# An Unicorn? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 12, 2015, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-unicorn/730948 "2015-09-12T22:09:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2015, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-unicorn/730948/41 "2015-09-15T02:02:01Z")
> [@Dr.Strangelove](#): > > Sometimes it’s less jarring than the alternative. Most Americans use a glottal stop in “button” instead of enunciating the _T_s. Right, but as someone upthread mentioned, it’s jarring to the ear and the speaker to use a glottal stop at the beginning of a word. Much more tolerated in the middle of words. ---
**Author:** ![amanset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2015, 9:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-unicorn/730948/42 "2015-09-15T09:36:51Z")
In another thread today someone linked to an article about flour beetles. On [said page](http://www.pantrypest.com/confusedflour.htm) there is this as a headline: > [@](#): > > How to Detect An Flour Beetle Infestation Is that a normal American use of “an”, because as a Brit that looks all sorts of weird to me. ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2015, 10:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-unicorn/730948/43 "2015-09-15T10:10:18Z")
> [@amanset](#): > > In another thread today someone linked to an article about flour beetles. On [said page](http://www.pantrypest.com/confusedflour.htm) there is this as a headline: > > Is that a normal American use of “an”, because as a Brit that looks all sorts of weird to me. Probably edited by a _confused flour beetle_ ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2015, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-unicorn/730948/44 "2015-09-15T16:11:33Z")
> [@amanset](#): > > Is that a normal American use of “an”, because as a Brit that looks all sorts of weird to me. No, that’s just wrong. It’s probably an editing error of “How to detect an infestation of flour beetles.” ---
**Author:** ![amanset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2015, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-unicorn/730948/45 "2015-09-15T16:18:45Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > No, that’s just wrong. It’s probably an editing error of “How to detect an infestation of flour beetles.” I thought as much. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Honey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honey/32/5074_2.png) [@Honey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Honey)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2015, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-unicorn/730948/46 "2015-09-16T13:41:37Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > [“Can it core a apple?”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WySVFjfHSqs) That’s exactly what I was thinking of. “Certainly, it can core a apple” 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2015, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-unicorn/730948/47 "2015-09-16T14:07:53Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > “humble” is another word that is sometimes preceded by “a” and sometimes by “an”, depending (I suppose) on whether the speaker thinks the h is silent. No, it depends on whether that particular person pronounces the “h” in his own dialect. One of the significant differences between the American dialects (all of them, AFAIK) and the Canadian is whether the “h” in “herb” is pronounced. So in Canada, it would be, “a herb”, while in the US, it is “an herb”. The “a eulogy” is a nice example I had not noticed. Similarly there is a mathematical concept of “a Euclidean domain”. Another “u” example is “a university”. And “a gram is a unit of mass”. ---
**Author:** ![AllShookDown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d9b06d/32.png) [@AllShookDown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AllShookDown)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2015, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-unicorn/730948/48 "2015-09-16T15:53:56Z")
> [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](#): > > This doesn’t negate what she said, it’s the same exact example. “An herbal” is correct if you pronounce it “an 'erbal.” If you pronounce the H, then it would be “a herbal.” And, if I recall correctly from an A Way With Words podcast, British English speakers pronounce the “h” in “herbal” because when they adopted “herb” from French, they pronounced the “h”, which the French didn’t. American English, rather than adopting “herb” from British English adopted it independently from French and kept the French pronunciation. Or something like that. This whole a/an thing drives me nuts because you hear American media saying things like “an historical” and “an hysterical” all over the place these days. I’m surprised they don’t say “an horse” yet. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2015, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-unicorn/730948/49 "2015-09-16T17:22:45Z")
> [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > No, it depends on whether that particular person pronounces the “h” in his own dialect. One of the significant differences between the American dialects (all of them, AFAIK) and the Canadian is whether the “h” in “herb” is pronounced. So in Canada, it would be, “a herb”, while in the US, it is “an herb”. > > The “a eulogy” is a nice example I had not noticed. Similarly there is a mathematical concept of “a Euclidean domain”. Another “u” example is “a university”. And “a gram is a unit of mass”. Huh, I didn’t know that about Canadian dialect. However, your latter examples are all the sorts of examples in line with the OP. You use an “a” because next word doesn’t start with a vowel _sound_. They start with a “y” sound. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2015, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-unicorn/730948/50 "2015-09-16T17:24:43Z")
Sort of makes me wonder if many native New York City folks would say, “a human” or “an human”. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2015, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-unicorn/730948/51 "2015-09-16T17:48:17Z")
> [@cmyk](#): > > Sort of makes me wonder if many native New York City folks would say, “a human” or “an human”. 😛 I’m not sure what you mean. Whether you drop the h (as a New York accent sometimes does) or not, human would still take “a” (yuman vs hyuman). ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2015, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-unicorn/730948/52 "2015-09-16T18:02:56Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > I’m not sure what you mean. Whether you drop the h (as a New York accent sometimes does) or not, human would still take “a” (yuman vs hyuman). Damn! I didn’t think that one through. Did I? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-unicorn/730948.md?page=2)