The Hoptimus Skridwarp of Jellico Blaw,
Had a bultimous blister upon his left paw,
When he tried to burst it with a needle and spoon,
It started to play a ridiculous tune.The Hoptimus Skridwarp he showed some surprise,
When the bultimous blister before his bald eyes,
Invited the Skridwarp to come to a dance,
“Thank you” said the Skridwarp, “I will take a chance.”Then Hoptimus Skridwarp enquired of the Blister,
If he could bring also his Hoptimus sister.
“Yes bring her” said Blister, “That won’t be abnormal,
Though please do remind her that dress will be formal.”So our friends arrived in their dancing regalia,
But sadly the night was a horrendous failure,
For no one you see would dance with a blister,
And Miss Skridwarp walked out when a young turtle kissed her.© Sally Owens
Sally just started a family argument with her poem. It was great fun but the argument was should it “an horrendous” or “a horrendous”. We are away from home and do not have our copy of Strunk & White or Fowler to help us decide. The poem made us laugh.
I typed Sally’s poems. I double checked her poem this afternoon and can confirm that ‘a horrendous failure’ was used.
Interesting topic. As ‘Horrendous’ is pronounced /həˈren.dəs/ in British English, I think the article ‘a’ is appropriate.
Good discussion and family drama.
I agree, Sally is correct. It should be ‘a horrendous’ as the ‘h’ is pronounced but ‘an hour’ as the ‘h’ is not pronounced. I guess with hotel and horrendous you will hear both a and an in spoken English. Am I becoming ‘a’ bore or ‘an’ infernal bore. Certainly in danger of becoming pedantic.
Well, there are a few pedants who appear regularly on this site. Last year, I visited Manchester for the first time and was amused by dropping consonants. I wrote: English in the north: dropping consonants.
H – Aspirate
In standard modern English the H is usually pronounced and therefore the indefinite article ‘a’ is used.
The older form with silent H requires the indefinite article ‘an’. The silent H was very common in 18th and 19th centuries.
This information is from the New Oxford Dictionary of English which states, “There is still some divergence of opinion over the indefinite article before the H.”