All righty. Enough already. Listen up, TV anchor types, reporters, commentators, third graders, anyone who can hear and speak, etc.
Pretend I hear you say — oh, after watching Michael Phelps win his eighth gold medal: “This is an historical moment.”
There are two things wrong here:
1) “Historical” pertains to history. The past. “Historic” means having importance in history, so “historic” is the word that should be used here. It’s not “historical” — it just happened, dude!
2) And, OH, this bugs me. It’s wrong to say “an historical,” “an historic,” blah, blah. Somewhere along the line — somehow — I think we were all taught this. I remember being taught this. It’s bizarre and it’s wrong. Here’s the deal on this:
The article “an” is only used when the word that follows it starts with a vowel or with a letter that is being pronounced like a vowel in that word. For instance, it’s correct to say “an hour” or “an honest opinion” because the “h” is silent. That’s why everyone needs to please please please stop saying “an historic” and “an “historical.” The “h” isn’t silent here!
Stop abusing the “an.”
Stop it.
STOP.
Okay. Phew. I feel better.
The article is indefinite…. NOT the pronunciation!
For better grammar – Tracey/Ricki ’08.
I am the ghost of William Strunk, and I approve this message.
Grammar’s not my forte but I hear ya.
Can I add one?
Please, please stop saying “7:00 a.m. in the morning.” It’s either “7:00 in the morning,” OR “7:00 a.m.” Please don’t make me come through the TV screen and smack you.
Thank you.
While we are speaking of the silent “h”, can I please remind everyone that as Tracey pointed out not ALL h’s are silent.
The word is HUMAN…not UMAN. PRONOUNCE THE H!I am begging you!
NF — Hahahaha.
Lisa — Oh, Lordy, I hear you. Did you know that “:00” actually means “o’clock”? This came up all the time with my court reporting students — trying to teach them that if they heard the words “seven o’clock,” it was transcribed into English as “7:00.”
But, yeah, “7:00 a.m. in the morning” is redundant. But these days, I guess you can’t assume that someone knows what “a.m.” means. Still, it’s wrongwrongwrong.
MM — Hahahaha, I love that you are begging people. I cannot STAND it when people say “UMAN.”
As the Elephant Man said, “I AM NOT AN ANIMAL; I AM A UMAN EING!!”
Although, if anyone would have had an excuse for pronouncing it that way, it would have been the Elephant Man.
Also, EXTREME abuse of the word “myself”. As in, “If you have any questions, ask John or myself.”
NO NO NO NO NO! A thousand times, NO, I tell you! Ask John or me!!!
Improper use of reflexive pronouns doesn’t make you sound sophisticated or even more formal, it makes you sound like you don’t know proper English. (Which, apparently, you don’t.)
“Something in my head goes ‘boom’
When I hear a ‘who’ that should be ‘whom’.”
Katie — I know. I hate that, too. Apparently, I hate everything. That one is such an easy fix, too.
NF — Somewhat more understandable, but I hate that one, too.
I overflow with hate. It’s a beautiful thing.
Late to the game, but oh well. I hear this a lot:
“Worse comes to worse”.
Burning hate.