"a: it's a hotel, a historic, not an hotel, an historic."Aside from the worries I have about the mental health of a man who spends his spare time reading style guides for local newspapers of cities he doesn't live in (and he's not even a sub!), I thought this was an interesting gripe.
I beg to differ, Brighton Argus style guide (now online)
Before I continue, let's just point out that aspiration (a kind of short pant!) is important in this debate. To aspirate, says the OED, is to produce a sound with an exhalation of breath. So, if we're talking h-wise, hotel, happy and Hove are aspirated, but heir and honour are not. Hot!
Fowler's says, rather charmingly:
Opinion is divided over the form to use before h-words in which the first syllable is unstressed: the thoroughly modern thing to do is to use a (never an) together with an aspirated h (a habitual, a heroic, a historical, a Homeric, a hypothesis), but not to demur if others use an with minimal or nil aspiration given to the following h (an historic, an horrific, etc).No demurring, you old-fashioned types!
The Times Style Guide, however, supports the Chief.
use an before unaspirated h - an heir, an honest woman, an honour; also, prefer an hotel to a hotel, an historic to a historic, an heroic rather than a heroicKit and I err on the side of the modern on this one. We are sticking to a historical event, a habitual tic, etc. But I'll admit to the occasional wistful sigh.
A little trivia on the subject, courtesy of Fowler's:
Three special cases:Bet this post has got y'all aspirating heavily...
an hotel (with no aspiration on the second word) is now old-fashioned, but by no means extinct.
In humble, the h was originally mute and the pronunciation prevailed until the 19c, but is now obsolete: it should therefore be preceded by a, not an.
In American English, herb, being pronounced with silent h, is always preceded by an, but the same word in British English, being pronounced with an aspirated h, by a.
Love your blog, Cathy. More power to your elbow!
ReplyDeleteI used to be a sub myself – serving more than a decade before the mast at The Times, FT and Sunday Telegraph, among other publications – but I quit journalism in 2008 to write novels. I think, though, that being a professional sub-editor is the best training possible for becoming a decent writer. Apart from the basic spelling and punctuation requirements, it teaches you to be precise in your use of language; something many writers have problems with. Sorry that should have been: something with which many writers have a problem.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, keep up the good work! Best wishes, Angus Donald (www.angus-donald.com)
Hi Angus,
ReplyDeleteMany thanks for your kind words! It means a lot, coming from an industry veteran. My elbow blushes.
Well I have to confess to erring on the side of the allegedly old fashioned with this little can of worms. Always an hotel, an historic, an heir, an honest and, I would hope, not a demuring soul in sight.
ReplyDeleteLater in the day, Richard Dixon, chief revise editor at The Times, hosted an online Q&A. I took the opportunity to ask him:
ReplyDelete14:41
[Comment From Cathy Relf Cathy Relf: ]
Hello Richard, may I ask a small question of great pedantry? I noticed today that The Times style for a/an plus h says you prefer 'an historic', 'an hotel' etc. Even Fowler's 'Modern' English goes with 'a historic'... why so pleasantly old-fashioned? Wednesday February 17, 2010 14:41 Cathy Relf
14:43
Richard Dixon:
Hi Cathy, re hotel, we are definitely nodding to the French derivation of yore. Similarly, historic came from across La Manche It is one of our quirks to retain such style, and we are none the worse for it. D'accord?
Wednesday February 17, 2010 14:43 Richard Dixon
Replay all the hot action here:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/live_debate/article7027474.ece
I was not even aware of this modernization! Always tutted with a superior smirk when I read 'a hotel' now it seems these philistines are correct! I shall never recover, as evidenced by my overuse of exclamation marks!
ReplyDeleteI have no idea why it affects me in this way, but when I hear Americans pronounce herb as "urb", it makes me want to do something very violent to them.
ReplyDeleteI know what you mean - I tend to react to it with absolute incomprehension for at least the first five seconds!
ReplyDeleteAs far as I'm concerned if you sound the h then it's 'a' and if it is silent it's 'an'. The usage may have come across La Manche but why stick to something that gives the French lots of trouble? They now sound none of their aitches and yet they stick to centuries old usage and have to remember which ones are which. If it's one that USED to have an aspirated h then you do not elide the previous s (des in front of haricots is pronounced day, but des in front of habitations is pronounced days) I often get it wrong but so do the French!
ReplyDelete