Re: A Tor Typo

[Scott Bennett <bennett@xxxxxxxxxx>]

     On Wed, 19 Sep 2007 21:33:56 +0100 Dave Page <grimoire@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
>On Sun, Sep 16, 2007 at 02:11:56PM -0700, Andrew Del Vecchio wrote:
>
>> Color me an anal-retentive English language nazi, but the phrase "Tor
>> is not an HTTP proxy..." that appears when you try to run a web
>> browser or other program via HTTP should read: "Tor is not a HTTP
>> proxy". Correct English grammar dictates that it's the first LETTER in
>> a word that matters, not the first SOUND. In HTTP, the article should
>> thus be "a" and not "an".

     Actually, for English of the non-British variety (see below), that
isn't quite correct either.
>
>Colour me an anally-retentive English language Nazi of the British
                    ^ (adverb should not be hyphenated onto adjective --SB:-)
>variety, but even if it is the first letter in a word that matters, then
>the correct article is still "an", in the style of "an hotel" and all
>other words that begin with the letter "h".
>
     Yes, that seems right for British English.  However, for English of
the non-British variety, it is indeed sound-dependent, but upon the sound
of the word for which the letter stands (e.g., "an hour", but "a hotel"),
not the sound of the name of the letter itself.  Thus, for non-British
English, the text that reads, "Tor is not a HTTP proxy" is written
correctly, but incorrectly for British English, as Dave Page noted above.
     None of this is really pertinent to tor matters, of course. :-)


                                  Scott Bennett, Comm. ASMELG, CFIAG
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