Apparently, pronouncing "H-E-B" isn't as easy as it seems. Some people think it is "the HEB" -- as in prefacing the word "ebb" with an h sound. Weird.
Proper H-E-B pronunciation tripped NBC reporter Morgan Radford up when she was recently in McAllen, Texas to cover the March 1, 2022 primary elections in the Lone Star State (hat tip: MySA). Fortunately, her Texan field producer Aaron Franco was able to quickly correct her. Understandably, Franco reported via Instagram: "Morgan said she has never heard me speak more passionately about anything than I did about H-E-B yesterday."
Aaron, we feel ya, buddy! Texas is one of the most important things to defend. Folks, it's because we Texans are so excited about our home state. We just get so excited; we don't mean to be overbearing. Honest.
Here's the thing. Radford's goof up isn't the first time we've witnessed this. For instance, when we wrote about British youtubers Joel and Lia's H-E-B visit, they also made the same mistake. LOL! What's so hard about a three letter name that's hyphenated?
Ok. Now that we've cleared up the pronunciation, it seems fitting to make sure everyone knows what H-E-B stands for. It stands for Howard Edward Butt. His mother, Florence, started the company back in 1905 when she opened the C.C. Butt Grocery Store in Kerrville, TX. After his World War I service, he took the company over in 1919 and started its expansion. In fact, Howard's son, Charles, is H-E-B's current CEO, who is clearly making his grandmother and father proud.
We here at Texas Snax are trying our darndest to spread the joy of H-E-B and Texas in general. In addition to doing our part in teaching proper pronunciation, we're also here for y'all by shipping H-E-B favorites to your doorstep.