Sir, – I hate to correct Frank McNally because I greatly admire his encyclopaedic range and immense energy, but where does he get his English dictionaries from: Timbuktu? There is no such word as Haitch (An Irishman’s Diary, April 26th). I have five dictionaries – two Oxford, a Collins, a Cassells and a Chambers – and it does not appear in any of them.
My mother, a Dubliner through and through, always said that haitch was “low Dublin; it has now apparently become high RTÉ. There are still three RTÉ luminaries who say “Aitch” correctly for the letter H, but I shall not name them for fear of jeopardising their careers.
Where are all our elocution teachers? They should be having a field day. – Yours, etc,
EDWARD THORNLEY,
Strand Road,
Sandymount,
Dublin 4.