On 8/3/2015 1:04 PM, sf wrote:
> On Mon, 3 Aug 2015 11:18:14 -0600, graham > wrote:
>
>> On 03/08/2015 4:59 AM, Ophelia wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>> "Cindy Hamilton" > wrote in message
>>> ...
>>>> On Sunday, August 2, 2015 at 5:31:58 PM UTC-4, graham wrote:
>>>>> On 02/08/2015 3:25 PM, sf wrote:
>>>>
>>>>>> The point that was lost in the subsequent noise is they pronounce the
>>>>>> h in herb and we don't, so it's a herb for them and an herb for us.
>>>>>> The use of a or an depend on the first *sound* of the word, not the
>>>>>> first letter.
>>>>>>
>>>>> Except for the inconsistencies such as "an hotel" not "an 'otel".
>>>>
>>>> If you're expecting English of any sort to be consistent, you'll
>>>> be sorely disappointed. Inconsistency is built in. I blame
>>>> William the Conqueror.
>>>>
>>>> Here's something:
>>>>
>>>> <http://www.bartleby.com/185/12.html>
>>>>
>>>> H.L. Mencken (1880-1956). The American Language. 1921.
>>>> The majority of Americans early dropped the initial h-sound in such
>>>> words as when and where, but so far as I can determine they never
>>>> elided it at the beginning of other words, save in the case of herb
>>>> and humble. This elision is commonly spoken of as a cockney vulgarism,
>>>> but it has extended to the orthodox English speech. In ostler the
>>>> initial h is openly left off; in hotel and hospital it is sometimes
>>>> not clearly sounded, even by careful Englishmen.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Not all Americans elide the h in humble. IIRC it's an East Coast thing,
>>>> and possibly is passing from usage.
>>>>
>>>> Incidentally, is the letter H pronounced haitch or aitch?
>>>
>>> Aitch!!!
>>>
>>>
>>>
>> I had a colleague with a Ph.D who used "haitch". Dead social give-away,
>> that was!
>
> Back to the class system again.
>


It's the ingle way after all, eh wot!