Dear Kai,
Not being an English scholar I, but always being free with my opinion, I
posit that the reasons we say an MG versus a Morris is that the first
syllable following the article "an" of MG sounds like "em" and begins with
a vowel sound whereas the first syllable of MOrris begins with a
consonant.
On Wed, 10 Dec 1997, Kai Radicke wrote:
=%OOK, I have a really stupid question...
=%O
=%Omy English teacher was having a cow (or a Triumph) about me using "an MG"
=%Oin a sentence I wrote. I don't think I have ever seen "a MG" in my life,
=%Oit just sounds dumb. My teacher does have a point, but anyone know why we
=%Odo this?
=%O
=%Oex:
=%O
=%Oa Morris Minor
=%Oan MGB
=%O
=%Onow say it in a sentence:
=%O
=%OI have a Morris Minor.
=%OI have an Morris Minor.
=%O
=%OI have an MGB.
=%OI have a MGB.
=%O
=%OAm I going insane? Or do I just need a life ;-)
=%O
=%OCheers,
=%O
=%OKai
=%O
=%OKai Radicke -- mowogmg@pil.net, 1966 MGB @ http://www.pil.net/~mowogmg
=%ODialogue Internet - Intelligent Internet Solutions (Net Khan)
=%O
=%OIRC: irc.mcs.net, #inet-access (my nick: ActiveX or KMR)
=%O
=%O
=%O
=%O
"Never ascribe to Malice that which can be explained by Ignorance"
John J. Peloquin
Molecular Biology &
Biochemistry
3205 BioSciences II
UC IRVINE
Irvine, CA 92697-3900
jpeloqui@uci.edu
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