There’s a pronunciation that lives in Black church culture where the word humble loses its opening sound. The H goes silent. Just ‘umble. If you grew up in the tradition, you know exactly the voice. The super deep mother of the church. The preacher trying to sound a notch more profound and weighty. Drop the H and somehow the word feels more sanctified. More significant. More holy. (Doesn’t work as well on “holy”.)
Apparently, the h-less pronunciation originally came with a drawl in certain dialects in the South. But somewhere along the way, along with tacking on “ON” to every adverb of time (e.g. “We are gathered here ON tonight to worship the Lord!”) or a weird “d” added to “Man’d of God”, it stuck as another way for the church folk to perform depth, distinction and weight.
But what I found instead was a metaphor I can’t put down. As I look back over my life and think things over (another churchism for those who are paying attention), I realize I haven’t just felt asked by my community to be humble. I’ve been asked to go even further and silence the H.
