Talk:El Niño

Question re usage

Currently the section "Usage notes" says:

As el means “the” in Spanish, “El Niño” is correctly used without an article in English (El Niño was seen this year rather than The El Niño was seen this year).

But is there any standard of usage with the indefinite article when you want to say something like Is there an El Niño this year or There's been an El Niño about every five years for the past century ? Duoduoduo 18:11, 7 January 2012 (UTC)

That usage note is nonsense. Both articles are commonly and correctly used with El Niño. Definite and indefinite articles borrowed along with words from other languages are not English articles and do not have the effect of English articles. Just as you can eat at the El Charrito down the street, you may have enjoyed the El Niño that influenced our weather patterns a couple of years ago. Moreover, they’re building an El Charrito just a few blocks from here, and there is supposed to be an El Niño again next year in the Pacific. Non-English articles are not English and do not act like English articles. —Stephen ^(Talk) 14:10, 9 January 2012 (UTC)