Changing one letter of a thread title

[kphoger]

But "a MRI" is wrong. It's "an MRI" because the letter "M," when pronounced as a letter, starts with a short vowel sound ("em"), such that it takes the form "an." It doesn't matter whether it "looks better" to you—it's wrong, and it sounds awful when read out loud.

I thought everyone pronounced it as "mree" . . ?

[Poiponen13]

Has Anyone Ever Done an MRE? - in the military.

Has Anyone Ever Done a MRI? - a one that looks better to me, as letter M is a consonant.

But "a MRI" is wrong. It's "an MRI" because the letter "M," when pronounced as a letter, starts with a short vowel sound ("em"), such that it takes the form "an." It doesn't matter whether it "looks better" to you—it's wrong, and it sounds awful when read out loud. (The same principle applies to some other consonants: F, H, L, N, R, S, and X.)

H can be pronounced as "haitch".

[Rothman]

But "a MRI" is wrong. It's "an MRI" because the letter "M," when pronounced as a letter, starts with a short vowel sound ("em"), such that it takes the form "an." It doesn't matter whether it "looks better" to you—it's wrong, and it sounds awful when read out loud.

I thought everyone pronounced it as "mree" . . ?

O.o

[dlsterner]

Has Anyone Ever Done an MRE? - in the military.

Has Anyone Ever Done a MRI? - a one that looks better to me, as letter M is a consonant.

But "a MRI" is wrong. It's "an MRI" because the letter "M," when pronounced as a letter, starts with a short vowel sound ("em"), such that it takes the form "an." It doesn't matter whether it "looks better" to you—it's wrong, and it sounds awful when read out loud. (The same principle applies to some other consonants: F, H, L, N, R, S, and X.)

H can be pronounced as "haitch".

But it's not the letter, it's the syllable.  For example:

"It took me an hour to understand one of Poiponen's posts".  Even though "hour" starts with "h", "an hour" is correct here.

Also can apply to vowels like U - you can have "an understanding" and you can have "a union".

[GaryV]

Has Anyone Ever Done an MRE? - in the military.

Has Anyone Ever Done a MRI? - a one that looks better to me, as letter M is a consonant.

But "a MRI" is wrong. It's "an MRI" because the letter "M," when pronounced as a letter, starts with a short vowel sound ("em"), such that it takes the form "an." It doesn't matter whether it "looks better" to you—it's wrong, and it sounds awful when read out loud. (The same principle applies to some other consonants: F, H, L, N, R, S, and X.)

H can be pronounced as "haitch".

But it's not the letter, it's the syllable.  For example:

"It took me an hour to understand one of Poiponen's posts".  Even though "hour" starts with "h", "an hour" is correct here.

Also can apply to vowels like U - you can have "an understanding" and you can have "a union".

P13 is correct here. Some people pronounce the letter "aitch" and others pronounce it "haitch".

The rest of your examples are valid.

Not that anything else P13 said about MRI has any standing.

[kphoger]

To clarify:

Has Anyone Ever Done a MRI? - a one that looks better to me, as letter M is a consonant.

It's "an MRI" because the letter "M," when pronounced as a letter, starts with a short vowel sound ("em"), such that it takes the form "an." It doesn't matter whether it "looks better" to you—it's wrong, and it sounds awful when read out loud. (The same principle applies to some other consonants: F, H, L, N, R, S, and X.)

H can be pronounced as "haitch".

But it's not the letter, it's the syllable.  For example:

"It took me an hour to understand one of Poiponen's posts".  Even though "hour" starts with "h", "an hour" is correct here.

Also can apply to vowels like U - you can have "an understanding" and you can have "a union".

1995hoo's point was that the "M" in "MRI" is pronounced with its letter name, em, and that the vowel sound at the beginning of that letter name prompts the indefinite article to be "an".  He pointed out that that's also true for the letter "H", whose letter name, aitch, begins with a vowel sound.

Poopingon13's flimsy response is that some people say haitch instead of aitch, which is to say that its letter name would have a consonant sound at the beginning and therefore prompt the indefinite article to be "a".  Thus, for "an HD TV":  "an aitch dee tee vee" or "a haitch dee tee vee".

[Dirt Roads]

Has Anyone Ever Done a MRI? - a one that looks better to me, as letter M is a consonant.

It's "an MRI" because the letter "M," when pronounced as a letter, starts with a short vowel sound ("em"), such that it takes the form "an." It doesn't matter whether it "looks better" to you—it's wrong, and it sounds awful when read out loud. (The same principle applies to some other consonants: F, H, L, N, R, S, and X.)

H can be pronounced as "haitch".

Oh my!  Is Poiponen13 actually from West Virginia???

But it's not the letter, it's the syllable.  For example:

"It took me an hour to understand one of Poiponen's posts".  Even though "hour" starts with "h", "an hour" is correct here.

Also can apply to vowels like U - you can have "an understanding" and you can have "a union".

To clarify:

1995hoo's point was that the "M" in "MRI" is pronounced with its letter name, em, and that the vowel sound at the beginning of that letter name prompts the indefinite article to be "an".  He pointed out that that's also true for the letter "H", whose letter name, aitch, begins with a vowel sound.

Poopingon13's flimsy response is that some people say haitch instead of aitch, which is to say that its letter name would have a consonant sound at the beginning and therefore prompt the indefinite article to be "a".  Thus, for "an HD TV":  "an aitch dee tee vee" or "a haitch dee tee vee".

But even in West Virginia, we would still properly say that is "ann haitch dee-tee vee".  Note that the "D" and the "T" should run together.

[vdeane]

National Boards > Bridges > Two few Vladivostok Bridges — Poiponen13 recommends more

After he recommends giving the Far East to Lithuania.

[Scott5114]

National Boards > Bridges > Help sought on the mate of a bridge — trying to reproduce it naturally

And nine months later (plus time to do an EIS, plus time to resolve NIMBY lawsuits, plus weather delays)...
"I-10 Calcasieu River Bridge....DAD??"

[Big John]

^^only 9 months to do those?  Very fast.

[Max Rockatansky]

- to continue my previous thread on the trans-global highway, thoughts on mileage?

[1995hoo]

The only person I've ever heard pronounce "H" as "haitch" is Peter Noone, the lead singer of Herman's Hermits, in the song "I'm Henry VIII, I Am," when he spells out "Henry" late in the song—at the very end, he sings it like "haitch, e, n, ah, y—'Enery ('Enery!), 'Enery ('Enery!)—'Enery the eighth I am, I am, 'Enery the eighth I am." (You can thank me later for getting that song stuck in your heads all day.)

I suppose there is one other situation in which one might use "a" with "H," and that is if you're using the NATO alphabet, in which "H" is "hotel," to name the letters. Even then, I suppose someone might pronounce "hotel" as "'otel," but that defeats the point of the NATO alphabet and would be non-standard for military and aviation purposes.

[kphoger]

Poiponen13 in one tread

[kphoger]

But even in West Virginia, we would still properly say that is "ann haitch ...

I was wondering about that.

[Poiponen13]

Poiponen13 in one tread

What does that mean?

[Max Rockatansky]

Poiponen13 in one tread

What does that mean?

Means no.

[kphoger]

Poiponen13 in one tread

What does that mean?

What does that mean?

What does what mean?

[Scott5114]

What does that mean?

[Poiponen13]

Poiponen13 in one tread

What does this picture mean?

[Max Rockatansky]

Poiponen13 in one tread

What does this picture mean?

Means no.

[GaryV]

Poiponen13 in one tread

What does this picture mean?

It means someone took a picture of a rather dilapidated Winnie the Pooh figurine next to a tire tread.

[kphoger]

What does this picture mean?

The black thing is a tire tread.  The yellow thing, that was pulled out from inside it, is Poiponen13 in one tread.

[Poiponen13]

What does this picture mean?

The black thing is a tire tread.  The yellow thing, that was pulled out from inside it, is Poiponen13 in one tread.

A Winnie the Pooh thread would be "Winnie the Pooh in one thread". And it would be funnily changed to "Winnie the Pooh in one tread".

[Big John]

On this site, it would be Winnie the Poo in one thread.

[kphoger]

On this site, it would be Winnie the Poo in one thread.

That would be cool.