Jhoira has bad grammar
Spoilers, Rumors, and Speculation forum
Posted on April 11, 2018, 10:28 p.m. by GhostChieftain
Had anyone else noticed that Jhoira, Weatherlight Captain (and I am sure a few others) says "a historic spell", when it technically should say "an historic spell"? I am not upset by it or anything, but one would think they would have someone to check all the cards for spelling and grammar beforehand.
English is the bastard lovechild of generations of linguistic inbreeding. The letter "H" is a perfect example of this. When used at the start of a word, it can either sound like a vowel (honour) or a consonant (Happy).
This means both "a" and "an" are grammatically correct, depending on the circumstance. "It is an honour." "It was a happy day."
But those are easy examples. "Historic" is a bit different. The modern pronunciation tends to use a more pronounced "H" sound, though traditionally the H was not as prevalent. So, what does this mean for grammar?
Using modern pronunciation, "a historic" would be the proper form--in fact, "a historic" is far and away the most commonly seen usage in modern English. But that does not mean the more arcane pronunciation is not used--a pronunciation where "an historic" would be proper form.
Ultimately, both "a historic" and "an historic" are grammatically proper--Wizards went with the most prevalent and recognized usage.
English is weird.
April 11, 2018 10:56 p.m.
TheDuggernaught says... #4
Pretty sure "...a historic" is correct. "An" is used when the word phonetically sounds as though it starts with a vowel. So words like hour and honor should be used with "an"; but since "historic" does not have a silent h, it should be used with "a".
April 11, 2018 10:58 p.m.
MaRo has answered this on his blog. Magic follows the Chicago Manual of Style. In it, it states that it should be a instead of an.
April 12, 2018 6:39 a.m.
There was a pretty bad slip up on the token for the monarch in conspiracy 2.
April 12, 2018 7:24 a.m.
I'm not 100% sure, but I believe that when you have "an historic" it's actually pronounced "an istoric" (with a silent h) as per British English.
So you have either "a historic" or "an istoric", however you don't actually pronounce it "an historic".
April 12, 2018 10:42 a.m.
Darthagnon says... #8
Barring perhaps some regional dialects (e.g. Somerset/Pi-arrr-ate, Cockney, etc.) the Queen's English pronounces it historic, not 'istoric.
Apologies for being nit-picky.
Source: I'm a Brit living in Britain.
April 13, 2018 5:21 a.m.
According to Oxford Living Dictionaries it is correct to say a historic.
Think about how it sounds. We say a handkerchief, not an handkerchief
Externium says... #2
My understanding has always been that we use 'a' preceding consonant sounds, and 'an' preceding vowel sounds. Due to "historic" being sounded with the 'H' sound, "a historic spell" would be grammatically correct.
Though, after doing a search, I see that at one point "an historic" was the common way to say this; but according to the following links, "a historic" is the current popular and most widely accepted usage.
http://www.scribe.com.au/tip-w005.html
https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/usage/a-historic-event-or-an-historic-event
April 11, 2018 10:52 p.m.