"a historic" or "an historic"

A

 

Throw "fucking" in front of "historic." Eliminates any confusion. Good luck.

 

A?

 

A.

(This is a great thread for post-padding. One letter, and you're done!)

 

A historic event. It's in the AP Stylebook. Case closed.

 

A.


those who argue otherwise are simply wrong as wrong could be. that there is even a debate is a historic waste of time. ;D ; ;D

 

A.

Those who say "an" likely drink their tea with a pinky finger extended.

And FWIW, isn't it cool that the site slipped back an hour to standard time?

 

except in some places, you don't pronounce the "h" in historic immediately after an "a" sound.
So I don't know what to make of this argument.

 

this is an excellent point.

 

No, and this is part of the reason why there's still a debate:

Going off some links I found on the Intrawebs, until about 50 years ago, it was taught as "an historic" because that's how most people actually said it, even in America (Britons have always used "an historic," I believe.)

Today, most Americans pronounce the H -- except in places where they don't 8) -- and so the language has evolved to where "a historic" is now correct. But it's not as cut-and-dried as some people think.

Anyway, thanks for a good (and post-padding) debate.

 

When I am in doubt I defer to Strunk. "Elements of Style" has it as "an".