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Indefinite article with Hispanic?

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CalifJim  #190655  Mon, 30 Jan 06 05:05 AM
Very clever, Clive!
That's an aitch-bomb, so it falls in the same category as an (h)onor and an (h)our, i.e., no real "h" (sound) at the beginning of the word.
CJ

  
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davkett  #190662  Mon, 30 Jan 06 05:34 AM

a heuristic or an heuristic?

AAAaargh!

  
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CalifJim  #191001  Tue, 31 Jan 06 07:52 AM
It would have to be "a heuristic".  No "hi" or "hy" at the beginning.  It would fall into the same class as "a hotel".Geeked [8-|]
  
Anonymous  #200546  Fri, 24 Feb 06 04:33 PM
Just passing by, pardon me for sticking my nose in, but...

We say 'a history' but 'an historical'.

Some people do. I'm not sure when it became trendy but I wish people would cut it out. I find it painful to hear. "An historical whatever" or "an hallucination" is only correct if you're an 18th century Briton or a moden Cockney and drop your aitches ("It's an 'istorical occcasion, guvnor!").

"In modern written English, we use a before a word beginning with a consonant sound, however it may be spelled (a frog, a university, a euphemism). We use an before a word beginning with a vowel sound (an orange, an hour)." --  The American Heritage® Book of English Usage (1996).

"An historical" and a few other exceptions are acceptable in formal writing for historical reasons, but they are holdover varients based on obsolete pronunciations, not to be encouraged.

So: "a Hispanic person" would be the preferred usage, just like "a hissing noise".

-Tom Swiss / tms at infamous dot net



  
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