Macmillan Holdings, LLC. Grammar Girl, Grammar Girl's, QDnow, and Quick and Dirty Tips are all trademarks of Macmillan Holdings, LLC. Today I'm inspired by a couple of listener questions. Steve Farrow grammar Joe Hattey wondered: Where does "an history" come from? I think not so much from scullery maids! The soft "h" is from French - more likely spoken "upstairs" than in the scullery!! In front of "history" we probably wouldn't use "an" these days because the "h" is usually now sounded. The difficulty more often now comes with "historical" - where the "h" is still often not hard, I think. Re: Your other comment about prepositions, Joe. Wasn't it Winston Churchill who said, "Prepositions are a thing you shouldn't end a sentence with."? http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/neologisms.aspx?commentid=17012#Comments http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/neologisms.aspx?commentid=17012#Comments Sat, 16 May 2009 13:34:31 GMT Steve Farrow grammar Most of the time businesses "pushing the language boundaries" is just their bad knowledge of English. I remember a lunch bar taken over by new owners. Their price display board had an apostrophe before EVERY "s". I'm still wondering what the pie and the "sandwiche" owned :-) http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/neologisms.aspx?commentid=17011#Comments http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/neologisms.aspx?commentid=17011#Comments Sat, 16 May 2009 13:18:39 GMT Jeremy grammar Hi, Coming in late my favourite neologism is "handraulically" This mean to do something by hand which you could automate. http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/neologisms.aspx?commentid=16128#Comments http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/neologisms.aspx?commentid=16128#Comments Sun, 15 Mar 2009 09:39:38 GMT Joe Hattey grammar Where does "an history" come from? (I love ending sentences with prepositions whenever the occasion offers) Shouldn't it be "a history"? Were the people who made "an" before the hard "H" sound english scullery maids? http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/neologisms.aspx?commentid=15404#Comments http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/neologisms.aspx?commentid=15404#Comments Mon, 19 Jan 2009 15:18:06 GMT Ray grammar Making a big deal out of grammatical mistakes in marketing is like installing smoke detectors in hell. You can make a lot of noise, but ultimately, you're not telling anybody anything they don't already know. http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/neologisms.aspx?commentid=13859#Comments http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/neologisms.aspx?commentid=13859#Comments Sat, 13 Sep 2008 00:15:25 GMT Alex Gieger grammar I love the neologism prettyful. The combination of pretty and beautiful creates the perfect compliment! http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/neologisms.aspx?commentid=13610#Comments http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/neologisms.aspx?commentid=13610#Comments Sun, 24 Aug 2008 20:21:34 GMT mike grammar that was great thanx http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/neologisms.aspx?commentid=13598#Comments http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/neologisms.aspx?commentid=13598#Comments Sat, 23 Aug 2008 14:49:45 GMT Brenda grammar I don't know if I heard this somewhere or made it up: obliviot, an oblivious idiot. I often use it to discribe the driver who appears to believe he is the only one on the road. In the grocery store I often turn into an obliviot by taking up the whole aisle with my shopping cart while looking for an item on my list. http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/neologisms.aspx?commentid=13268#Comments http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/neologisms.aspx?commentid=13268#Comments Thu, 31 Jul 2008 13:53:11 GMT Ilene grammar My all time favorite is "co-inkydink" as in quirky coincidence. I don't know if I can claim it but I've used it for like 20 years. http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/neologisms.aspx?commentid=13086#Comments http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/neologisms.aspx?commentid=13086#Comments Mon, 07 Jul 2008 16:53:35 GMT Phoebe grammar could you tell me the difference between A WHILE AGO and EARLIER? http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/neologisms.aspx?commentid=13057#Comments http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/neologisms.aspx?commentid=13057#Comments Wed, 02 Jul 2008 14:52:09 GMT Sat, 16 May 2009 13:34:31 GMT http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/neologisms.aspx feedback@quickanddirtytips.com (Managing Editor) feedback@quickanddirtytips.com (Webmaster) en-us