‘s’ wouldn’t be pronounced.

Germans are so straightforward, as usual, just pronounce ever single letter.

Und you vill kapotalize das nouns!

Sie sind ein Esel

Ya

No ‘h’ for me, either. And how can you not pronounce the ‘t’ in ‘often’? So it would come out as ‘offen’? No, no, and no… :P

The h is very slight—if there at all—for me.

I used to tease a friend of mine for the way they pronounced Christmas.
They pronounced the t and the mas as mas and not mus.
It was very cute/endearing.

I am guilty of saying the ‘t’ in often…but according to the link that Les posted above, you’re not supposed to.

Huh? So… You’re actually supposed to pronounce ‘often’ as ‘offen’? Seriously?!

Seems so. Check out his link.

Wow… I am at a loss. I don’t know if I’ll be able to stop saying the ‘t’ sound.

Me neither. It may be too late for us.

I’m been guilty of:
– chomp at the bit (should be champ at the bit)
– flounder (should be founder)
– herb (supposed to pronounce the h)
– often (not supposed to pronounce the t)
– pre emptory (supposed to be peremptory)
– snuck (should be sneaked)
– spittin’ image (should be spit and image…which makes a lot more sense)
– stomp (should be stamped)

Doh!

Les is a she, no?

Nimis: yes she is

Oops…sorry!

@Nimis-
That’s B.S. You are not supposed to pronounce the h in herb or herbivore. It should be silent.

@AC: I’ve heard the Brits say the h in herb.

Yes it is Herb. Only in America do people say it (cough) wrong.

Also, this is from the link provided by Les -

“Does, ’‘My friend Herb grows ‘erbs,’’ sound right to you? This is a US oddity generated by the melting pot (mixed dialects). Initial [h] is always pronounced outside America and should be in all dialects of English.”

I’m more boggled by ofen.

Sorry. In American English the h is silent.

Sorry. In English the h is pronounced :P