"Some": an emergent article?

[cema]

Was in a cafe today, heard the waiter say: "I will be back with some menu".

Normal usage to me, but a friend (lives outside of the US) was amused. Like, will she just choose a random menu? Anyway, it does seem that "some" is often taking place of "a" in spoken American English. But does it qualify as an article? I wonder if linguists have anything to say about this.

Comments

[dimpas.livejournal.com]

Singapore certainly is a land of immigrants. Singapore was a Malay island that brits have bought in late 19th century. They brought in chinese and tamils to build the harbour - the native population wasn't up to the task.
They have 4 official languages now...

Last but not the least for my humble self, I am about to move there (unless their INS decides that I'm too fishy to give me the permit) :)

mazzel,
d.

[dimpas.livejournal.com]

PS. their INS is called Ministry of Manpower.
So non-PC :)