On Thu, Mar 17, 2005 at 11:20:12PM +1100, Hamish Moffatt wrote: > On Thu, Mar 17, 2005 at 10:59:34AM +0000, Will Newton wrote: > > On Thursday 17 March 2005 03:16, Florian Zumbiehl wrote: > > > ... and probably not for (that is, not unless you tell me otherwise): > > > > HPGL > > > > HTML > > > > HTTPS > > Traditionally I think these would use "an". Even if you pronounce "h" as > > "haich" rather than "aich" as another poster pointed out, many words > > beginning with "h" such as "historic" or "horrendous" require "an" in formal > > writing e.g. "an historic achievement". > (This might be a topic without a possible conclusion!) > Funny, but although I'd say "an HTML file" or "an HTTPS url" or > similar, I'd say "a history achievement". That's right. Usually when you pronounce the letter 'haich', it's silent word-initially. When you pronounce it 'aich', it is audible at the start of the word. Or I _think_ that's the case. And at least for these words, they are all abbreviations, as none of them are pronouncable as acronyms. So they are all governed by the local pronounciation of 'H', not the local pronounciation of 'hotel'. > But then we say aich not haich here. I'd say "an HP printer" or "a historic occasion", but if I saw it written "a HP printer" I'd read it "a haich-pee printer" without qualm. And for some reason, everytime I try, I get "a HTML document". So I'm not even consistent in my own usage. Probably because Australian English seems to be influenced by both British and American pronounciation, in the same way that route is understandable in either pronounciation, although then I know the linguistic background of the speaker's English. ^_^ However, this is a pronounciation rule, not a spelling rule, so it's up to the author to write it by speaking it out loud. So I consider these to the uncorrectable automatically, even from the standpoint of paragraph-internal consistency. ^_^ -- ----------------------------------------------------------- Paul "TBBle" Hampson, MCSE 8th year CompSci/Asian Studies student, ANU The Boss, Bubblesworth Pty Ltd (ABN: 51 095 284 361) Paul.Hampson@Anu.edu.au "No survivors? Then where do the stories come from I wonder?" -- Capt. Jack Sparrow, "Pirates of the Caribbean" This email is licensed to the recipient for non-commercial use, duplication and distribution. -----------------------------------------------------------
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