Mispronunciations.

[Hot Heart]

I ain't done nuffink

[TheMightyEthan]

I can't judge, I live in a place where people rhyme "thing" with "bang" and say things like "ayngonbe" instead of "aren't going to be".

[Thursday Next]

Heard a brilliant one the other day for Yorkshire.

 

"Tintintin" which means "It isn't in the tin."

[Hot Heart]

Aye oop!

[deanb]

[Hot Heart]

Again, this is not a mispronunciation thing; it may be an English vs. English thing, or even a generation thing. Anyway...

 

I've noticed there's sometimes a difference between whether people use 'an' or 'a' before words beginning with H. (Besides the obvious instances with words like 'honour' and 'hour').

 

I mean, would you write 'an historian' or 'a historian'? Obviously, the H is sounded but it is much softer than in other words.

 

Personally, I can't actually decide which I prefer. The former, to me, sounds a bit weird when said aloud (unless you make the H completely silent), while the latter sounds a little clumsy.

Edited December 23, 2011 by Hot Heart

[TheMightyEthan]

I think it's kind of an English vs. English thing, but not entirely. I think Americans tend to say "a historian" but I agree it sounds awkward and will usually myself say "an historian." But I would definitely say "a history book" rather than "an history book."

[Hot Heart]

I agree with you on those. I guess it varies from word to word (or even sentence to sentence).

[WTF]

Well the historian thing is primarily dependant on how you pronounce historian isn't it? The h isn't silent (Soft h) in the most technical sense so it should be a historian rather than an historian. However if you pronounce it with the vowel sound first then an is correct.

 

Similarly this is probably English vs English but it's correct in the usage of vowels. British people would say a herb since the h isn't supposed to be silent. However in the states many say 'erb and thus an hern isn't incorrect there because of the pronounciation. It's universally accepted that if you make a vowel sound when you pronounce something you can use an. 'An' is used to prevent the awkward break if you were to use 'a' right before a word that begins with a vowel pronouciation.

 

Hence in these cases it depends on how you pronounce the word in the first place and is actually independant of the word but dependant on the pronounciation where you come from in general.

[Hot Heart]

I know the logic behind it, I was asking for personal input.

[WTF]

well in that case I usually prefer a historian because an historian sounds wrong because like you historian without an h reminds me of Astorian which is just weird.

[Hot Heart]

OK, thanks! Now...would you say 'a historial event' or 'an historical event'?

[WTF]

A historical event... lol where's this heading?

[Hot Heart]

Just seeing. Because I'm torn, personally.

I'd probably say 'a historian' but 'an historical event'

[WTF]

but do you drop the h for historical? Man we need to get Mitchell on the case XD.

[Hot Heart]

Haha. "In all matters of language, defer to David Mitchell. If he is unavailable, please try Stephen Fry."

[BrainHurtBoy...2]

N and H don't play too nice together in English.

It ends up sounding like I'm saying "An Astorian", but, you know.... context!

It's a pronunciation thing, you know? "An" and "a" both work with different pronunciations. If you don't pronounce the 'h', use 'an', if you do, use 'a'.

[WTF]

Of course. Fry would've been my first choice but I think I'd end up listening to an hour long discourse XD. Though that's not too bad

[Battra92]

I'm not really sure which I say. When I try to just say either aloud they both sound wrong.

 

My brain is full of fuck!

[TheMightyEthan]

That's kind of the point I'm at too, Battra.

[Johnny]

In regards to mispronunciations, all I have to say is:

 

It's all part of language development. Pronunciations change over time. Don't feel too bad about it. =)

[TheMightyEthan]

Yeah, the way I look at it is that it's a mispronunciation until enough people start using it that it becomes just an alternate pronunciation, and then eventually if most people start using it it becomes the pronunciation.

[MasterDex]

Yeah, the way I look at it is that it's a mispronunciation until enough people start using it that it becomes just an alternate pronunciation, and then eventually if most people start using it it becomes the pronunciation.

 

Let's just hope that words like Foshizzle don't catch on then!

[Hot Heart]

Let's just hope that words like Foshizzle don't catch on then!

 

I agree. Most def.

[SomTervo]

In speech I'd never say 'an historian', so I write "a historian". I write "a h-"anything. A lot of people drop H's in speech, though. A cockney wouldn't say "a 'orse", but "an 'orse". So it probably varies from person to person. With no h-dropping as a standard in English, I'd say it should be "a historian" as an orthographic standard.

 

Yeah, the way I look at it is that it's a mispronunciation until enough people start using it that it becomes just an alternate pronunciation, and then eventually if most people start using it it becomes the pronunciation.

 

Geography figures largely in this though? If in one region a 'mispronunciation' occurs in the youth and becomes a standard in the next generation, it wouldn't be a mispronunciation anymore as it's standardised in the area and everybody does it; but at the other side of the country, at the same time, it'd be regarded as a full-on mispronunciation and people would be berated for it.