Return of the minimal pairs

[Sam Martin]

On Larry's inquiry about American speakers and their vehicular
(vee-HICK-y at -l@r) haitchiness:

I have always pronounced "vehicle" as VEE-hick- at l.
The first eighteen years of my life were spent in Kansas.
Since then many words have changed pronunciation in my speech as I
moved around the US, but "vehicle" remains untouched. I have become
familiar with the h-less version; it strikes my ear as remarkably
close to collapsing into VICK- at l.