Horton

Re: "an SQL" vs. "a SQL"

Isaac Morland <isaac.morland@gmail.com>

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From: Isaac Morland <isaac.morland@gmail.com>
To: Gavin Flower <GavinFlower@archidevsys.co.nz>
Cc: David Rowley <dgrowleyml@gmail.com>, Daniel Gustafsson <daniel@yesql.se>, Dave Page <dpage@pgadmin.org>, Peter Eisentraut <peter.eisentraut@enterprisedb.com>, PostgreSQL Developers <pgsql-hackers@lists.postgresql.org>
Date: 2021-06-10T20:17:55Z
Lists: pgsql-hackers

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  1. Doc: use "an SQL" consistently rather than "a SQL"

  2. Doc: use "an SQL" instead of "a SQL"

  3. Use the correct article for abbreviations

On Thu, 10 Jun 2021 at 16:11, Gavin Flower <GavinFlower@archidevsys.co.nz>
wrote:

> On 11/06/21 2:48 am, Isaac Morland wrote:
>


> > “A MIT …”? As far as I know it is pronounced M - I - T, which would
> > imply that it should use “an”. The following page seems believable and
> > is pretty unequivocal on the issue:
> >
> > https://mitadmissions.org/blogs/entry/como_se_dice/
> > <https://mitadmissions.org/blogs/entry/como_se_dice/>
> >
> The rule is, in English, is that if the word sounds like it starts with
> a vowel then use 'an' rather than 'a'.  Though some people think that
> the rule only applies to words beginning with a vowel, which is a
> misunderstanding.
>
> So 'an SQL' and 'an MIT'  are correct.   IMHO
>

Right, spelling is irrelevant, it's about whether the word begins with a
vowel *sound*. Or so I've always understood and I'm pretty sure if you
listen to what people actually say that's what you'll generally hear. So "A
uranium mine" not "An uranium mine" since "uranium" begins with a "y-"
sound just like "yesterday". The fact that "u" is a vowel is irrelevant.
But then there is "an historic occasion" so go figure.