paging TOG

wrote:

Read the link to the OED that's been posted a couple of times for an
explanation. It's not "wrong", it's archaic, due to linguistic changes
over the period of a couple of hundred years.

You might as well get fanatical about "i before e except after c" ffs.

 

Would you say, for example, 'an euphemism about an utility belt'? I
think not. 'A' becomes 'An' when the first (pronounced) letter of the
following word is a vowel *sound* NOT when it's a vowel.

 

**** off boyo.

 

Land's End to Lowestoft.

 

Arrr. I'll agree with that, and so will your friends Michael and Mary.

 

I'm in North Wales? <squints out window> Could explain the weather,
I suppose.

 

What you need is a nice bottle of whisky to cheer you up. I have the
very thing here.

 

Much as it goes against the grain, I think, if you want to be really
pedantic, crn's statement is absolutely correct. In the example you
quote the first (pronounced) letter is not the 'u', but an unwritten
'y'.

 

There is no 'y', so it can't possibly be the first pronounced letter of
the word. You do pronounce the 'u', you just pronounce it as a 'y'.

If he'd said 'the first letter of the following word that you pronounce
as a vowel', he would've been correct. But using the standard 'word
starts with a vowel sound' is much easier & the common definition.

 

No, you misunderstand. In those cases as well, they're pronounced as
if there were a consonant before the initial vowel, so I'm arguning
that the first _pronounced_ letter is not a vowel, even if it's not
written as part of the word.

 

Agreed. And to be even more pedantic, it's not the first time crn has
been right.

 

That's frankly bonkers. You're saying you don't pronounce 'u' as 'yoo'.
If you just say the letter 'u' on its own, what do you say - 'ugh'?

 

That's right. When included within a word, the vowel sound associated
with the letter 'u' is as found in 'cut', 'mud', 'lucky' etc. etc.

The name of the letter has little to do with it's pronunciation. The
letters aitch and double-you are particularly good examples of this.

 

Cute?



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Better since he got his hair cut.

Why do you ask?

 

Just curious...

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Tyger, Tyger Burning Bright (Remove rust to reply)
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Triumph Sprint ST 1050: It's blue, see.
www.cuore-sportivo.co.uk

 

I don't have a regional accent.

HTH