"Herb" or "Erb"?

[Deleted]

'Erb is one of the many American-isms, although it'll also be found in foreign countries where folks are taught American English.

I'm sorry but that's just plain wrong in my opinion. I learned my English from american tv shows, and was also taught by the 'the queens English' standard in school. I then later moved to England and have had people poke fun at my 'posh' way of talking because I always pronounce my H's.
Most people in Britain (around my area at least) drop the H in just about any word (herb, hospital, horrible etc.) and seeing it called 'americanism' baffles me. :s

Edit: As someone just said over my shoulder, dropping the H is not americanism, is lazyism.

[Deleted]

I pronounce herd, i dont even think i can say 'erb. lol.
Danish.

[Deleted]

Herb pronounced with the H is a name.

Definitely 'erb.

[Oerba Yun Fang]

For the plant, "Erb" just because that's how they teach it in America. That's how I learned to say it, so that's how I say it.

[Paigeyotto]

I'm American and I was always told it was 'Erb' so that's how I pronounce it. I've never heard it as 'Herb' except for once or twice. My friend always accidentally says 'H'erbalism and I always tease him for it. But yeah, I always thought it was supposed to have the silent H.

[vizzle]

It's a silent h, just like "hour".

[Butler to Baby Sloths]

I'm sorry but that's just plain wrong in my opinion. I learned my English from american tv shows, and was also taught by the 'the queens English' standard in school. I then later moved to England and have had people poke fun at my 'posh' way of talking because I always pronounce my H's.
Most people in Britain (around my area at least) drop the H in just about any word (herb, hospital, horrible etc.) and seeing it called 'americanism' baffles me. :s

Edit: As someone just said over my shoulder, dropping the H is not americanism, is lazyism.

Dropping /h/ as well as sounds like /p/, /b/, /t/ is typical of speakers of Cockney and Estuary English (London/Essex area). Cockney speakers even add /h/ to the beginning of words that don't have one. It is not Standard British English.

[Aqueous]

I'm sorry but that's just plain wrong in my opinion. I learned my English from american tv shows, and was also taught by the 'the queens English' standard in school. I then later moved to England and have had people poke fun at my 'posh' way of talking because I always pronounce my H's.
Most people in Britain (around my area at least) drop the H in just about any word (herb, hospital, horrible etc.) and seeing it called 'americanism' baffles me. :s

Edit: As someone just said over my shoulder, dropping the H is not americanism, is lazyism.

This isn't actually the same thing, hehe.

Americans specifically go out of their way to pronounce the word "erb" even to the extent of writing a sentence like this: "He picked up an herb" - the accent you're talking about dropping H's is like you say just a laziness thing .

Also, people keep commenting on the name "Herb" - I've never heard a single individual outside of America called this *laughs* so again I think that's just one of your localisms.

Hello,

First of all, a modern reader could easily read texts from the 1600s; English had developed far past Old English and Middle English by that point. I get the point though; the language was different.

Secondly, while you keep making the point that dropping the h is an "americanism," the silent h is actually truer to the original etymology (herba in Latin) and, in fact, the original pronunciation. The British *added* the voiced h, rather than the Americans removed it.

I'm not particularly bothered by the way Americans pronounce the word - it's just colloquialism, which is even commonplace within Britain's tiny landmass - but this post rubbed me the wrong way due to its tone: are you speaking Latin or English? The point is that you're speaking a new language made/compiled by the English, not the Romans, which means that if it was pronounced "herb" in the new language then that is the way it is pronounced regardless of how it was pronounced in Latin - the fact the word migrated is irrelevant as it becomes a new beast once part of a new language.

The Americans did indeed remove the "h". This is backed up by the way it interacts with the indefinite article in your dialect ie. "an herb" not "a herb" - the Romans may not have pronounced the "h" in "herba" but they did still acknowledge its existence in the spelling of the word.

[Azutael]

I cant make myself say "erb" just sounds wrong to me, but then again I'm not English. So I say "herb", just like the name.

[Catta]

I say whatever i heard the TV say it last...

I heard Stephen Fry pronounce advertisement in a way ive never heard before and now i also do it...

[Oerba Yun Fang]

I'm American and I was always told it was 'Erb' so that's how I pronounce it. I've never heard it as 'Herb' except for once or twice. My friend always accidentally says 'H'erbalism and I always tease him for it. But yeah, I always thought it was supposed to have the silent H.

"Supposed to" is a bit awkward to use in this situation considering it's different "supposed tos" depending on what region you're in or from. Almost every Brit I've talked to has pronounced it with the H, while almost every American I've talked to pronounces it without.

---------- Post added 2012-03-03 at 01:39 AM ----------

I say whatever i heard the TV say it last...

I heard Stephen Fry pronounce advertisement in a way ive never heard before and now i also do it...

"Ad-vert-is-ment"? :P

[hellosaltygoodness]

erb... i didnt know it was actually common for people in other places to say herb as their correct pronunciation. here somebody calling it a herb makes people chuckle a bit. besides english got it from the french "herbe", so the h should logically not be pronounced.

Also, people keep commenting on the name "Herb" - I've never heard a single individual outside of America called this *laughs* so again I think that's just one of your localisms.

herb is the short form of the name herbert.

[Aqueous]

Yeah, it doesn't really matter - this is just a dialect thing. There's thousands of words people in Newcastle pronounce completely differently than what I do, for example, and we don't have a sprawling ocean between us!

erb... i didnt know it was actually common for people in other places to say herb as their correct pronunctiation. here somebody calling it a herb makes people chuckle a bit. besides english got it from the french "herbe", so the h should logically not be pronounced.

See my post above :P

[hellosaltygoodness]

See my post above :P

your post above seems to imply that if the english pronounce something one way then it must be correct, even if its not correct -_-

in any case here in ontario we have a lot of french heritage, which is probably why we pronounce it closer to the original french than the british do.

[Aqueous]

your post above seems to imply that if the english pronounce something one way then it must be correct, even if its not correct -_-

in any case here in ontario we have a lot of french heritage, which is probably why we pronounce it closer to the original french than the british do.

No, because in my post I specifically say it's just a colloquialism etc. the point is more arguing against people insinuating it should be pronounced one way because the previous incarnation of the word in other languages was pronounced that way. I couldn't care less about different pronunciations of words, in fact I find it refreshing.

There's so many words in English that we all pronounce differently to their original incarnations in other languages, most would be amazed.

[Deleted]

This isn't actually the same thing, hehe.

Americans specifically go out of their way to pronounce the word "erb" even to the extent of writing a sentence like this: "He picked up an herb" - the accent you're talking about dropping H's is like you say just a laziness thing .

-----------

The Americans did indeed remove the "h". This is backed up by the way it interacts with the indefinite article in your dialect ie. "an herb" not "a herb" - the Romans may not have pronounced the "h" in "herba" but they did still acknowledge its existence in the spelling of the word.

Maybe it's because I've only become more aware of pronounciation quirks since moving to England, but I never noticed Americans explicitly dropping the h in 'herb', I suppose I never paid much attention to it.
English is a funny beast though with so many different accents and regional pronounciations, for example it always amuses me whenever I go past a sign announcing you're entering the county of Leicestershire - pronounced 'Lester-shuh'.

[rzy]

While "herb" sounds more natural to me, I think both pronunciations are fine. Also what Fuzzzie said. For example, I pronounce "either" eye-ther instead of ee-ther.

Strange, i pronounce Either differently depending on the context of when and how im saying the word :/

[Dragonwing]

The amount of people saying the pronounced-H type is wrong is absurd. Neither is wrong, they are both regional/dialect based. I have never heard a single Australian, for example, say "erb". In British, the cockney accent tends to be 'erb', while other accents say "herb". Americans tends to be both as well, but predominantly 'erb'.

I wonder if some people here also tell others that they are pronouncing it wrong when they say "Aluminium" rather than "Aluminum".

[Puri]

Secondly, while you keep making the point that dropping the h is an "americanism," the silent h is actually truer to the original etymology (herba in Latin) and, in fact, the original pronunciation. The British *added* the voiced h, rather than the Americans removed it.

How is it closer to to original latin, as the "h" in "herba" is not silent? Actually, they are no silent letters at all in latin.

[Deleted]

Its herb.

"Americans"