Istoric, eh?

It's Wednesday (in case you weren't sure, like me when I woke up this morning).

For the past few Wednesdays, I've done grammar posts, because they've come to me just that quickly.

Today will not be any different, however, today is historic.

This grammar flaw was literally my biggest pet peeve for years, until I figured out what went wrong, why it was happening, and why the world was so confused on how to pronounce it.

Historic. In a sentence, should it be preceded by a or by an?

The answer?

Both.

Obviously. *wink*

The trouble is, most people (including professionals) have gotten it into their heads that an should always precede historic in writing, when that is just plain false.

In writing, the answer is always a.

But I haven't explained, have I?

Let's start with the example of used.

Used begins with a vowel, but a vowel that is pronounced with a consonant sound. Therefore, we never say, "an used car," for example. That would just sound silly. We say, "a used car."

Historic, however, starts with an H. H's are problem letters, because depending on where you live in the English-speaking world, you may or may not pronounce it at all. And that, my friends, is how the whole problem began.

Technically speaking, because the word begins with an h that is intended to be pronounced, the word should be preceded by a (which explains why it should always be this way in writing).

However, in spoken language the rules are different.

When we're speaking, it's incredibly difficult for a New Englander, for example, to say "a historic day"--because they don't pronounce the H. But for we New Mexicans who always pronounce the H, it's very easy to say "a historic day."

Essentially, I'm blaming Britain for this one.

Their accent lacks H's on most occasions (though they might say I'm lying), and it carried over to New England, where a lot of our grammar rules come from, until almost everyone I've spoken to thinks that the proper way of phrasing it is "an historic."

Well, my friends, consider yourselves taught.

A historic day, indeed.

[love]

{Rani D.}