[Caml-list] "a 'a list" or "an 'a list"

[Caml-list] "a 'a list" or "an 'a list"

[Brian Hurt]

>From one of the many pendants-R-us discussion forums I'm on, this question 
came up: which is grammatically correct: "a 'a list", or "an 'a list", 
when discussing Ocaml types in english?  Is there a standard (de-facto or 
de-jure) or just whatever sounds right to the ear of the writter?

To the french reading this discussion: please remember that English as a 
language not only borrows words from other languages, it often lures 
unsuspecting languages down dark alleys, hits them over the head with a 
lead pipe, and rifles through their pockets for loose grammar.

-- 
"Usenet is like a herd of performing elephants with diarrhea -- massive,
difficult to redirect, awe-inspiring, entertaining, and a source of
mind-boggling amounts of excrement when you least expect it."
                                - Gene Spafford 
Brian

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Re: [Caml-list] "a 'a list" or "an 'a list"

[don groves]

At 14:39 8/7/2004, Brian Hurt wrote:

> >From one of the many pendants-R-us discussion forums I'm on, this question
>came up: which is grammatically correct: "a 'a list", or "an 'a list",
>when discussing Ocaml types in english?  Is there a standard (de-facto or
>de-jure) or just whatever sounds right to the ear of the writter?
>
>To the french reading this discussion: please remember that English as a
>language not only borrows words from other languages, it often lures
>unsuspecting languages down dark alleys, hits them over the head with a
>lead pipe, and rifles through their pockets for loose grammar.


And yet, it has become our international standard. So much for superior
human intelligence.

It is "an" whenever the following word begins with a vowel or vowel sound
(such as 'an historical event')
--
dg

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Re: [Caml-list] "a 'a list" or "an 'a list"

[David Brown]

On Sat, Aug 07, 2004 at 03:46:56PM -0700, don groves wrote:

> >>From one of the many pendants-R-us discussion forums I'm on, this question
> >came up: which is grammatically correct: "a 'a list", or "an 'a list",
> >when discussing Ocaml types in english?  Is there a standard (de-facto or
> >de-jure) or just whatever sounds right to the ear of the writter?

Assuming the reader pronounces the 'a as alpha, it would be "an 'a list".
One could also say "a tick-a list" but that would be weird.

> It is "an" whenever the following word begins with a vowel or vowel sound
> (such as 'an historical event')

Funny that you chose an exception to the rule.  Welcome to English.
"historical" uses an, even though most people pronounce the 'h' as a
constant.  Normally, we would say "a hundred".

Dave

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Re: [Caml-list] "a 'a list" or "an 'a list"

[Sven Luther]

On Sat, Aug 07, 2004 at 03:46:56PM -0700, don groves wrote:
> At 14:39 8/7/2004, Brian Hurt wrote:
> 
> >>From one of the many pendants-R-us discussion forums I'm on, this question
> >came up: which is grammatically correct: "a 'a list", or "an 'a list",
> >when discussing Ocaml types in english?  Is there a standard (de-facto or
> >de-jure) or just whatever sounds right to the ear of the writter?
> >
> >To the french reading this discussion: please remember that English as a
> >language not only borrows words from other languages, it often lures
> >unsuspecting languages down dark alleys, hits them over the head with a
> >lead pipe, and rifles through their pockets for loose grammar.
> 
> 
> And yet, it has become our international standard. So much for superior
> human intelligence.
> 
> It is "an" whenever the following word begins with a vowel or vowel sound
> (such as 'an historical event')

Notice that the rest of the rules seem to say that if the second letter of the
word is then a 'n' again, you don't say an, but a. (a anecdote, and not an
anectode). Not fully sure of this rule though, but in this case would you then
write : a 'a nupplet ?

Friendly,

Sven Luther

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Re: [Caml-list] "a 'a list" or "an 'a list"

[Olivier Pérès]

> would you then write : a 'a nupplet ?

    Nah, those I met say "a n-tuple". It's a case of linguistic amnesia, 
like "s'avérer vrai" in French ("s'avérer faux" is even worse, of course).

    I suppose the answer to the original question lies in the 
pronunciation of ' : "tick" was suggested, I have also heard "dash" but 
I think strictly speaking one should say "apostrophe". However, given 
how fond of shortcuts the English speakers are, especially when they are 
American, I suspect this might be a bit long for them.

    I don't know of any specifications that include pronunciation 
guidelines, apart from those of the PNG image format and Robin Milner's 
pi-calculus. It does, however, lead to discussions (hairier than this 
one), so it might be really useful after all.

    Olivier.

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Re: [Caml-list] "a 'a list" or "an 'a list"

[Nicolas Cannasse]

> > would you then write : a 'a nupplet ?
>
>     Nah, those I met say "a n-tuple". It's a case of linguistic amnesia,
> like "s'avérer vrai" in French ("s'avérer faux" is even worse, of course).
>
>     I suppose the answer to the original question lies in the
> pronunciation of ' : "tick" was suggested, I have also heard "dash" but
> I think strictly speaking one should say "apostrophe". However, given
> how fond of shortcuts the English speakers are, especially when they are
> American, I suspect this might be a bit long for them.

In regard to lambda calculus, maybe using the mathematical pronunciation
would be better and still international.
So 'a would be prononunced "alpha" and 'b "beta". An then it solves the
problem :  an 'a list , a 'b list
Just my two eurocents.

Nicolas Cannasse

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Re: [Caml-list] "a 'a list" or "an 'a list"

[David Brown]

On Sun, Aug 08, 2004 at 05:05:51PM +0200, Sven Luther wrote:

> Notice that the rest of the rules seem to say that if the second letter of the
> word is then a 'n' again, you don't say an, but a. (a anecdote, and not an
> anectode). Not fully sure of this rule though, but in this case would you then
> write : a 'a nupplet ?

Around here, we say an anecdote.  Interesting thing about this whole thing
with English, is that word choices in written English can reveal how the
author pronounces words.

Dave

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Re: [Caml-list] "a 'a list" or "an 'a list"

[Richard Jones]

On Sat, Aug 07, 2004 at 09:01:48PM -0700, David Brown wrote:
> Normally, we would say "a hundred".

In London, "an 'undred" is common :-)

Rich.

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