# Trump is dying **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Tags:** trump\ **Created:** [August 27, 2025, 7:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-is-dying/1022520 "2025-08-27T07:09:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 92
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2026, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-is-dying/1022520/1822 "2026-03-07T16:13:11Z")
> [@Frodo](#): > > A before a consonant and AN before a vowel, but then you lot go on about “An SUV” , so I deduced that is not applicable to the actual letter but the letter’s pronunciation If you pronounced the word “suv”, you would use the ‘a’, but SUV is pronounced “ess u vee”, it’s essentially three separate words and ess starts with a vowel. It’s confusing until you think about it a little. ---
**Author:** ![fachverwirrt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/94ad74/32.png) [@fachverwirrt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fachverwirrt)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2026, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-is-dying/1022520/1823 "2026-03-07T16:55:03Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > Yes, let’s critique the grammar of an enormous lewd banner attacking the sitting president. In the spirit of Dopish pedantry, “a” vs. “an” isn’t grammar. It would fall more in the realm of prosody than anything else, I think. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2026, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-is-dying/1022520/1824 "2026-03-07T16:55:40Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > the sitting president You may have misspelled “shitting.” ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2026, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-is-dying/1022520/1825 "2026-03-07T17:23:43Z")
Why not both? ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2026, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-is-dying/1022520/1826 "2026-03-07T17:25:20Z")
(I know 🙂 ) ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2026, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-is-dying/1022520/1827 "2026-03-07T17:26:51Z")
But this is written language, not spoken language… Nevertheless, you are right, it’s not so confusing, (Except that I never really learned the names of the letters in English, but that’s on me). ---
**Author:** ![Knowed\_Out](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/knowed_out/32/7380_2.png) [@Knowed\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knowed_Out)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2026, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-is-dying/1022520/1828 "2026-03-07T18:31:42Z")
So nobody’s going to say “Yeah, way to stick it to Trump in public”? All you can see is a grammatical error? Sheesh… ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2026, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-is-dying/1022520/1829 "2026-03-07T19:24:15Z")
Maybe they were counting on people saying “sexually transmitted disease” when they saw it. ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2026, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-is-dying/1022520/1830 "2026-03-07T19:25:01Z")
> [@Knowed\_Out](#): > > So nobody’s going to say “Yeah, way to stick it to Trump in public”? All you can see is a grammatical error? Sheesh… > [@Maus\_Magill](#): > > Welcome to the Straight Dope. 🙂 Did i stutter? 🤦‍♀️ ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2026, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-is-dying/1022520/1831 "2026-03-07T20:14:09Z")
All this ruckus about Mr. Potato Head’s neck. It’s like nobody’s ever seen diaper rash on an asshole before! ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2026, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-is-dying/1022520/1832 "2026-03-07T20:45:43Z")
> [@Frodo](#): > > The an/a thing mystifies me, I thought originally that it was A before a consonant and AN before a vowel It’s the sound, not the letter. An honor A union ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2026, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-is-dying/1022520/1833 "2026-03-07T23:42:42Z")
The reason to use “an” is because it’s awkward to pronounce two sequential vowel sounds. We have a tendency to mash them together. So “a apple” would become something like “ayapple”, and then it’s difficult to understand what’s being said. So, we insert a consonant in between. It becomes “an apple”, with the “n” consonant making a clear phonetic break between the words. That break between vowels is hard-coded into English. It’s not an arbitrary rule, but a completely necessary one that I believe all native English speakers instinctively understand. We always have consonant sounds between vowel syllables, whether that’s reflected in writing or not. We just don’t have consecutive vowel syllables. Even words written that way are never pronounced that way. For example, the word “beauty” has three consecutive vowels but they’re all one syllable; in standard American English pronunciation, it sounds like “byoo-tee”. The “eau” becomes a “yoo” sound, as we blend them in together. So yes, “a” or “an” depends on whether or not the beginning of the following word starts with a vowel or consonant _sound_, and ignores what actual _letter_ the word starts with. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2026, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-is-dying/1022520/1834 "2026-03-07T23:57:44Z")
A curious thing about “an” is how it became rebracketed in the past. It used to be ‘a napron’ before it morphed into ‘an apron’, and then inversely ‘an ickname’ became ‘a nickname’. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2026, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-is-dying/1022520/1835 "2026-03-08T00:00:58Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > It used to be ‘a napron’ before it morphed into ‘an apron’, and then inversely ‘an ickname’ became ‘a nickname’. While the “n” makes it easier to understand in speech, moving the “n” over to the “a” to form “an” makes it easier to understand in writing. But that’s a very interesting piece of history. ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2026, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-is-dying/1022520/1836 "2026-03-08T00:47:29Z")
Similarly with a nuncle and a norange. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2026, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-is-dying/1022520/1837 "2026-03-08T01:23:57Z")
And, a newt (I got better). ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2026, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-is-dying/1022520/1838 "2026-03-08T04:33:32Z")
> [@Atamasama](#): > > > [@GuanoLad](#): > > > > It used to be ‘a napron’ before it morphed into ‘an apron’, and then inversely ‘an ickname’ became ‘a nickname’. > > While the “n” makes it easier to understand in speech, moving the “n” over to the “a” to form “an” makes it easier to understand in writing. But that’s a very interesting piece of history. And, of course, the original word is “an” (meaning “one”) before it was as truncated to “a”. > **[Etymology 2 - a - Wiktionary, the free dictionary](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/a#Etymology_2_2)** > > From Middle English a, an, from Old English ān (“one; a; lone; sole”). More at one. The "n" was gradually lost before consonants in almost all dialects by the 15th century. Cognate with Alemannic German a (“a, an”), East Franconian a (“a, an”). ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2026, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-is-dying/1022520/1839 "2026-03-08T04:39:24Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > ‘an ickname’ became ‘a nickname’. IIRC it was [ekename](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ekename) that got morphed. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2026, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-is-dying/1022520/1840 "2026-03-08T05:45:29Z")
I hoped to take advantage of how crazy spelling was back then that nobody would check. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2026, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-is-dying/1022520/1841 "2026-03-08T05:48:51Z")
Well, the ‘great N shift’ still stands, either way. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-is-dying/1022520.md?page=91) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-is-dying/1022520.md?page=93)