How do you pronounce 'height'?
 

This might sound like a daft question, but it is something that I have noticed since moving to Georgia. The funny thing is, I notice it among folk from out of the area, so it isn't a local phenomena. I lived in California for five years before moving here, and I don't remember hearing it there, but that isn't to say it didn't happen.

The issue is with the word HEIGHT.

I have always pronounced this with the phonetic spelling 'hahyt', like the ending of the word Fahrenheit, and rhyming with fight, might, light, tight, etc.

However, a majority of the people I work with here pronounce the same word with the phonetic spelling 'hahytth' with a -th, like the ending of the word with, or smith.

Why?

HEIGHT doesn't end in -th, so why is it pronounced like it does? Why not just spell it 'heigth'?

The only explanation I can think of is that it fits in with length, width, breath, depth - but then they don't pronounce weight with a -th.

Nobody I ask seems to know why they say it, so can anyone here enlighten me?

Is this how it is taught in school here or is there another explanation?

Thanks.

Re: How do you pronounce 'height'?
 

That's my guess as well. I pronounce it "hight". But what do I know? English is my second language.

As far as I know, height is correct. There is no -th sound on the end. Just MHO.

I say high with a t at the end.

Re: How do you pronounce 'height'?
 

There's yer problem, mister. You're not crazy, you just live amongst people who don't speak English. Just the other day, I was talking with 3 other people, none of whom spoke English, and I had this surreal experience: for just a moment, I believed that all my life I had been mispronouncing "understand," and that I should have been saying "unnastan." I'll use it in a sentence: "Ya'll unnastan what ah sayin'?"

Being from the south myself (Alabama) this is one of those things I never even thought about. After reading your question, I too realized that we, at least most of the local 'natives', pronounce it with the 'th' sound. I also found almost a different dialect within Alabama from the northern part (where I grew up) to the more southern areas. We may not speak phonically / grammatically correct but we do the best that we can!

Nothing like listening to a cultured Southern woman talk. I sit near one at my usual breakfast restaurant.
Jim

Never thought about it before, but I guess I use both depending on what I am talking about.

eg: My daughter is afraid of "hites".
What is the "hite-th of that overpass?

You aren't the first person to ask. Check this out

http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-hei1.htm

Have heard it many times too.....
 

I think it is just incorrect.

Also, my personal favourite, especially coming from the guy with the most weapons...... NUKE-YA-LER. If you own them, you should be able to pronounce the word.....Note that every single character in the Simpsons says nuke-ya-ler, EXCEPT Homer...lol.

The southern way is just as correct as the pronounciation that rhymns with "kite" with a "T" on the end.

English as changed much over the centuries. Many of the peoples of the south came from places in the British Isles where certain archaic forms were still spoken when they came over to America.

In Tejas its is pronounced "bout-dis-ay"

'Tis so, Albion's Seed: Four British Folkways in America explains.

I'm an old fart and just realized I use both pronunciations. I agree with -th words that describe shape. So I've used both height and highth on occasion without realizing it.

I've only lived in Minnesota and California, so the southern take does not apply.

Re: Have heard it many times too.....
 

Except for that episode where Lisa says NEW-CLEE-AR and Homer patiently corrects her, "Nu-cu-lar, honey, it's pronounced nu-cu-lar." :)

I'm going to start pronouncing the word, "unclear" as un-cu-lar and see who notices.

Just read that article. I should have been a linguist, my guess was pretty close.

I, like the person who posed the question in the article, grew up in England and I had never heard it pronounced with a -th.
The problem is that now I've noticed it I find it REALLY annoying!

Just another irrational irk, I'm sure I'll get over it.

Pronunciation: 'hIt, ÷'hItth

both ways, and I often spell it with a th on the end.

Just the way it's speeeled ;)

Until the end of the seventeenth century, highth or heighth were its standard spellings. They are now secondary spellings.

Re: Re: How do you pronounce 'height'?
 

Er, what language were you speaking when you spoke with three people who didn't speak English?

Highth was once in standard usage.
http://dict.die.net/highth/

Now, it is probably considered an idiom.

makin it ez fur yall.

who you callin' an idiom?

why I outta....

Ask a southern guy to say "ice"...you'll laugh your ass off...(edit) Thanks to the wonderful world of TV, we are losing our regional accents. I consider that a loss.

More bashing of Southerners? It's okay, we make fun of you guys and all your weirdness also.. I can usually ID one of them before even hearing them speak. Rudeness and arrogance are the first clues.

I actually enjoy hearing different accents.
A funny thing, my eldest boy who's now 12, was born in England, lived there until he was 5, moved to California for 5 years, and now lives in Georgia. But what's funny is that he does have a general kind of American accent but only when he's talking to his peer group. When he talks to me he's back to an English accent. Now he doesn't know he's doing it, so he isn't putting it on, it just happens. No hint of southern yet.

My youngest, who's 6, can imitate a terrific Southern accent, but he speaks with an English accent despite being born in California.