This has been bugging me...

[ToniL]

Ok... I have a bet going with a co-worker... Now, he refers to himself as An MCSE 2000, and I say that's wrong... If you're using an acronym, given what that acronym means, should he say, "I am A MCSE? Even though it really does not SOUND right ('a' vs 'an') if one were to expand the acronym, one would NOT say, "I am an Microsoft Certified blah, blah, blah..." , one would say, "I am A Microsoft blah, blah, blah..."

Granted, phonetically, MCSE is pronounced {em see ess ee} and, as such, suggests that 'an' should be used because conventionally, if a noun sounds like it begins with a vowel, then the preceding word should be 'an', not 'a', however this isn't a word per se'

I think I'll stop now; I'm getting a headache, everything is swirly and spotty... If you guys say I'm right, he owes me lunch, but if he's right, I owe him nothing (I'm his boss), which really, isn't fair, and this can't really be considered a bet because... There go those swirls and spots again...

Peace,
Toni L.

Windows reigns within.
Reflect, repent, and reboot.
Order shall return.

 

[sleipnir214]

This site:

http://www.drgrammar.org/faqs/#36

quotes the Oxford Dictionary of American Usage and Style, which reads in part "an FBI agent, an MBA degree,an SEC filing".


Whether it's correct to do so or not, to my ear "an MCSE" sounds correct.

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TANSTAAFL!!

 

[Turkbear]

Hi,
This seems directly on point:
From

http://andromeda.rutgers.edu/~jlynch/Writing/a.html

A or An. 
Use an in place of a when it precedes a vowel sound, not just a vowel.
That means it's "an honor" (the h is silent), but "a UFO" (because it's pronounced yoo eff oh).
This confuses people most often with acronyms and other abbreviations:
some people think it's wrong to use "an" in front of an abbreviation (like "MRI")
because "an" can only go before vowels. Poppycock: the sound is what matters.
It's "an MRI," assuming you pronounce it "em ar eye."

To Paraphrase:"The Help you get is proportional to the Help you give.."

 

[Trevoke]

Well, I would suggest that you guys go eat at an expensive restaurant, and then share the check (outside, not inside. That's just plain rude if you're eating anywhere more respectful than McDonald's).

If I were (thankfully, I'm not), I would say "I'm an HR droid", so I would have to give your cow-orker the upper hand in that skirmish.

-Haben sie fosforos?
-No tiengo caballero, but I have un briquet.

 

[ToniL]

Well, I guess as his boss, a leader should always admit when they're wrong... I'll pay for lunch, but maybe I'll make him work on Christmas... J/K, I would never be that heartless...

Peace,
Toni L.

Windows reigns within.
Reflect, repent, and reboot.
Order shall return.

 

[BoxHead]

ToniL,

Since he's an MCSE maybe at this lunch he can explain why the Operating System's Domain Service was created to manage Internet names and the Internet Service was created to manage network Domain names.

That's what I was taught in NT.

My own theory is that Microsoft has a "backward bell" that rings at random intervals and when it rings you simply reverse whatever it is you are working on.

John

 

[r937]

Well, I guess as his boss, a leader should always admit when they're wrong

i can't begin to count how many things are wonky about that sentence


not to take this thread off on a tangent, but the difference between a and an, and when to use each, is entirely responsible for the correct expression an SQL query

r937.com | rudy.ca

 

[CajunCenturion]

We can start with the dangling particple.

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[CajunCenturion]

==> not to take this thread off on a tangent, but the difference between a and an, and when to use each, is entirely responsible for the correct expression an SQL query
Of course, that largely depends on how you pronounce SQL. An S-Q-L query, but a SEQUEL query.

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[sleipnir214]

Does anyone outside of the Microsoft-centric realm pronouce SQL as "sequel"?

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TANSTAAFL!!

 

[grande]

Hell, I'm in a Microsoft-centric realm, and I pronounce it S-Q-L.

I was working with a company (that shall remain nameless) that had an application that started with the letter "R." This language had something similar to SQL, that they called RQL, pronounced "Requel." Worst... name... ever.

-------------------------
Just call me Captain Awesome.

 

[BoxHead]

Grande,

You got me started wondering...

Random Query Language? (let's just see what happens...)
Ridiculous Query Language? (I don't know what all these numbers mean!)
Redundant Query Language? (Are you sure that's right?)
Repetitive Query Language? (Are you really sure?)
Redundant-And-Repetitive Query Language? (No really, I'm going into a meeting with this. Are you really really sure?)
Richard, Quit Laughing! (We don't care what all these numbers mean!)
Really Quick Logic? (The meeting starts in 6 minutes)
Remarkably Quick Lunches? (Can't you eat at your desk?)

I was watching a sports show recapping a football game and the commentators kept talking about INTs (eye-en-tees). It took me awhile to track, but they had abbreviated the word "Interception" to Int. and then transformed it (through the magic of television sports commentary) into an acronym: I.N.T.

When Tigger from Winnie the Pooh books says that his name is spelled "T" "I" "double-guh" "rrr" I understood it was a joke. I wonder what kids think of that today?







John

 

[SantaMufasa]

...and instead of helping "furiners" understand our absolutely esoteric sports lingo, we purposely make it "esoteric-to-the-max"...Last night during the "Las Vegas Bowl", I heard...

He has the best YAC in the league.

Now, when I was a kid, that would have meant that the guy had the highest quality vomit available.

It will throw the game into question if he goes back to the sidelines without a P-A-T.

I'm sure that the un-schooled interpretted this as meaning that if "He doesn't get an S-L-A-P on his B-U-T-T before leaving the field, that it will somehow change the G-A-M-E.'

Mufasa
(aka Dave of Sandy, Utah, USA)
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