Why do British say H wrong?

In Britain, H owes its name to the Normans, who brought their letter “hache” with them in 1066. Hache is the source of our word “hatchet”: probably because a lower-case H looks a lot like an axe.

Why don’t we pronounce the h in hour?

H is silent in many English words, for various reasons. The words hour and honest come from French, and in these cases English took over the French pronunciation as well as the word. Not all such words that have come into English from French still have a silent h, however.

Why do Americans not pronounce the h?

Our American cousins seem sometimes to arbitrarily decide that they shall pronounce a word in the French style even if it has been an English word for nearly a thousand years. Thus they leave the “h” silent in herb, just as the French do. They pronounce the last “t” in trait when other English users often prefer tray.

Why was the city of Simbirsk named Ulyanovsk?

In 1924, the city was renamed Ulyanovsk in honor of Vladimir Ulyanov, better known as Lenin, who was born in Simbirsk in 1870. Two other Russian political leaders, Alexander Kerensky and Alexander Protopopov, were also born in Simbirsk.

Why was Simbirsk important to the Russian Empire?

The fort was meant to protect the eastern frontier of the Russian Empire from the nomadic tribes and to establish a permanent Imperial presence in the area. In 1668, Simbirsk withstood a month-long siege by a 20,000-strong army led by rebel Cossack commander Stenka Razin.

Who was the leader of the Simbirsk rebellion?

In 1668, Simbirsk withstood a month-long siege by a 20,000-strong army led by rebel Cossack commander Stenka Razin. Also in Simbirsk another country rebel, Yemelyan Pugachev, was imprisoned before execution. At the time Simbirsk possessed a wooden kremlin, which was destroyed by a fire during the 18th century.