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.

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