An Englishman, a Scotsman, an Irishman, a Welshman, a Latvian, a Turk, a German, an Indian, several Americans (including a Hawaiian and an Alaskan), an Argentinean, a Dane, an Australian, a Slovak, an Egyptian, a Japanese, a Moroccan, a Frenchman, a New Zealander, a Spaniard, a Russian, a Guatemalan, a Colombian, a Pakistani, a Malaysian, a Croatian, an Uzbek, a Cypriot, a Pole, a Lithuanian, a Chinese, a Sri Lankan, a Lebanese, a Cayman Islander, an Ugandan, a Vietnamese, a Korean, an Uruguayan, a Czech, an Icelander, a Mexican, a Finn, a Honduran, a Panamanian, an Andorran, an Israeli, a Venezuelan, an Iranian, a Fijian, a Peruvian, an Estonian, a Syrian, a Brazilian, a Portuguese, a Liechtensteiner, a Mongolian, a Hungarian, a Canadian, a Moldovan, a Haitian, a Norfolk Islander, a Macedonian, a Bolivian, a Cook Islander, a Tajikistani, a Samoan, an Armenian, an Aruban, an Albanian, a Greenlander, a Micronesian, a Virgin Islander, a Georgian, a Bahaman, a Belarusian, a Cuban, a Tongan, a Cambodian, a Canadian, a Qatari, an Azerbaijani, a Romanian, a Chilean, a Jamaican, a Filipino, an Ukrainian, a Dutchman, an Ecuadorian, a Costa Rican, a Swede, a Bulgarian, a Serb, a Swiss, a Greek, a Belgian, a Singaporean, an Italian, a Norwegian and 2 Africans
Walk into a very fine restaurant.



"I'm sorry," says the matre d', after scrutinizing the group...



"You can't come in here without a Thai."

Good One!!

That is particularly funny , but I have to ask - why is that some nationalities are referred to as ( for example ) A Turk or A German , whilst others are refered to as An Australian or An Italian ?

Who decides how we address a nationality ?

Apologies for distracting the thread away from the joke , just curious ;-)

quote:

Originally posted by muzza:
why is that some nationalities are referred to as ( for example ) A Turk or A German , whilst others are refered to as An Australian or An Italian ?

Simple grammar. If a word starts with a vowel sound it the indeffinate article "an" is used(an author, an owner, an American, etc.). On the other hand if the initial sound is a consonant "a" is used(a writer, a landlord, a Kiwi, etc).

quote:

an:
indefinite article;
the form of a before an initial vowel sound ( an arch; an honor ) and sometimes, especially in British English, before an initial unstressed syllable beginning with a silent or weakly pronounced h : an historian.

Oh Crap, That's a good one!

quote:

Originally posted by muzza:
That is particularly funny , but I have to ask - why is that some nationalities are referred to as ( for example ) A Turk or A German , whilst others are refered to as An Australian or An Italian ?

Who decides how we address a nationality ?

Apologies for distracting the thread away from the joke , just curious ;-)

It is the damn cheese, I tell ya!

quote:

Originally posted by muzza:
That is particularly funny , but I have to ask - why is that some nationalities are referred to as ( for example ) A Turk or A German , whilst others are refered to as An Australian or An Italian ?

Who decides how we address a nationality ?

Apologies for distracting the thread away from the joke , just curious ;-)

muzza,

If I had asked that question, people might understand it.

But, coming from a Kiwi, it is incredible!