I found my mind wandering the other night while I was watching television. Just as I was getting to the good part where the creatures in my imagination where about to grow wings to fly away, I was yanked back to reality by a British accent and a strangely uttered word.
Herbs.
I’ve used the word herb quite often in my life and I’ve never once pronounced the H at the beginning of it. Just to be sure, I immediately said the word a few times aloud… which led to confusion. I pronounced the H once, though not the other two times. I decided to apply a bit of science to my musings and test the word in several different sentences. Just as I was confident in my ability to pronounce the word properly, the blasted H snuck into one of the sentences.
This letter will haunt my dreams, turning them into nightmares filled with a giant dancing H that mocks me.
So that’s how I lost an hour of my life tonight. A simple word that I’ve never thought twice about saying, somehow morphed into a ninja and made me question how I say all the H words in the English language. I had to break out a dictionary just to check if there were any other problems that could creep into my future nightmares. I found several, though one of them struck fear deep into the core of my soul.
Maybe my name isn’t really Heather.
What if my name is actually h eather and I’ve been saying it wrong the entire time. My whole life could be a lie! I bet h eather is a millionaire who owns six private islands in the caribbean. h eather is also scared of sharks and won’t step foot in the ocean, but the islands are used to house her personal supply of cheese – just in case there’s a shortage in the world.
It sounds like h eather might be living a better life than I do!
I’m going to console myself by squishing Lola, who is fortunate enough not to have an H at the beginning of her name. She’ll never have to question her life and everything in it. Lola can continue to happily chew her toys, beg for food, and guilt me into giving her belly rubs for hours each day. h eather can keep her private islands filled with cheese, I’ve got a brindle bulldog who makes life worth living.
Though it would be lovely if h eather shared that cheese after destroying my life…
Check out my Facebook page @ShankYouHeather and @ShankYouDesigns
I also tweet like a bird on Twitter @HeatherKeet
You can also find me on Instagram @ShankYouHeather and @ShankYouDesigns
Lola and I opened a store so we can sell our funniest blog sayings on cool stuff. Check it out at Shank You Very Much
Dear (h)eather,
Ow arrowing and orrible!! I guess my name could be Marta…
Love all y’all!
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That sneaky H!
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Lol! It is most definitely ‘H’erbs! We were very careful when picking our kids names that there was no ‘r’ sound in them. Here in Israel, the ‘r’ is rolled and us Anglos cannot say is properly! #globalblogging
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I cannot roll an R to save my life!
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Oh, ‘eavens, there’s nothing like saying a word more than once or over-thinking its spelling to make it seem like a foreign language.
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Yes! Then you have to check the internet to confirm you aren’t wrong.
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I think I usually say the h. But now you’ve got me wondering! 🙂 I’ve wondered why the first h is said in some words but not others. When I lived in Houston, TX, one girl pronounced it Ouston (like yoo-stun). But she’s the only one I ever heard say it like that. Thankfully!
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That silent h is a menace to our sanity 😆
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Mhm, surely there is more to identity than letters 😉 #globalblogging
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I certainly hope so, for my sake!
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Wow! What a thing to be keeping you awake at night. H is such a tricky letter. My name is Sophie and loads of people spell it Sofie because they don’t get the ‘ph’. So, even when H isn’t at the beginning of a word it still causes problems. #Globalblogging
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H is a menace to society. Like the c that sounds like s.
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It is odd how different American and English English is…and let’s not even start on the Australian English! #Globalblogging
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Australian English is such a wild ride! I have to look up words often when my friends say things on twitter.
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And our broad A’s make us impossible to understand. A few dropped H’s are nothing! 😉 #Dreamteam
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I’ve always wondered why Americans say erbs rather than herbs. In Spain Hola is said ola but they drop lots of Hs in their pronunciation. What did poor herbs do to lose their H? #GlobalBlogging
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They dried out 🤣
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Hehehe that’s definitely the answer! #DreamTeam
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O wow! What did erbs do? Why where they told to “get the H out of there”?
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Probably because they got too big for their H once people discovered how good they make good taste.
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Language is a funny old thing isn’t it X #dreamteam
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There’s so many weird letters in the alphabet that cause no end of problems. #DreamTeam
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I know a guy named Herb and I never pronounce the H. I think it aggravates the crap out of him to be honest #dreamtream
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That sounds like a hard name to be saddled with as a child!
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I hope you enjoy your retirement from the dream team in the carribean! #dreamteam
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No sunshine for me, I swear I’m part vampire! I’ll stay in my grey and rainy WA state.
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I definitely pronounce the ‘h’ – but know lots who don’t! #DreamTeam
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It sounds so different when you take off the ‘H’ with a British accent hehe! Errrbs. We keep the ‘H’ but I’ve heard lots of people saying ‘erbs in general 🙂 #DreamTeam
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That H feels like a super ninja!
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