‘A Historic’ or ‘An Historic’?

What is it about the word “historic”? Its pronunciation brings out a seeming hyper-correctness in people that leads them to use the indefinite article “an” rather than “a” when they say it.

But, in American English, is the “an” article correct or not? Give it your best shot below, and choose which is correct, "a historic event" or "an historic event"? (Hint: What's the first sound in "historic"?)

1. a historic event

2. an historic event

3. Both are equally correct.

The correct answer, for American-English speakers, is "a historic event." This is because the first sound in "historic" is a consonant sound, "hiss," and the indefinite article "a" is correctly used before words beginning with a consonant sound.

Although some British-English speakers pronounce "historic" with an "iss" sound that can make the "an" more appropriate, that's not a standard pronunciation in American English. While some American-English speakers will argue that they truly say “an istoric,” that’s usually because their pronunciation is being driven by the “an.” Ask them to say “historic” by itself, and you’ll usually hear the “h.”