[OT] English++

[Alex Merry]

On Sunday 15 November 2009 22:25:04 Thomas Lübking wrote:
> Am Sunday 15 November 2009 schrieb Jeff Mitchell:
> > Actually, you're both half right. The correct sentence is:
> >
> > "An HTML page was received. Expected a RSS 2.0 feed."
> 
> /me is confused - it's Arr-Ess-Ess rather than Riss, isn't?
> or /A/ ("Eyy") Arr-Ess-Ess to stress the RSS need?

RSS should definitely be preceded by "an", since you would read RSS as three 
letters, not as "Really Simple Syndication" (or something like "Riss").  I've 
not heard an accent that would lead to you being able to say "a R" without 
either a glottal stop or a merging of the two syllables.

HTML the only debatable one, since it is possible to pronounce it as haitch 
tee em ell.  But the generally accepted "proper" way to pronounce the letter H 
is "aitch", in which case it should be preceded with "an".

"Google votes" don't mean anything, btw - as Jeff said, popular does not 
necessarily mean correct, even with language.  This holds even for Harvard web 
sites.  When writing, people often don't think about sounds, so will write "a 
RSS" because RSS obviously starts with a consonant, right?

/end rant by a language nut

Alex


-- 
Why have I got six monitors?  Because I haven't got room for eight.
  -- Terry Pratchett
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