Daniel Hanson (and /miz/ vs. /mis/)

Posted on 11/07/09

Paloma,

I just found this at www (dot) dictionary (dot) com:

"The names of the consonant letters f, h, l, m, n, r, s, and x are
pronounced with a beginning vowel sound. When these letters are used
as words or to form words, they are preceded by an: to rent an L-
shaped studio; to fly an SST. The names of the vowel letter u and the
semivowel letters w and y are pronounced with a beginning consonant
sound. When used as words, they are preceded by a: a U-turn; The
plumber installed a Y in the line."

I never knew that and always wondered when to use "a" and when to
use "an" with letter names, like when discussing a child's letter
grade.

(Pretty sad since I'm a native speaker, huh? I didn't learn the
difference when saying these titles with women's last names: Ms.,
Miss, and Mrs. As an elementary school student, I would always get
them confused in my mind and no one really took the time to correct me
or show me the difference orally, or was consistent about doing that
anyway. I think when I hear /miz/, I think I'm in Georgia [that's how
they pronounce "miss"; in California we just say /mis/] instead of
California, although according to the dictionary, we should be
saying /miz/ for Ms.)

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