# Is it AN historic day? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 12, 2001, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-an-historic-day/86955 "2001-10-12T01:46:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![pohjonen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pohjonen/32/423_2.png) [@pohjonen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pohjonen)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2001, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-an-historic-day/86955/1 "2001-10-12T01:46:42Z")
Is AN historic day really correct? This has always bothered me. After all, you don’t say I’m gonna ride an horse. Have AN happy birthday. Isn’t that AN helluva note. It always sounded to pretentious to actually be correct. Someone please tell me I’ve been right all along. It would be such an happy day for me. Poh ---
**Author:** ![GilaB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8e7dd6/32.png) [@GilaB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GilaB)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2001, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-an-historic-day/86955/2 "2001-10-12T01:55:50Z")
According to the formal rules of grammar that I was trained with in junior high and high school, yes, words that begin with an “h” should be preceded with “an”, not “a”, just like words that begin with a vowel. However, it’s a pretty archaic rule, particularly in America - I’ve never met anyone who spoke that way, and most grammarians (IIRC) count both the “a” and “an” forms as correct. ---
**Author:** ![Dale\_The\_Bold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/41988e/32.png) [@Dale\_The\_Bold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_The_Bold)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2001, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-an-historic-day/86955/3 "2001-10-12T02:01:39Z")
My guess has always been that the “H” has been given more emphasis as our language changed, as a result h’istory has become “hhhistory.” An 'istoric, became “a historic.” However, I remember my grade school english teacher saying that words that start with “H” are preceded with “an.” It still works with “an hour.” Perhaps it has something to to with the strength of the “H.” An 'istoric event. I’m reminded of a UB40 song… “'ere I am baby Come and take me by the 'and.” This is nothing more than a theory, so take it for what it’s worth. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2001, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-an-historic-day/86955/4 "2001-10-12T02:05:47Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by GilaB \* > \*\*According to the formal rules of grammar that I was trained with in junior high and high school, yes, words that begin with an “h” should be preceded with “an”, not “a”, just like words that begin with a vowel. However, it’s a pretty archaic rule, particularly in America - I’ve never met anyone who spoke that way, and most grammarians (IIRC) count both the “a” and “an” forms as correct. \*\* It has everything to do with the first sound of the word, not the first letter. If the h is silent, use an. If the h is not silent, use a. A horse An honest man Haj (A Haj!) ---
**Author:** ![pohjonen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pohjonen/32/423_2.png) [@pohjonen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pohjonen)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2001, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-an-historic-day/86955/5 "2001-10-12T02:13:55Z")
Well, then it should be A history, right? In hour and onest the H is silent. In history, it ain’t. It’s A historic day! ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2001, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-an-historic-day/86955/6 "2001-10-12T02:49:16Z")
We can actually get a general consensus regarding the rule. What we cannot get any _general_ agreement on is our (collective and world-scattered) pronunciation (as demonstrated in the [“Anyways” & “An historic”](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=77977) thread of last July). ---
**Author:** ![CaveMike](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cavemike/32/16379_2.png) [@CaveMike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaveMike)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2001, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-an-historic-day/86955/7 "2001-10-12T03:05:24Z")
More support for the 'istoric crowd: [http://www.webster.com/wftw/00jul/071900.htm](http://www.webster.com/wftw/00jul/071900.htm) ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2001, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-an-historic-day/86955/8 "2001-10-12T03:12:35Z")
As a graduate student in history who is constantly surrounded by people using the term “historic”, it seems to me that the most common indefinite article used before the term in both Australia and the US is “an”. I don’t have a dictionary of American usage with me, but my _Fowler’s Modern English Usage_ (Third Edition, ed. R.W. Burchfield) has this to say: > [@](#): > > The thoroughly modern thing to do is use **a** (never **an** ) together with an aspirated **h** (_a habitual, a heroic, a historical, a Homeric, a hypothesis_), but not to demur if others use **an** with minimal or nil aspiration given to the following **h** (_an historic, an horrific_, etc.)… > > At the present time, especially in written English, there is abundant evidence for the use of **an** before _habitual, historian, historic(al), horrific_ and _horrendous_, but the choice of form remains open. All this was under the entry for **a, an** ; under the entry for **historic** , it says: > [@](#): > > When preceded by the indefinite article, the following pattern is recommended: _an historic, an historian_; but _a history_.