The Lemon Fool

Can someone better informed than me please tell me which of the following phrases would be the correct one to use?

Phrase 1 - I own an HYP income portfolio

Phrase 2 - I own a HYP income portfolio

I only ask because we see people on this site using 'an HYP' an awful lot of the time (https://tinyurl.com/yamgf56m), but I'd never think to say anything other than 'a HYP', in the same way as I'd never consider to say anything other than 'a Helicopter'...

Can anyone please help to put this to bed once and for all?

Cheers,

Itsallaguess

Itsallaguess wrote:Can someone better informed than me please tell me which of the following phrases would be the correct one to use?

Phrase 1 - I own an HYP income portfolio

Phrase 2 - I own a HYP income portfolio

I only ask because we see people on this site using 'an HYP' an awful lot of the time (https://tinyurl.com/yamgf56m), but I'd never think to say anything other than 'a HYP', in the same way as I'd never consider to say anything other than 'a Helicopter'...

Can anyone please help to put this to bed once and for all?

Both are correct. Live and let live.

Good night.

GS

In the same way that some would say 'an hotel' so some would say 'an HYP'. My old father in law was a well educated old style headmaster in a country school and he always used 'an hotel' but I was always taught that the indefinite article 'an' was used only before a vowel such as an apple, so I suppose if you drop the 'h' as some of our English cousins are inclined to do, 'an hotel' or by extension 'an HYP' would be correct.

However I would always opt for 'a HYP'.

Dod

Dod101 wrote:
My old father in law was a well educated old style headmaster in a country school and he always used 'an hotel' but I was always taught that the indefinite article 'an' was used only before a vowel such as an apple, so I suppose if you drop the 'h' as some of our English cousins are inclined to do, 'an hotel' or by extension 'an HYP' would be correct.

However I would always opt for 'a HYP'.

Thanks Dod - from what I've read online (always dangerous, I know, which is why I've asked here to get a local view...) the general rule seems to be to use 'an' where the following word starts with a vowel, or where the following word starts with a vowel sound, such as 'an hour' - so that general rule would suggest that 'a HYP' is the correct usage...

A vs. An: When to Use A or An in a Sentence -

An is used before words, abbreviations, acronyms, or letters that begin with a vowel sound, regardless of their spelling.

https://writingexplained.org/a-vs-an-difference

Given that HYP doesn't start with a 'vowel sound' (in the same way that 'Helicopter' doesn't start with a 'vowel sound', so we say 'a helicopter', and not 'an helicopter'...), then the above seems to indicate that the correct term is 'a HYP', and not 'an HYP'...

Cheers,

Itsallaguess

Itsallaguess wrote:Can someone better informed than me please tell me which of the following phrases would be the correct one to use?

Phrase 1 - I own an HYP income portfolio

Phrase 2 - I own a HYP income portfolio

I only ask because we see people on this site using 'an HYP' an awful lot of the time (https://tinyurl.com/yamgf56m), but I'd never think to say anything other than 'a HYP', in the same way as I'd never consider to say anything other than 'a Helicopter'...

Can anyone please help to put this to bed once and for all?

Cheers,

Itsallaguess

Do you own:

1. A High Yield Portfolio
   or
2. An HYP (pronounced aitch why pee) portfolio
   or
3. A HYP (pronounced hip) portfolio

--kiloran

kiloran wrote:
Do you own:

• A High Yield Portfolio

or

• An HYP (pronounced aitch why pee) portfolio

or

• A HYP (pronounced hip) portfolio

I own the third one, and although of course HYP means 'High Yield Portfolio', I'd be surprised if anyone who ever says 'an HYP' means anything other than your third option as well..

Cheers,

Itsallaguess

At the moment, I'd call mine a "LYP"....

I don't own one, but when I read it, it sounds in my head like 'a hype'.

Scott.

Itsallaguess wrote:Can someone better informed than me please tell me which of the following phrases would be the correct one to use?

Phrase 1 - I own an HYP income portfolio

Phrase 2 - I own a HYP income portfolio

I only ask because we see people on this site using 'an HYP' an awful lot of the time (https://tinyurl.com/yamgf56m), but I'd never think to say anything other than 'a HYP', in the same way as I'd never consider to say anything other than 'a Helicopter'...

Can anyone please help to put this to bed once and for all?

Cheers,

Itsallaguess

You'll not put it to bed forever, but I would always say a HYP because it stands for "High".
There is the possibility that people think of it as "an Aitch-Y-P" which is a valid alternative.

I would not accept that it is equivalent "an hotel" - that would be pretentious moi? The basis for "an hotel" is that is comes from the french where the H would not be sounded, so there is some slight justifcation in that. 'owever, HYP is definitely not french so there's no logical comparison there.

I've just realised though: it would be correct in Estuary English, as in "An 'ype".

Arb.

Dod101 wrote:In the same way that some would say 'an hotel' so some would say 'an HYP'. My old father in law was a well educated old style headmaster in a country school and he always used 'an hotel' but I was always taught that the indefinite article 'an' was used only before a vowel such as an apple, so I suppose if you drop the 'h' as some of our English cousins are inclined to do, 'an hotel' or by extension 'an HYP' would be correct.

However I would always opt for 'a HYP'.

Dod

Didn't your FiL say "an 'otel"? not "an hotel"??

Arb.

Dod101 wrote:In the same way that some would say 'an hotel' so some would say 'an HYP'.

With respect it's not the same at all. People write an HYP simply because when they say HYP they spell it out: H.Y.P. and of course the first sound is a vowel sound for some speakers ("aitch", not "haitch"), so naturally they say "an" and not "a". A good analogy might be when a father says to the mother "Do you think Johnny would like an I.C.E. C.R.E.A.M."

The case of "an hotel" is a different matter entirely. H in some cases sounds more like a vowel and in others more like a consonant (when more strongly aspirated). People who have been taught to pronounce H in "hotel" more like a vowel would precede it with "an", whereas those (like me) who pronounce it more like a consonant prefer "a".


GS

Would you buy an house or a house?

Agree with GS and it takes two to tango.

scrumpyjack wrote:Would you buy an house or a house?

I would rather own an house than an HYP, and on reflection a house over a HYP too.

I think that hotel lends itself to be called an 'otel for some reason, but my mother, who was rather good in the elocution department (not a word I hear a lot these days), certainly taught me and my sister to pronounce the 'h' where ever it occurred and anything else was regarded as slovenly. Hence hotel and a hotel.

GS's argument might have some merit if anyone actually says H. Y. P. It would never have occurred to me to do that but I may be in a minority of one. I would always say and certainly mentally do, say HYP as in hype, quite clearly pronouncing the 'H' in the same way as in hotel.

I cannot say which is correct but I plump for Phrase 2.

Dod

I run an HYP, which is a High Yield Portfolio. I do not run a hip.

TJH

Wouldn't An HYP be something akin to what a sheepdog might deliver to an errant charge? As in an hyp to the ankle?

Dod101 wrote:
GS's argument might have some merit if anyone actually says H. Y. P.

It would never have occurred to me to do that but I may be in a minority of one.

I would always say and certainly mentally do, say HYP as in hype, quite clearly pronouncing the 'H' in the same way as in hotel.

I cannot say which is correct but I plump for Phrase 2.

I think that's perhaps where any differences might perhaps lie Dod, and I'm similar to you but would mentally say 'HYP' as in 'hip', but the end result is the same in that I'd then never consider saying anything other than 'a HYP'.

I had never actually considered that others might mentally spell it out as 'an H.Y.P', and still struggle with the idea of anyone actually doing so...

Cheers,

Itsallaguess

Itsallaguess wrote:I had never actually considered that others might mentally spell it out as 'an H.Y.P', and still struggle with the idea of anyone actually doing so...

I don't spell it out as HYP per se but see it as HYP. Thus I'd use an 'an'.

If it were typed hyp, I'd use an 'a'. Similarly if it were typed Hyp.

Interesting subject anyway, as there are plenty of written words I see on TLF that I possibly pronounce, in my head, differently to others on here and do sometimes wonder how others pronounce them.

If I recall any I may mention them on this Topic.

kiloran wrote:Do you own:

1. A High Yield Portfolio
   or
2. An HYP (pronounced aitch why pee) portfolio
   or
3. A HYP (pronounced hip) portfolio

None of the above! ;-)

I own a HYP (pronounced hype) - without the word "portfolio" following it, for the same reason that I have a "PIN" for my debit card, not a "PIN number".

Gengulphus