The Questions not worth their own thread thread VII

[Ulyaoth]

an hour.

 

[snakeseare]

Looks like we have birthdays on the same day.

Kewl. Happy belated birthday!

And of course "an hour" is correct. What sort of yokel are you dealing with? Does he live in east Tennessee by chance? (The accent here is simply horrific, not to mention the local colloquialisms.)

 

[Atlas14]

People who say stuff like "an history of Alexander the Great" should be shot. Though I agree with the usage of "an hour".

 

[Lord Baal]

An is correct. Something about a soft 'h' versus a hard 'h' (I'm no linguist, I don't know the terms). Like 'an historian' being correct, but it's 'a history.'

 

[Dachs]

An is correct. Something about a soft 'h' versus a hard 'h' (I'm no linguist, I don't know the terms). Like 'an historian' being correct, but it's 'a history.'

"An historian"? Do you have any idea how weird that sounds? No friggin' way.

 

[Lord Baal]

People who say stuff like "an history of Alexander the Great" should be shot. Though I agree with the usage of "an hour".

Oh god, people like that deserve far more than to be shot. I vote they be beheaded, crucified, and put on public display.

 

[Lord Baal]

"An historian"? Do you have any idea how weird that sounds? No friggin' way.

It's the correct terminology, so far as I know (every English teacher I had in school talking here, I asked this question every year). Just because you think it sounds weird, doesn't mean it's wrong.

 

[Ulyaoth]

Historian is a hard h though, so should be a.

 

[Dachs]

It's the correct terminology, so far as I know (every English teacher I had in school talking here, I asked this question every year). Just because you think it sounds weird, doesn't mean it's wrong.

I wonder if Australiafags pronounce the H in historian.

 

[Lord Baal]

Historian is a hard h though, so should be a.

Historian sounds like a soft 'h' to me. It sounds just as weird to say 'a historian' to me as it sounds to say 'an history.'

 

[Dachs]

You say 'istorian but you don't say 'istory? That's just crass inconsistency.

 

[Lord Baal]

I wonder if Australiafags pronounce the H in historian.

Please, it's Austrofags. That used to mean Austrians, but they just became Eurofags upon entering the EU.

And yeah, we pronounce the 'h;' softly.

 

[Lord Baal]

You say 'istorian but you don't say 'istory? That's just crass inconsistency.

We also say 'an historically.'

 

[Dachs]

We also say 'an historically.'

You're turning adverbs into nouns now too? THIS IS MADNESS

 

[Lord Baal]

You're turning adverbs into nouns now too? THIS IS MADNESS

I meant with something tacked on to the end, obviously. 'An historically accurate claim,' for example.

I've been thinking about this, and I've also heard 'a' (as in 'ay,' not 'uh') used for these words. History would be 'a (uh) history.'

 

[Ulyaoth]

Ay is the letter, uh is the word.

 

[Lord Baal]

Ay is the letter, uh is the word.

Yeah, but I hear people pronounce the word as 'ay' on occasion. I'm sure you have too.

 

[cardgame]

History, historian, historically, all have a hard H and should NOT have an in front of them! You wouldn't say "an helmet" or "an high five" would you?

 

[Ulyaoth]

Yeah, but I hear people pronounce the word as 'ay' on occasion. I'm sure you have too.

Never have.

 

[raketooy]

You say 'istorian but you don't say 'istory? That's just crass inconsistency.

It's gotta have to do with stress. 'Historian' has stress on the second syllable (right?) while 'history' has stress on the first one. I'd still say 'a historian', though.