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

Gavin Flower <gavinflower@archidevsys.co.nz>

From: Gavin Flower <GavinFlower@archidevsys.co.nz>

To: Isaac Morland <isaac.morland@gmail.com>, David Rowley <dgrowleyml@gmail.com>

Cc: Daniel Gustafsson <daniel@yesql.se>, Dave Page <dpage@pgadmin.org>, Peter Eisentraut <peter.eisentraut@enterprisedb.com>, PostgreSQL Developers <pgsql-hackers@lists.postgresql.org>

Date: 2021-06-10T20:10:49Z

Lists: pgsql-hackers

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Doc: use "an SQL" consistently rather than "a SQL"
- a78cf591a3f5 19 (unreleased) landed
- d866f0374ca6 16.0 landed
- 7bdd489d3d32 15.0 landed
Doc: use "an SQL" instead of "a SQL"
- b1b13d2b524e 17.0 landed
Use the correct article for abbreviations
- 04539e73faaa 14.0 landed

On 11/06/21 2:48 am, Isaac Morland wrote:
> On Thu, 10 Jun 2021 at 10:43, David Rowley <dgrowleyml@gmail.com 
> <mailto:dgrowleyml@gmail.com>> wrote:
>
>     -      requires an MIT Kerberos installation and opens TCP/IP
>     listen sockets.
>     +       requires a MIT Kerberos installation and opens TCP/IP
>     listen sockets.
>
>     I think all of these should use "a" rather than "an".
>
>
> “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


Cheers,
Gavin