an historical (pronouncing the h)

Paul Frank paulfrank at POST.HARVARD.EDU
Wed Sep 15 14:12:05 UTC 2010


"Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
> Â  Â I say "an historical" and "an heroic". Â With a little huff. Â That
> is, different from "an idiot". Self-reported, and self-conscious, and
> therefore suspect.
> Â  Â But I also say "a history" and "a hero". Â With a definite huff.

Interesting. Maybe my tin ear, the fact that I'd never noticed the
difference between a little huff before "an historical" and a definite
huff before "a history", and that I want to hear no huff before "an
historical" and a definite huff before "a history", is simply a
Spanish speaker's ear.

Paul

Paul Frank
Translator
German, French, Italian > English
paulfrank at post.harvard.edu
paul.frank at bfs.admin.ch

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