Does anyone else get annoyed about the increasing use of 'an' before words where the 'h' is pronounced rather than silent(as in honour, heir, or hour, and, the American pronunciation of herb)? It seems most prevalent amongst people with pretensions of poshness. It seemed to start with 'an historic' event, but I've yet to see such an event in 'an history book'. It strayed from there to 'an horrific event' (as in 'an horror story'?), which sometimes involves 'an heroic' act (carried out by 'an hero'?). Doubly frustrating to see people like John Humphrys who has bemoaned the corruption of the modern English language as an arch culprit of this form of abuse. I feel better now I've got that out of my system!
