Ardith Hinton:

AH> While you understand how the system works, others may
AH> not.  I hear many younger folk nowadays saying things
AH> like "a elephant"....  :-Q

Well, children have a chance of improvement.  Meseems I
remember that in "Dennis the Menace" (ashamed to have
watched movie on Russian TV  the little boy made that
error when accosted by the thief as to what it was he held
in his hands. "A apple" -- answered the boy.

AS>> Similarly, we do not say "What an wonderful world".  It
AS>> is an hunderd times more lip- and ear-straining.
AH> I assumed you were joking because this remark
AH> immediately followed upon another example of how "an"
AH> may sound cumbersome if used where it isn't really
AH> needed.

No, I was serious.  I think "an hundered" survided into the
late Victorian era with some writers, but I am in the shape
to you quotations.

---
 * Origin: nntps://fidonews.mine.nu - Lake Ylo - Finland (2:221/6.0)