H. L. Mencken

“ He favored the pronunciation of either and neither as ee-ther and nee-ther, and so did most of the English authorities of his time. The original pronunciation of the first syllable, in England, probably made it rhyme with bay, but the ee-sound was firmly established by the end of the eighteenth century. Toward the middle of the following century, however, there arose a fashion of an ai-sound, and this affectation was borrowed by certain Americans. Gould, in the 50’s, put the question, “Why do you say i-ther and ni-ther?” to various Americans. ”

“ At the present time, says Grandgent, “the broad a of New Englanders, Italiante though it be, is not so broad as that of Old England. Our grass really lies between the grahs of a British lawn and the grass of the boundless prairies.” In the cities, he adds, it has been “shaken by contact with the Irish,” and is now restricted to “a few specific classes of words—especially those in which an a (sometimes an au) is followed by a final r, by an r that precedes another consonant, by an m written lm, or by the sound of f, s, or th: as far, hard, balm, laugh, pass, rather, path. ”

“ There is apparently an impression on the part of some that such a pronunciation establishes on a firm foundation an otherwise doubtful social standing.” [3] But the overwhelming majority of Americans continue to say ee-ther and not eye-ther. White and Vizetelly, like Lounsbury, argue that they are quite correct in so doing. The use of eye-ther, says White, is no more than “a copy of a second-rate British affectation.” ”