Stay in Touch
Get sneak previews of special offers & upcoming events delivered to your inbox.
Sign in
07-03-2015 03:13 PM
My mention of "rah" as part of the stadium cheerIt was just meant as another angle on the thread's commentary about how some words ring funny in our ears, including the way some people pronounce the names of states. Some people leave the R out of Virginia. Some people say they're from Merland, forget the A and Y.
In my freshman year of college, where I was known as one of the resident Yankees, I had to get accustomed to some of the pronunciations and sayings. Asked one girl where she was from........she said "Chervil". I asked again, got the same puzzling response. When I later passed by her dorm door, where her name and hometown were posted, I saw she was from a town called Cherryville. There began my education and language orientation. Then I had a roommate who did not consider inserting an ignition key to be starting her car. To her, it called was "cranking the car". I had a LOT to learn.
07-03-2015 03:27 PM
Sheesh - Thanks for your commentary and information. I just now got a chance to read it (I'm back and forth between here and doing stuff around the house).
I do appreciate regional sayings and find them fascinating. I think - well, ok I'm CERTAIN - that what gets in my craw about the 'it don't make me no never mind' one is the profoundly poor grammar.
When and where I grew up grammar was pounded into you in school and I suppose the home life didn't help where, if something was said incorrectly, one would get knocked into next week. You learned to learn fast or get knocked around more I suppose. I guess as a consequence of my particular conditioning I have almost a visceral response to really poor grammar.
07-03-2015 04:52 PM
07-04-2015 10:51 AM
This is for anyone, of course, but I'm especially interested in what Chickenbutt, SulGeneris (?) and sfnative think about this question re: correct articles: She ate an apple today, but will eat a banana tomorrow. The eggs came from a hen. Here's where I hear conflicting usage: It was an historic event. Shouldn't it be 'a historic event' as the beginning sound in hen is the same as in historic? I hear both from newscasters.
07-04-2015 12:44 PM
People today are just being lazy. Telvision reporters, journalists, and the hosts of the Q.
Pronouncing the word 'today' as 'tahday'. Saying 'anda' instead of a more grammatically correct way to speak. Saying the word 'tonight' as 'tahnight'. Lazy and just plain lazy with no class.
07-04-2015 01:01 PM
@Puzzle Piece wrote:People today are just being lazy. Telvision reporters, journalists, and the hosts of the Q.
Pronouncing the word 'today' as 'tahday'. Saying 'anda' instead of a more grammatically correct way to speak. Saying the word 'tonight' as 'tahnight'. Lazy and just plain lazy with no class.
__________________________________________________________________________
Wow. That's a little extreme, isn't it?
much of what you reference is regional speech.
So, I guess the next time you make a grammatical error or pronounce something with a regional accent, you are lazy and classless too?
07-04-2015 01:07 PM
well, I figure if I can understand 3 out of 5 words when talking to someone who has an accent (cause I don't - hahahaha), I am ahead in the whole language thing.
07-04-2015 01:22 PM
re: use of "a historic vs. an historic"
From what I remember being told in journalism school, both can sometimes be considered correct usage, but it's more comfortable when the "a" or "an" sound good with the particular word they precede. "An history book" doesn't sound good, but "an historic event" sounds just fine, doesn't it? Oh, well......
07-04-2015 01:44 PM - edited 07-04-2015 03:38 PM
@sallybusky wrote:This is for anyone, of course, but I'm especially interested in what Chickenbutt, SulGeneris (?) and sfnative think about this question re: correct articles: She ate an apple today, but will eat a banana tomorrow. The eggs came from a hen. Here's where I hear conflicting usage: It was an historic event. Shouldn't it be 'a historic event' as the beginning sound in hen is the same as in historic? I hear both from newscasters.
sally,
That's an interesting question.
During my lifetime, the use of "an historic" has diminished over time, with "a historic" becoming more commonplace.
Here's something from a site called "Better Writing Skills" that explains it better than I can:
A well known grammar rule says that we should use an before vowel sounds; for example, an accident, an item, an hour. We use a otherwise: a book, a hotel, a university.
Notice that we say an hour, not a hour. The choice of a or an is based upon the sound of the word, not the spelling. Hour sounds as if it starts with a vowel sound (ow); hence, we use an.
Following this rule, we would say a historic, not an historic because (for most speakers) historic doesn't start with a vowel sound.
Words of three or more syllables that start with h are treated differently by some speakers, though. (This may be because of the tendency of some regional accents to drop initial Hs.)
Summary -- A historic is more common in both American and British English, but both usages are sufficiently common to be considered correct.
Chart showing change in usage over time:
07-04-2015 03:34 PM
novamc wrote:re: use of "a historic vs. an historic"
From what I remember being told in journalism school, both can sometimes be considered correct usage, but it's more comfortable when the "a" or "an" sound good with the particular word they precede. "An history book" doesn't sound good, but "an historic event" sounds just fine, doesn't it? Oh, well......
That's a really good point on the difference between 'an historic...' and 'a history book...'.
Funny how I was thinking about this exact thing (article before word that starts with an 'h') just the other day.
To me, the way I would say it, 'an historic moment' sounds right. But, with that word I wouldn't be pronouncing the 'h' as distinctly as if I were using the word 'history'.
When the 'h' is not pronounced as hard with some words, the article that apples to a word beginning with a vowel sounds 100% right to me. That's not to say that it IS 100% right. But I feel like both ways would probably be right because if you pronounce the word with a hard 'h', then the article would be 'a'.
My vote is that BOTH are right, depending on pronunciation.
Fun stuff!
Get sneak previews of special offers & upcoming events delivered to your inbox.
*You're signing up to receive QVC promotional email.
Find recent orders, do a return or exchange, create a Wish List & more.
Privacy StatementGeneral Terms of Use
QVC is not responsible for the availability, content, security, policies, or practices of the above referenced third-party linked sites nor liable for statements, claims, opinions, or representations contained therein. QVC's Privacy Statement does not apply to these third-party web sites.
© 1995-2024 QVC, Inc. All rights reserved. | QVC, Q and the Q logo are registered service marks of ER Marks, Inc. 888-345-5788