Does anybody know what the rule is when it comes to using "a" or "an" before a letter that's spoken or written by itself rather than as part of a word? For example, if I were leading a cheer, would I shout, "Gimme an M!" or, "Gimme a M!" I think I'd use "an," because when you say it aloud, it sounds like "em," and that's the whole point of having two articles to choose from, isn't it?
It seems to me that this should be based on pronunciation instead of spelling. You'd say something is an honor, not a honor, even though honor starts with H, right?
I think this is on my mind because I Can Has Cheezburger: A LOL Cats Collekshun has come out recently, and when I saw the title I wondered if the people behind it were stupid. Not to be an arrogant a-hole about it. But really: Would anybody say that out loud? Even if you were in the habit of intentionally misspelling things for the sake of cuteness? It's just so awkward, "A LOL..."
OK, brainiacs, I know y'all can weigh in on this intelligently.
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I've heard people pronounce "LOL" as a single syllable (the way we say "Lowell" here in MA), which would justify the "A" instead of "An."
But you're right about the rule: if the authors pronounce it "L.O.L." then they're either intentionally adding more grammatical errors to the title or just being very sloppy.
I'm sure that you and the rest of the family won't be surprised that I looked this up a while ago. I don't remember the source, but the information I found backed your pronunciation versus spelling reasoning. So "an" would accompany letters that sound as though they begin with a vowel, such as "M" and "L."
Here's the first link that popped up when I Googled "a vs. an" (the paragraph at the end of the page addresses your question). Who knows how official any of this is...
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/591/01/
Holly, I can barely grasp the basics of English grammar, or any other language besides my own, but I just wanted to say: So happy you are back!!:)
Thanks, Marquioni! I still hope to visit every continent some day (including Antarctica!). I'll have to swing by Chile when I'm south of the Equator!
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