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Nov. 4th, 2010
So yes, my pet peeve of the day was the use of "an" in front of "historic". From the comments it looks like the question is an unresolved one, so I have some answers here for you.
Thank you to![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
kmousie for typing this out from Garner's Modern American Usage re: this poll.
People worry about whether the correct article is a or an with historian, historic, and a few other words. Most authorities have supported a over an. The traditional rule is that if the h- is sounded, then a is the proper form. So people who aspirate their h’s and follow that rule would say a historian and a historic.
This is not a new “rule.” Even the venerated language authority H.W. Fowler, in the England of 1926, advocated a before historic(al) and humble.
The theory behind using an in such a context is that the h- is weak when the accent is on the second rather than the first syllable (giving rise, by analogy, to an habitual offender, an hallucinatory image, and an hysterical crowd). Thus no authority countenances an history, though a few older ones prefer an historian and an historical.
Today, however, such wordings as an hypothesis, an hereditary title, and an historical era are likely to strike readers and listeners as affectations in need of editing. As Mark Twain once wrote, referring to humble, heroic, and historical: “Correct writers of the American language do not put an before those words.” The Stolen White Elephant 220 (1882). Nearly a century later, the linguist Dwight Bolinger harshly condemned those who write an historical as being guilty of “a Cockneyed, cockeyed, and half-cocked ignorance and self-importance, that knoweth not where it aspirateth.” Dwight Bolinger, “Are You a Sincere H-Dropper?” 50 Am. Speech 313, 315 (1975).
Anyone who sounds the h- in words of the type here discussed should avoid pretense and use the a. An humanitarian is, judged even by the most tolerant standards, a pretentious humanitarian.
Also? I'm really disappointed that none of you say "ippopotamus".
Thank you to
kmousie for typing this out from Garner's Modern American Usage re: this poll. People worry about whether the correct article is a or an with historian, historic, and a few other words. Most authorities have supported a over an. The traditional rule is that if the h- is sounded, then a is the proper form. So people who aspirate their h’s and follow that rule would say a historian and a historic.
This is not a new “rule.” Even the venerated language authority H.W. Fowler, in the England of 1926, advocated a before historic(al) and humble.
The theory behind using an in such a context is that the h- is weak when the accent is on the second rather than the first syllable (giving rise, by analogy, to an habitual offender, an hallucinatory image, and an hysterical crowd). Thus no authority countenances an history, though a few older ones prefer an historian and an historical.
Today, however, such wordings as an hypothesis, an hereditary title, and an historical era are likely to strike readers and listeners as affectations in need of editing. As Mark Twain once wrote, referring to humble, heroic, and historical: “Correct writers of the American language do not put an before those words.” The Stolen White Elephant 220 (1882). Nearly a century later, the linguist Dwight Bolinger harshly condemned those who write an historical as being guilty of “a Cockneyed, cockeyed, and half-cocked ignorance and self-importance, that knoweth not where it aspirateth.” Dwight Bolinger, “Are You a Sincere H-Dropper?” 50 Am. Speech 313, 315 (1975).
Anyone who sounds the h- in words of the type here discussed should avoid pretense and use the a. An humanitarian is, judged even by the most tolerant standards, a pretentious humanitarian.
Also? I'm really disappointed that none of you say "ippopotamus".
So yes, my pet peeve of the day was the use of "an" in front of "historic". From the comments it looks like the question is an unresolved one, so I have some answers here for you.
Thank you tokmousie for typing this out from Garner's Modern American Usage re: this poll.
People worry about whether the correct article is a or an with historian, historic, and a few other words. Most authorities have supported a over an. The traditional rule is that if the h- is sounded, then a is the proper form. So people who aspirate their h’s and follow that rule would say a historian and a historic.
This is not a new “rule.” Even the venerated language authority H.W. Fowler, in the England of 1926, advocated a before historic(al) and humble.
The theory behind using an in such a context is that the h- is weak when the accent is on the second rather than the first syllable (giving rise, by analogy, to an habitual offender, an hallucinatory image, and an hysterical crowd). Thus no authority countenances an history, though a few older ones prefer an historian and an historical.
Today, however, such wordings as an hypothesis, an hereditary title, and an historical era are likely to strike readers and listeners as affectations in need of editing. As Mark Twain once wrote, referring to humble, heroic, and historical: “Correct writers of the American language do not put an before those words.” The Stolen White Elephant 220 (1882). Nearly a century later, the linguist Dwight Bolinger harshly condemned those who write an historical as being guilty of “a Cockneyed, cockeyed, and half-cocked ignorance and self-importance, that knoweth not where it aspirateth.” Dwight Bolinger, “Are You a Sincere H-Dropper?” 50 Am. Speech 313, 315 (1975).
Anyone who sounds the h- in words of the type here discussed should avoid pretense and use the a. An humanitarian is, judged even by the most tolerant standards, a pretentious humanitarian.
Also? I'm really disappointed that none of you say "ippopotamus".
Thank you to
kmousie for typing this out from Garner's Modern American Usage re: this poll. People worry about whether the correct article is a or an with historian, historic, and a few other words. Most authorities have supported a over an. The traditional rule is that if the h- is sounded, then a is the proper form. So people who aspirate their h’s and follow that rule would say a historian and a historic.
This is not a new “rule.” Even the venerated language authority H.W. Fowler, in the England of 1926, advocated a before historic(al) and humble.
The theory behind using an in such a context is that the h- is weak when the accent is on the second rather than the first syllable (giving rise, by analogy, to an habitual offender, an hallucinatory image, and an hysterical crowd). Thus no authority countenances an history, though a few older ones prefer an historian and an historical.
Today, however, such wordings as an hypothesis, an hereditary title, and an historical era are likely to strike readers and listeners as affectations in need of editing. As Mark Twain once wrote, referring to humble, heroic, and historical: “Correct writers of the American language do not put an before those words.” The Stolen White Elephant 220 (1882). Nearly a century later, the linguist Dwight Bolinger harshly condemned those who write an historical as being guilty of “a Cockneyed, cockeyed, and half-cocked ignorance and self-importance, that knoweth not where it aspirateth.” Dwight Bolinger, “Are You a Sincere H-Dropper?” 50 Am. Speech 313, 315 (1975).
Anyone who sounds the h- in words of the type here discussed should avoid pretense and use the a. An humanitarian is, judged even by the most tolerant standards, a pretentious humanitarian.
Also? I'm really disappointed that none of you say "ippopotamus".
(no subject)
Nov. 4th, 2010 11:38 pmWARM FUZZIES: A LOVE MEME
♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥
Warm fuzzies are little messages of love and affection for
when you are feeling down or unloved, or just need a tiny pick me up, and be reminded
of how much you are loved, and how special you are to those around you
Leave me a warm fuzzy!
(no subject)
Nov. 4th, 2010 11:38 pmWARM FUZZIES: A LOVE MEME
♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥
Warm fuzzies are little messages of love and affection for
when you are feeling down or unloved, or just need a tiny pick me up, and be reminded
of how much you are loved, and how special you are to those around you
Leave me a warm fuzzy!