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Discussion Forum—A Way with Words, a fun radio show and podcast about language

A Way with Words, a radio show and podcast about language and linguistics.

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"an HD" or "a HD" ?
Guest
1
2015/12/03 - 11:46am

Saw an ad last night on the SyFy channel that included the copy:  "Register now and get an HD copy of ..."

That just didn't scan. As it's pronounced in the spoken language, "an HD" works just fine. But when displayed as text and not spoken, the "an" just kinda grated on my "internal ear." Seems like "a" would have been more appropriate. A search of "an vs. a" wasn't much help ... all I could find was the spoken language rules.

Would appreciate some feedback from other forum members on their take about any "written vs. spoken" style guidelines. As I look back at some of my writing, I see I've done it both ways ... somewhat inconsistently. Thanks.

EmmettRedd
859 Posts
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2
2015/12/03 - 4:42pm

I am no authority but would write it like I say it. For example, I might have an herb in the garden but I have a Herb (as a few people call him) for a father.

deaconB
744 Posts
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3
2015/12/03 - 10:42pm

Here is a page that teaches grammar says that the spelling doesn't matter, that when a word starts with a vowel sound, you use an an

When I read silently, I *still* read aloud in my head; it's just that I've thrown out the clutch for the voicing mechanism.  Once I get to the "does that look right?" point, though, nothing looks right.  I have to think "that's not right" and correct things without thinking, in order for my biological auto-correct to work.

I'm sure some psychologist has earned his doctorate studying biological auto-correct, and there is a name for that "if you think about it, you're in dee-doodoo" syndrome, but I don't think I've ever heard it.

Do you really read text silently, instead of listening to yourself reading without using your mouth?  I'm not sure which one of us is the strange one on this topic. (I know I'm the  strange one on plenty of other things.)  Now there is another topic for a doctoral thesis....

Robert
553 Posts
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4
2015/12/04 - 2:34pm

It seems the choice of  An    or    A    should suggest the vocalizing  ( both in your head and outward ):

An  HD copy     says     An h d copy

A     HD copy     says    A  hot dish copy

An   FBI agent   says    An f b i agent

A     FBI agent   says    A fat bikinied imp agent

An   NFL athlete says   An n f l athlete

A     NFL athlete says   A neat fine lathered athlete

deaconB
744 Posts
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5
2015/12/04 - 11:17pm

It does seem odd that eff and aich are consonants that begin with vowels.  I guess it goes in the "why do we park in a driveway, and drive on a parkway?" file.

Guest
6
2015/12/06 - 9:58am

Robert said: It seems the choice of An or A should suggest the vocalizing  (both in your head and outward)

Yeah, that's the way they taught us to use the articles. Of course, as EmmettRedd points out, there are some identical spellings that get pronounced differently. Seems to happen a lot with "H" as the first letter. I think the fuzziest situation is when you have an acronym that's making the transition between being read as a string of letters (USA) and being pronounced as a word (NASA). Sometimes that transition is driven by usage. In the case of scientific acronyms, like the names of spacecraft, they often seem really "contrived" just to be pronounceable. Here a link to The Organization of Really Contrived Acronyms. Interesting list.

As you likely know, strings of characters that are not pronounceable (FBI, BBB, KBO) are another class, referred to as "initialisms" and not "acronyms."

EmmettRedd
859 Posts
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7
2015/12/06 - 2:21pm

Heimhenge said

Here a link to The Organization of Really Contrived Acronyms. Interesting list.

Does DOROTHY (Detector Of Rotating Or Tornadic winds Happening Yonder) make the grade of a really contrived acronym?

deaconB
744 Posts
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8
2015/12/06 - 4:25pm

Doesn't DOROTHY find most grades smack-dab flat after encountering tornadoes?

Guest
9
2015/12/07 - 10:01am

EmmettRedd said: Does DOROTHY (Detector Of Rotating Or Tornadic winds Happening Yonder) make the grade of a really contrived acronym?

I like that one. Clever! The website I linked to would classify that as a "pre hoc" acronym, where the abbreviation is forced to fit a relevant word. But they're rarely intentionally humorous like DOROTHY.

What I was referring to earlier is the use of acronyms for the names of spacecraft. For example: ARGOS = Advanced Research & Global Observation Satellite. Pretty much any one of those words could be replaced by something equivalent. Like "Sophisticated Experiment & World Monitoring Device". But then, SEWMD isn't pronounceable. I guess scientists and engineers just like to refer to their work as expediently as possible, and a pronounceable word is faster and easier to say than a string of characters. Now that I think of it, that's also fairly prevalent in the military.

Ron Draney
721 Posts
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10
2015/12/07 - 12:37pm

Some years ago I was supposed to come up with a program that would run on our network, watching for signs that any of the other nodes had failed and allowing us to watch from certain places whether certain other nodes had gone into "stand-in mode". Worked very hard to come up with a name for the program that would produce a suitable acronym with the right connotations. I wasn't able to come up with anything for SCRY, and only grudgingly had to accept the name that produced VIGIL (knowing that our off-shore contractors would insist on pronouncing it "wiggle").

I really admire the creators of the "Our Man Flint" movies who named the bad-guy spy group Zonal Organization World Intelligence Espionage

EmmettRedd
859 Posts
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11
2015/12/07 - 6:21pm

Heimhenge said

I like that one. Clever! The website I linked to would classify that as a "pre hoc" acronym, where the abbreviation is forced to fit a relevant word. But they're rarely intentionally humorous like DOROTHY.

Maybe not only humorous but also paying homage to the Wizard of Oz. This article describes a real tornado measurement device named after Dorothy's dog. Wikipedia Twister article mentions that its DOROTHY is based on the real TOTO. A couple of guys in the National Severe Storm Laboratory also have this paper of a real tornado that they connect to the Wizard of Oz.

Guest
12
2015/12/08 - 12:09am

I love good science.

Guest
13
2015/12/08 - 7:28am

EmmettRedd's links were interesting. I had forgotten that Dorothy's last name was Gale. How appropriate.

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