Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submitlogin

This is wrong.

Unless maybe you're from the east end of london.



I’m not claiming everyone pronounces it that way. But he’s an ero, we need to find an ospital, ninety miles an our. You will find government documents and serious newspapers that refer to an hospital.


Generic American English pronounces the 'h' in hospital, hero, heroine, but not hour.

Same is true for RP English.

Therefore, for both accents/dialects, the correct phrases are "a hotel", "a hero", "a heroine", and "an hour".

Cockney, West Country, and a few other English accents "h drop" and would use "an 'our", "an 'otel", etc.


> RP English

One might think RP English certainly doesn't determine correctness.


Now do historic. Suddenly all Brits turn into Cockney's.


Sure, and all Americans sound like they're from Ocracoke or Tangier.


Likewise, when I was at school, many of my older teachers would say things like "an hotel" although I've not heard anyone say anything but "a hotel" for decades now. I think I've heard "an hospital" relatively recently though.

Weirdly, in certain expressions I say "before mine eyes" even though that fell out of common usage centuries ago, and hasn't really appeared in literature for around a century. So while I wouldn't have encountered it in speech, I've come across enough literary references that it somehow still passed into my diction. I only ever use it for "eyes" though, never anything else starting with a vowel. I also wouldn't use it for something mundane like "My eyes are sore", but I'm not too clear on when or why I use the obsolete form at other times - it just happens!




Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: