Eednud Posted August 30 Share Posted August 30 It’s the penultimate day of our winter and they just can’t help themselves. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swarley Posted August 30 Share Posted August 30 10 minutes ago, Eednud said: It’s the penultimate day of our winter and they just can’t help themselves. How many boxes did you buy? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimbaxters Posted August 30 Share Posted August 30 (edited) 3 hours ago, Swarley said: Recent? No. I was taught at school 40 odd years ago to use "an" before certain words beginning with "h". Couldn't remember exactly why but a Google search says you use "an" when the "h" is silent. So a hotel, an honest man etc. 'otel? Are you Danny Dyer? Edited August 30 by jimbaxters 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swarley Posted August 30 Share Posted August 30 25 minutes ago, jimbaxters said: 'otel? Are you Danny Dyer? No. The "h" in hotel isn't silent so you use an "a". 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nightmare Posted August 30 Share Posted August 30 4 hours ago, Swarley said: Recent? No. I was taught at school 40 odd years ago to use "an" before certain words beginning with "h". Couldn't remember exactly why but a Google search says you use "an" when the "h" is silent. So a hotel, an honest man etc. Well, that’s kind of my point. The H in horrific isn’t silent. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swarley Posted August 30 Share Posted August 30 17 minutes ago, Nightmare said: Well, that’s kind of my point. The H in horrific isn’t silent. I'd agree with your PTTGOYN. Another example of the decline in journalism standards. Probably written by AI. Unless the writer was Danny Dyer... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EvilScotsman Posted August 30 Share Posted August 30 2 hours ago, Nightmare said: Well, that’s kind of my point. The H in horrific isn’t silent. It is to the English. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nightmare Posted August 30 Share Posted August 30 1 minute ago, EvilScotsman said: It is to the English. Some accents, yes - but even in those cases words like hotel and hospital don't appear to be preceded by 'an' when used in the formal sense (news readers, online articles, etc). 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hk blues Posted August 30 Share Posted August 30 13 hours ago, BFTD said: Can you use it without the app? If so, I'd be tempted to disconnect it from the wi-fi so it doesn't know about updates until I want it to. I've definitely entered the "losing track of technology" age. Only a matter of time until I'm asking the kid to configure the Bluetooth in my cardigan. OFTW 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hk blues Posted August 30 Share Posted August 30 (edited) 12 hours ago, BFTD said: My mum finds bright lights painful these days, so I got some of those smart bulbs for her place that let you change the brightness and colour via an app. You can go into disco mode and have the lights change colour in time to music. Surprisingly cool, so I got some for our place too. An hour before bedtime, I set them to a dim red glow, which seems to make me sleepy. The only annoying thing is that you have to use the app to change the colour/brightness back - shame there's no way of quickly resetting to defaults without having to go find my phone. I'm suddenly very self-conscious that this is a very boring old man conversation. We'll be talking about our recent discovery of the new Playstations and rapping music soon. Yeah, yeah. The ladies don't fall for it, and neither will we. We have a couple of those, including one in my son's room. The problem is it loses it's connection often and it needs to connect via 2.4ghz wifi so it's a PITA to reconnect as we all use 5GHZ wifi. First world problems I know. Edited August 30 by hk blues 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swarley Posted August 30 Share Posted August 30 7 minutes ago, hk blues said: We have a couple of those, including one in my son's room. The problem is it loses it's connection often and it needs to connect via 2.4ghz wifi so it's a PITA to reconnect as we all use 5GHZ wifi. First world problems I know. 100% this. When they work they're great but it seems like every other week I've got to go through the set up process to reconnect them. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
milton75 Posted August 30 Share Posted August 30 18 hours ago, Nightmare said: English language annoyance incoming. I’ve noticed recently that news/media types seem to be using the phrasing “an horrific event” instead of “a horrific event”. Why has it now been deemed that the article ‘an’ should be used there instead of the more logical ‘a’? It feels like this is a relatively recent phenomenon because I’ve never noticed it before, and it just sounds clumsy and awkward. You don’t hear about “an hotel” or “an hospital” so I have no idea why this is now the go-to phrasing when referring to an incident as horrific. (I did think of the word ‘honourable’ as a similar type of scenario where the article used is ‘an’ instead of ‘a’ - but that one makes sense because honour/honourable are pronounced with a silent H, whereas horrific/horrifying aren’t.) 12 hours ago, Swarley said: Recent? No. I was taught at school 40 odd years ago to use "an" before certain words beginning with "h". Couldn't remember exactly why but a Google search says you use "an" when the "h" is silent. So a hotel, an honest man etc. “An is indisputably correct before just four words beginning with ‘h’: hour, honest, honour and heir.” ― Bill Bryson, Troublesome Words The point he's making by saying "indisputably", is that there remains disagreement on certain words, even among authorities. I however, only use "an" before the four words (and their suffixes), and I despise anyone that uses it before other words. Most common, and considering their job role, most egregiously irritating, is the common practice of newsreaders to refer to "an historic occasion", which relies on dropping one's aitches like some sort of Oliver Twist fanny. I assume they pursue this in the BBC as part of some misguided Southern policy, but they are wrong. Fowler’s Dictionary Of Modern English Usage explains; “An was formerly usual before an unaccented syllable beginning with an ‘h’ (an historical work) but now the ‘h’ in such words is pronounced the distinction has become pedantic. ‘A historical’ should be said and written.” It's been pointed out elsewhere that Fowler's was published nearly a century ago and that "An historic" was already an affectation in 1926. There are some that are on the cusp. If you take the suffix word "historian" it can sound less dickwitted that the examples above if someone says "an historian", but I'd still argue that "a historian" sounds just fine too and at least keeps things consistent. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MEADOWXI Posted August 30 Share Posted August 30 What they have done is petty, what my reaction wants to be is not, My closest shop is a Tesco Express, barely bigger than a corner shop. I use it 3 or 4 times and week and know where everything is. They have moved nearly everything, The fresh rolls and brad is gone f**k knows where and the crisps are there, they've knackered the booze area, and the wine I drink is gone, sweets are where household stuff was, its just annoying and pathetic and total change for for the sake of it. I want to firebomb the shop as revenge, but the garage for petrol is miles away. I am a grumpy old sod. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soapy FFC Posted August 30 Share Posted August 30 16 minutes ago, MEADOWXI said: What they have done is petty, what my reaction wants to be is not, My closest shop is a Tesco Express, barely bigger than a corner shop. I use it 3 or 4 times and week and know where everything is. They have moved nearly everything, The fresh rolls and brad is gone f**k knows where and the crisps are there, they've knackered the booze area, and the wine I drink is gone, sweets are where household stuff was, its just annoying and pathetic and total change for for the sake of it. I want to firebomb the shop as revenge, but the garage for petrol is miles away. I am a grumpy old sod. It's not for the sake of it, it's to force you to look around the shop, see things you wouldn't normally look at, and hopefully buy. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hedgecutter Posted August 30 Share Posted August 30 (edited) 2 hours ago, milton75 said: “An is indisputably correct before just four words beginning with ‘h’: hour, honest, honour and heir.” ― Bill Bryson, Troublesome Words The point he's making by saying "indisputably", is that there remains disagreement on certain words, even among authorities. I however, only use "an" before the four words (and their suffixes), and I despise anyone that uses it before other words. Most common, and considering their job role, most egregiously irritating, is the common practice of newsreaders to refer to "an historic occasion", which relies on dropping one's aitches like some sort of Oliver Twist fanny. I assume they pursue this in the BBC as part of some misguided Southern policy, but they are wrong. Fowler’s Dictionary Of Modern English Usage explains; “An was formerly usual before an unaccented syllable beginning with an ‘h’ (an historical work) but now the ‘h’ in such words is pronounced the distinction has become pedantic. ‘A historical’ should be said and written.” It's been pointed out elsewhere that Fowler's was published nearly a century ago and that "An historic" was already an affectation in 1926. There are some that are on the cusp. If you take the suffix word "historian" it can sound less dickwitted that the examples above if someone says "an historian", but I'd still argue that "a historian" sounds just fine too and at least keeps things consistent. If you have an accent/dialect that frequently makes use of silent haitches, is it not just a simple case of having to use 'an'? Try saying "I went to a 'otel last week" out loud in Oliver Twist fanny style. Doesn't really work, does it. On a slight tangent, I'm now remembering that whole "Perf with Surf" thing. Danny Dyer's daughter Dani Dyer though, innit. Edited August 30 by Hedgecutter 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
welshbairn Posted August 30 Share Posted August 30 2 hours ago, milton75 said: “An is indisputably correct before just four words beginning with ‘h’: hour, honest, honour and heir.” ― Bill Bryson, Troublesome Words The point he's making by saying "indisputably", is that there remains disagreement on certain words, even among authorities. I however, only use "an" before the four words (and their suffixes), and I despise anyone that uses it before other words. Most common, and considering their job role, most egregiously irritating, is the common practice of newsreaders to refer to "an historic occasion", which relies on dropping one's aitches like some sort of Oliver Twist fanny. I assume they pursue this in the BBC as part of some misguided Southern policy, but they are wrong. Fowler’s Dictionary Of Modern English Usage explains; “An was formerly usual before an unaccented syllable beginning with an ‘h’ (an historical work) but now the ‘h’ in such words is pronounced the distinction has become pedantic. ‘A historical’ should be said and written.” It's been pointed out elsewhere that Fowler's was published nearly a century ago and that "An historic" was already an affectation in 1926. There are some that are on the cusp. If you take the suffix word "historian" it can sound less dickwitted that the examples above if someone says "an historian", but I'd still argue that "a historian" sounds just fine too and at least keeps things consistent. What's the rule on the pronunciation of "a"? Is "eh" instead of "ah" always an affectation? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alert Mongoose Posted August 30 Share Posted August 30 49 minutes ago, MEADOWXI said: What they have done is petty, what my reaction wants to be is not, My closest shop is a Tesco Express, barely bigger than a corner shop. I use it 3 or 4 times and week and know where everything is. They have moved nearly everything, The fresh rolls and brad is gone f**k knows where and the crisps are there, they've knackered the booze area, and the wine I drink is gone, sweets are where household stuff was, its just annoying and pathetic and total change for for the sake of it. I want to firebomb the shop as revenge, but the garage for petrol is miles away. I am a grumpy old sod. Was Brad your favourite checkout assistant? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HK Hibee Posted August 30 Share Posted August 30 People who say resiliency instead of resilience. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
milton75 Posted August 30 Share Posted August 30 34 minutes ago, Hedgecutter said: If you have an accent/dialect that frequently makes use of silent haitches, is it not just a simple case of having to use 'an'? Try saying "I went to a 'otel last week" out loud in Oliver Twist fanny style. Doesn't really work, does it. On a slight tangent, I'm now remembering that whole "Perf with Surf" thing. Danny Dyer's daughter Dani Dyer though, innit. I don't think we should be concerned overly about the habits of ill-spoken oiks. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
milton75 Posted August 30 Share Posted August 30 17 minutes ago, welshbairn said: What's the rule on the pronunciation of "a"? Is "eh" instead of "ah" always an affectation? Give me some examples and I'll think up a hot take. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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