6th, Sixth, S-I-X-T-H: England, ARE YOU LISTENING?

Warning:  What I say, I say in love and jest.  Get bent if you don't like it.
So, I promised in this edition of listen-to-an-American-bitch my blog that I'd tackle that thorny issue . . . correct the English when they can't properly speak their own language.  That's hella awkward, so let's get right to it.  

I first noticed this a while back when I was watching a BBC series on the history of British kings.  The presenter of the programme continuously referred to Henry VI (Henry the Sixth) as Henry the Sixh.  That's not a typo.  SIXH.  I thought, maybe this woman has a speech impediment.  She kept saying sixh.  Like, the -th sound is gone and there's just a bit of an aspirated H at the end of six.  Sixh.  What is that?

But lo, there was the presenter, interviewing someone who ALSO says SIXH.  They're not related; they're not from the same place; there's no reason they should both have the speech impediment.  

The Dr Janina Ramirez goes 'SIXH'; so does her friend

So, that was that and I forgot about it quickly enough.  Some months later, I overheard someone in a shop, from yet another part of England, using the adjective 'sixh'.  Except . . . she meant 'sixth'.  WHY, ENGLAND, WHYYYY?!

The more and more I paid attention to the way people talked, the more I realised everyone here says 'sixh' instead of 'sixth'.  Well, that's not strictly true.  I have heard a few interesting accidents that render it something more like 'sith' rather than 'sixh' or the actual word 'sixth'.

Now, let me point to that most English of English institutions:  the Oxford English Dictionary.  Here is what they say about this ordinal:  

s - i - x - th

IPA	Sounds like
s	s	as in see
ɪ	i	as in pit, hill
ks	x	as in oxen
θ	th	as in thin, bath

Okay, English-friends.  Take a moment to soak that in.  Take another moment to say 'sixth' out loud.  What have you said?  If you've not said as the bloody OED has said it . . . I got news for you.  YOU'RE SAYING IT WRONG. 

And if you think that's too formal of a parameter to be followed in casual conversation, look what the BBC says:  it's INCORRECT.  (To be fair, they render it as 'sikth', which is basically the same as what I'm arguing.)

Now, if someone wants to get fussy and tell me I'm too prescriptivist and that English is a language that's meant to be experimented with, etc etc, then you can fuck the fuck off as far as I'm concerned.  'Cause, if you've actually paid attention to the way I write you'd know I pay very little heed to the supposed rules of proper English.  BUT THERE IS NOT A QUESTION WHEN IT COMES TO HOW TO SAY 'SIXTH'.  Okay?  It's pretty straightforward.  Get on it, England, AND SORT THIS OUT.

Yeah?  

Yeah.

So, next time, I'll lament the pitiful state of British bathrooms.  Seriously, why do they suck so bad?  You people ran an empire but you can't make a bathroom worth a shit.  (SWIDT?)Warning:  What I say, I say in love and jest.  Get bent if you don't like it.