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Why don't we use the indefinite article in "what hassle"?

I think hassle is used as noun here which means "Irritating or inconvenience". What exactly is the problem with "what a hassle" (as hassle is third-person singular)?

RegDwigнt
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Quixotic
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    Where did you see "what hassle"? In fact, the normal expression of exasperation at a bothersome task is "what a hassle" ... – Robusto Jul 02 '11 at 19:10
  • I noticed in a magazine,I am also keen to know why do we use 'a' here while we use 'an' for historian? – Quixotic Jul 02 '11 at 19:15
  • This is interesting,however :/ – Quixotic Jul 02 '11 at 19:17
  • And for historian,I am a bit of confused too. – Quixotic Jul 02 '11 at 19:19
  • Whatever magazine you read it in, "what hassle" is definitely not standard usage. On your historian search, try removing the "what" portion for improved clarity -- http://j.mp/ngram-a-historian-an-historian -- and then try the same with history: http://j.mp/ngram-a-history-an-history – Matthew Frederick Jul 02 '11 at 20:21
  • Philando Gullible: See nohat's excellent answer re historian. The issue doesn't arise with hassle... http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/629/a-historic-or-an-historic – FumbleFingers Jul 02 '11 at 22:43

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As others have mentioned, the common phrase to express annoyance is "what a hassle", similar to "what a nuisance", "what a pain", and so on.

But saying "What hassle" is not entirely ungrammatical, because hassle can be used as an uncountable noun (to mean "hassle as a general concept", rather than a specific instance of it happening) which then cannot take a/an. This would be parallel to such expressions as "What fun!", "What larks" and so on - but as the latter example illustrates, this comes across somewhat stilted and literary.

(As for a versus an, that is well covered elsewhere on this site.)

Community
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psmears
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  • Effectively, OP's question as asked is a bit meaningless. If he'd asked "Why do we use..." it would have made more sense. Whatever - you've covered the whole issue perfectly well, I think. – FumbleFingers Jul 02 '11 at 22:38