Rage Online

Sorry, completely random for a normal football forum, but this is Rage Online!

On the racist section of TiU there is a thread called &quotA Historic Speech&quot. As there are some forum members on here very well versed in gramatical correctness, could someone point me out the correct version of the 2 options &quotA Historic Speech&quot and &quotAn Historic Speech&quot please. Both are generally used, but which is correct? I would tend to use the second, which is why I queried it, but I have never claimed my English skills to be of a particularly high standard.

Cheers.

&quotAn 'istoric&quot for me.

It's 'A Historic Speech'. You wouldn't say 'An horse' (well some of the TIU crowd probably would).

They've got a special racist section now??

&quotWerthers Original&quot wrote:It's 'A Historic Speech'. You wouldn't say 'An horse' (well some of the TIU crowd probably would).

They've got a special racist section now??

But you do book an 'otel.

True, always 'A Horse'.

Instances of 'An Historic'

http://www.edinburgh.org/capital/
http://www.lamp.ac.uk/news/press_releas ... eated.html
http://www.animalaid.org.uk/h/n/NEWS/ne ... /ALL/1737/

...there are loads of examples like this. Is it just mass ignorance then?

I haven't got anything to back this up, but when I was a kid my Dad told me that with an 'H' noun, you use 'an' if it is a word with a French root (an hotel) but 'a' for others (a hostel). Don't really know what that means for 'historic', though.

This suggests that both forms are correct...

http&#58//www&#46betterwritingskills&#4 ... 05&#46html

...but it appears to be an Australian site, so what do they know!

Upper-class people didn't use to pronounce the initial h in some words, esp French ones, but that's obsolete now - 'an historic' seems to be some kind of hypercorrect hangover. Don't know why it's persisted with just that word, you don't hear 'an 'otel' much any more from genteel folk.

why not ask these lovely people?

&quotMatt D&quot wrote:why not ask these lovely people?

&quot(which is now often regarded as distinctly old-fashioned)&quot

That's me that is.

Anyway, what would you do if you found this while you were proof reading boris?

If I found it while proof reading I'd probably leave it as it was printed. If I found it while copy editing I'd probably write it as &quota historic speech&quot if it was a fairly informal piece, or &quotan historic speech&quot if it was a more formal work. However, I'd also check the text for consistency to decide whether the author preferred one form over the other.

I think there is a fair amount of debate in relation to this issue, but IÔÇÖm with the black guy.

Preceding 'h' words with 'an' is just an ostentatious affectation in my opinion.

'An hotel'. Really, I ask you.

&quotKernow Yellow&quot wrote:Preceding 'h' words with 'an' is just an ostentatious affectation in my opinion.

'An hotel'. Really, I ask you.

Its &quotan 'otel&quot

&quotKernow Yellow&quot wrote:Preceding 'h' words with 'an' is just an ostentatious affectation in my opinion.

'An hotel'. Really, I ask you.

To me, both orally and aurally &quotan 'otel&quot works better than &quota hotel&quot and &quota[y] hotel&quot (ie with either a short or long 'a'). It is smoother in sound and rolls off the tongue easier - and could therefore reasonably be considered the antithesis of an ostentatious affectation. Unless merely thinking of such things is ostentatious.....