Err

But no doubt Cilla Black would call it 'Furs'! LaGrande, do you have the voiceless velar fricative /x/ (like the 'ch' in 'Bach') in your speech?

Cilla would definitely say 'Furs'. I don't think posh people can catch voiceless velar fricatives, but I'll ask my doctor.

Enlightened countries such as my own first unionized then extended the vote to those voiceless fricatives decades ago.

un-ionized them? With unionization spray?

Reminds me of a restaurant in London called 'Burger Union' - I always think it's a typo for 'Burger Onion'. No doubt the (near) pun was intended.

un-ionize them? That's a rather radical idea, isn't it, Shilgia?

I would call the 'wh' a voiceless W rather than an aspirated W...?
I never knew it could be pronounced until I started to work as a translator.
I assumed it was an American thing only, didn't know about Scotland / Ireland.

Isn't the H in human (for those who pronounce it) a velar fricative /x/ ?

Un-ionizing velar fricatives? Would that get you a precipitate of "J"s in Spain, shilgia? LOL

another aussie - another 'err' rhyming with 'fur'.

as for the 'wh' sound, it's not something you really ever hear here. via the media rather than any personal relationships, i associate it with old, 'respectable', american men (like the sergeant or whoever he was on M.A.S.H. you know, the sort of jowly one with biggish ears).

oh, and 'they're, their and there' are all the same for me, as are 'wear, we're and where'.