On Thu, Aug 17, 2023 at 9:09 PM o1bigtenor via Dng <dng@???> wrote:
>
[...]
> Welcome to the vagaries of the English language - - - and - - - - as many
> computing type geeks are less than wonderfully familiar with ALL the
> idiosyncrasies,
> (including myself although I be no computing geek) there are times
> when the official
> is treated with disdain by the practitioners. IMO the 'best' use cases
> for 'a' and 'an'
> are the kind of things that English professors love to argue over.
> [...]

Actually the a/an rule seems pretty straightforward to me when
1. you are aware it's the sound that matters not the written initial letter
2. you read it aloud, at least in your head (and that's why I got it
wrong here at first)
and I think it's rather useful as it sounds a bit like stutter if you
get it wrong.