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That would depend on how you pronounce "hysterically". Do you voice the "h" or not? If you pronounce it "iss-tear-ick-lee" then you'd use "an". If you pronou
by Stratoscope 13y ago
That would depend on how you pronounce "hysterically".
Do you voice the "h" or not?
If you pronounce it "iss-tear-ick-lee" then you'd use "an".
If you pronounce it "hiss-tear-ick-lee" then you'd use "a".
Personally I've never heard the word pronounced with a silent "h". I checked several dictionaries and they all list the word with voiced "h". None of them even list the silent "h" as an alternate pronunciation.
Therefore I would say that the voiced "h" is the correct pronunciation, and "an hysterically funny person" is wrong.
Given the "did you see" comment, it's a good example of a hypercorrection:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypercorrection http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypercorrection