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> because who says "an history lesson"? People speaking dialects that don't pronounce the "h" in "history". Which used to be a lot more common when this rule w
by jeroenhd 14d ago
> because who says "an history lesson"?
People speaking dialects that don't pronounce the "h" in "history". Which used to be a lot more common when this rule was written down. I've heard several English dialects that pronounce "historian" like "istorian", and who would say "a istorian"?
English is full of obscure rules that were written down ages ago, often because one particular guy wrote down his personal preference and others accepted it as fact ("less" vs "fewer", for instance).
English speakers still can't agree whether the h in "herb" is pronounced or not. I don't see why anyone would be surprised that other words beginning with h are also subject to debate.
- IshKebab 14d agoI said: > if you're pronouncing the "h" (which everyone does). You can say "an 'istoric", but that's not what we're talking about. The overcorrection is "an historic". That also isn't specific to "historic", for example you can say "an 'ouse" but literally nobody says "an house".
- pessimizer 14d ago> (which everyone does) I don't think this is true. I'm pretty sure I don't ever pronounce the h in historical if I'm coming into it from "an." "Anistorical." The "i" takes care of the "h." Also "a history" becomes "[ə:]istory" (but definitely not "an history") and "the historical" becomes "th[ə]istorical." Definitely no "h." It gets dropped in other situations, too. "Speaking of wh[ə]distoricallyappened..." I can't be sure when I don't drop it, other than when the word is bare. Fairly boring black middle-class midwestern accent.