Re: [PATCH] more typo/wording fixes

> > Minor nit - "md5" stands for "Message Digest 5", so the correct
> > pronoun is "a", not "an".

> It doesn't matter what it stands for. "MD5" is pronounced starting
> with a vowel sound, thus "an" is correct.

Well, according to the classic rules of "proper" written English, yes it
does. There, one uses the indirect pronoun one would use if the phrase
were spelled out, rather than represented as an acronym. The reader is
assumed to be expanding the acronym.

In spoken English, however, one uses the pronoun that is appropriate to
the *sound* that is spoken, in order to avoid awkwardness.

Thus, in writing, "a MD5" is correct, whereas when speaking, "an MD5" is
the proper form.

However, there are two other considerations at work in this instance.
One, as mentioned previously, is consistency. The other is that, in the
industry, "MD5" is often considered, and use as, a word in its own
right, rather than an acronym, and so could reasonably be referred to
with "an" properly.

/bs

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Received on Tue Feb 28 15:31:37 2006