a humble/an humble
Jacqui
>
> Is it "legal" to write "an humble opinion", or must it be written "a
> humble opinion"? British English is more relevant that American English,
> but I'm grateful for all answers.
OED
1548 Hall Chron., Rich. III 46 An humble page.
Unfortunately the only quotation with a/an is 16th century. I'd *say* a
humble but might well write an humble. That doesn't help at all, does
it?
Jac
Rich
Løken) wrote:
>Is it "legal" to write "an humble opinion", or must it be written "a
>humble opinion"? British English is more relevant that American English,
>but I'm grateful for all answers.
An humble??????? Nope, it does not work at all.
Mike Barnes
>Is it "legal" to write "an humble opinion", or must it be written "a
>humble opinion"? British English is more relevant that American English,
>but I'm grateful for all answers.
I (British) think "an humble" looks weird. If I heard that phrase spoken
I would expect the "h" to be silent - but then I'd expect it to be
spelled "'umble" (apostrophe instead of "h"), like Dickens did, IIRC, in
the words of Uriah Heep.
Even my spell-checker doesn't like "an humble".
--
Mike Barnes
Michael Jameson
I have enough difficulty with the idea of calling a hotel 'a notel' for the
sake of a few francophiles, I'm not going to start saying 'a numble' for a
humble when there's no reason for the H to be silent anyway... And if it
isn't silent then what reason would anyone have for inserting an N?
Michael Jameson.
Lars Eighner
the lovely and talented Arve Løken
broadcast on alt.usage.english:
AL> Is it "legal" to write "an humble opinion", or must it be written
AL> "a humble opinion"? British English is more relevant that American
AL> English, but I'm grateful for all answers.
There is no English academy, so legality doesn't come into it.
Almost all the issues of "a" versus "an" occur with words beginning
with "h." If the "h" is pronounced, it should take "a," and if the
"h" is silent, it should take "an."
Words beginning with "h" may be divided roughly into four groups:
Words which all or almost all educated speakers pronounce with the
"h." These words would include "house, horse, hat, hot, and (now in
English) hotel." These all should take "a."
Words which all or almost all educated speakers pronounce without the
"h." "Honor" is an example of such a word. It should take "an."
Words which are pronounced differently by educated speakers in
different places. "Herb" is one such word, and "humble," which you
have asked about is another. I believe both of these are pronounced
with the "h" in British English. So, the answer to your question is
that it is "a humble" in British English. "A humble" is also correct
in most of the USA, but it was "an humble" in the Texas of my youth
(some forty years ago). It is "an herb" in most of the USA.
Words which are the subject of dispute because educated speakers
disagree concerning what they are saying and hearing. "Historic" is
the foremost example. While there is general agreement that it is "a
history," some speakers believe they do not pronounce the "h" in
"historic" (and in other words where the stress is not on the first
syllable). Some speakers hear the "h" and use "a," but other speakers
do not hear the "h" and use "an." Objective analysis of what speakers
are actually saying may show that one group is "right" and the other
is "wrong," but that does not help much because each speaker is
"right" according to his own perception.
The issue really, then, is not "a" or "an" but whether the "h" is
pronounced in the "h" word. If your choice of "a" or "an" agrees with
your pronunciation of the "h" word, you won't be completely wrong,
but your pronunciation of the "h" word may seem peculiar according
to the dialect of the listener.
--
Lars Eighner eig...@io.com http://www.io.com/~eighner/
OLE users: My reader discards html and all multipart news and email unread
"Any activity becomes creative when the doer cares about doing it
right, or doing it better." --John Updike
Donna Richoux
> Is it "legal" to write "an humble opinion", or must it be written "a
> humble opinion"? British English is more relevant that American English,
> but I'm grateful for all answers.
I know you are asking about modern usage, not historic, but I thought
I'd point out that in the works of Shakespeare, "humble" appears 72
times, "an humble" eight times, and "a humble" zero. From this we
conclude that the H was silent at that time.
Typical uses:
But if an humble prayer may prevail,
I then crave pardon of your majesty.
I am an humble suitor to your virtues;
This cardinal,
Though from an humble stock, undoubtedly
Was fashion'd to much honour from his cradle.
Although times have changed, perhaps whoever you are arguing with was
influenced by studying classic literature.
--
Best --- Donna Richoux
Stephen Toogood
Løken <arve...@mar01.loken.priv.no> writes
>Is it "legal" to write "an humble opinion", or must it be written "a
>humble opinion"? British English is more relevant that American English,
>but I'm grateful for all answers.
>
pronounce 'humble' with a silent 'h', and you do find 'an humble' quite
often in older documents. A famous example is in the Book of Common
Prayer (1662): '... but confess them with an humble, lowly, penitent and
obedient heart; to the end that we may obtain forgiveness of the
same...'. The aspirated h gained ground rapidly in the 20thC, but
starting well before that.
When I was young, I was taught that 'humble' was derived from 'umbles',
which are the entrails of deer, which the lowly had to eat. My
dictionary suggests that this was actually a load of tosh, and that the
two are derived from quite separate Latin words.
Anyway, I shall continue to write 'an humble', and most people will
think it an affectation. About that they'll be wrong.
--
Stephen Toogood
Tom Deveson
>
>Although times have changed, perhaps whoever you are arguing with was
>influenced by studying classic literature.
As late as 1897, Kipling was writing in *Recessional*:
"...Still stands Thine ancient sacrifice,
An humble and a contrite heart..."
As the rest of the poem (and even of this quotation) shows, Kipling was
deliberately using archaic/Biblical turns of phrase. But because the
poem has been so well-known in England, the use by others of 'an humble'
perhaps appears less strange here than it really should.
Tom
--
Tom Deveson
N.Mitchum
-----
> Is it "legal" to write "an humble opinion", or must it be written "a
> humble opinion"? British English is more relevant that American English,
> but I'm grateful for all answers.
I'm American, but I think I can safely say that Britons would not
write "an humble opinion." Even if there were a minority usage of
"an humble," you'd never go wrong in writing "a humble opinion."
----NM
ref
> Is it "legal" to write "an humble opinion", or must it be written "a
> humble opinion"? British English is more relevant that American English,
> but I'm grateful for all answers.
Only "a humble" is correct in contemporary American English.
Michael T. Myers
<lieb...@erols.com> wrote:
>
>And yet the Humble Oil Company, headquartered in Texas (and merged
>into Exxon three decades or so ago),
My Texan grandparents still call any gas/petrol station an "Humble
station" (note mute h).
>allowed the announcers in its
>TV commercials to apply a quite perceptible aitch to the start of
>its name.
>Humble Oil was named for Humble, Texas,
Not that I'm an expert on anything at this point, but local lore has
it that the town was named for the company. This page was somewhat
helpful:
http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/view/EE/doe4.html
>a small town north of
>Houston. See <http://www.humblearea.com>.
Though Humble has remained a separate incorporated entity, it is now
surrounded by Houston.
>I have no idea how the
>residents of the town pronounce its name, and the website is no
>help.
The h is silent.
Lars Eighner
the lovely and talented Robert Lieblich
broadcast on alt.usage.english:
RL> Lars Eighner wrote: [ . . . ]
>> "A humble" is also correct in most of the USA, but it was "an
>> humble" in the Texas of my youth (some forty years ago). It is "an
>> herb" in most of the USA.
RL> And yet the Humble Oil Company, headquartered in Texas (and merged
RL> into Exxon three decades or so ago), allowed the announcers in its
RL> TV commercials to apply a quite perceptible aitch to the start of
RL> its name.
RL> Humble Oil was named for Humble, Texas, a small town north of
RL> Houston. See <http://www.humblearea.com>. I have no idea how the
RL> residents of the town pronounce its name, and the website is no
RL> help.
There is no accounting for proper names or marketing, but locally it
was 'Umble, Texas and the 'Umble Building in the late '50s and early
'60s in Houston. Humble, Texas, was then a little drive out in the
country, where I was often taken on fair Sundays to a hamburger stand
which was the one, so I was told, where my mother and her parents on
another Sunday had received with their hamburgers the news that Pearl
Harbor had been attacked.
--
Lars Eighner eig...@io.com http://www.io.com/~eighner/
OLE users: My reader discards html and all multipart news and email unread
"In America only the successful writer is important, in France all
writers are important, in England no writer is important, and in
Australia you have to explain what a writer is." ---Geoffrey Cottrell
Steve Hayes
>Is it "legal" to write "an humble opinion", or must it be written "a
>humble opinion"? British English is more relevant that American English,
>but I'm grateful for all answers.
If you're in the 'abit of dropping your aitches, it's more euphonious, innit?
Steve Hayes
http://www.suite101.com/myhome.cfm/methodius
Rainer Thonnes
Lars Eighner <eig...@io.com> writes:
>In our last episode, <1eq9m79.1ifmgix155pz9fN%arve...@mar01.loken.priv.no>,
>the lovely and talented Arve Løken
>broadcast on alt.usage.english:
>
>AL> Is it "legal" to write "an humble opinion", or must it be written
>AL> "a humble opinion"? British English is more relevant that American
>AL> English, but I'm grateful for all answers.
>
>There is no English academy, so legality doesn't come into it.
Yes it does, because the meaning of "legal" which seems most appropriate
in this context is "conforming to or permitted by law or established rules".
Even without an English Academy, English does have established rules.
Therefore it is not wrong to describe as illegal something which violates
established rules of English.
Ross Howard
>In our last episode, <3AB03776...@erols.com>,
>the lovely and talented Robert Lieblich
>broadcast on alt.usage.english:
>
>RL> Lars Eighner wrote: [ . . . ]
>
>>> "A humble" is also correct in most of the USA, but it was "an
>>> humble" in the Texas of my youth (some forty years ago). It is "an
>>> herb" in most of the USA.
>
>RL> And yet the Humble Oil Company, headquartered in Texas (and merged
>RL> into Exxon three decades or so ago), allowed the announcers in its
>RL> TV commercials to apply a quite perceptible aitch to the start of
>RL> its name.
>
>RL> Humble Oil was named for Humble, Texas, a small town north of
>RL> Houston. See <http://www.humblearea.com>. I have no idea how the
>RL> residents of the town pronounce its name, and the website is no
>RL> help.
>
>There is no accounting for proper names or marketing, but locally it
>was 'Umble, Texas and the 'Umble Building in the late '50s and early
>'60s in Houston. Humble, Texas, was then a little drive out in the
>country, where I was often taken on fair Sundays to a hamburger stand
>which was the one, so I was told, where my mother and her parents on
>another Sunday had received with their hamburgers the news that Pearl
>Harbor had been attacked.
Was it Pearl Arbor or Ann Harbor?
Ross Howard
jenen...@gmail.com
Paul Carmichael
umbel, n.
Pronunciation:
/ˈʌmb(ə)l/
Forms: Also 15–18 umbell, 15–17 umble, 17 umbil.
Frequency (in current use):
Etymology: < Latin umbella sun-shade, parasol, diminutive of umbra shadow. So Spanish
umbela...
a. Botany. A mass of inflorescence borne upon pedicels of nearly equal length springing
from a common centre. Cf. umbella n. 1.
Not written with an h though.
--
Paul.
https://paulc.es/
https://asetrad.org
Phil Hobbs
> On 07/09/2019 22:36, jenen...@gmail.com wrote:
>> The h IS silent here.
>>
>
> OED:
>
> umbel, n.
>
> Pronunciation:
> /ˈʌmb(ə)l/
> Forms: Also 15–18 umbell, 15–17 umble, 17 umbil.
> Frequency (in current use):
> Etymology: < Latin umbella sun-shade, parasol, diminutive of umbra
> shadow. So Spanish umbela...
>
> a. Botany. A mass of inflorescence borne upon pedicels of nearly equal
> length springing from a common centre. Cf. umbella n. 1.
>
> Not written with an h though.
>
Cheers
Phil Hobbs
--
Dr Philip C D Hobbs
Principal Consultant
ElectroOptical Innovations LLC / Hobbs ElectroOptics
Optics, Electro-optics, Photonics, Analog Electronics
Briarcliff Manor NY 10510
http://electrooptical.net
http://hobbs-eo.com
Athel Cornish-Bowden
I suppose this is a response to an ancient thread, but in any case it's
wrong. Some people say "humble" with a silent h, but in British English
it always has an [h] --- except for people who drop h everywhere.
--
athel
Kerr-Mudd,John
--
Bah, and indeed, Humbug.
HVS
Cheers, Harvey
Kerr-Mudd,John
wrote:
b) not relied on my faulty memory. [so just a)]