Historic

[Andy Boz]

Does any body else get annoyed at the media using "an historic"? I always thought that if the 'h' was silent, as in hour, honour etc, then it was 'an'. If the 'h' wasn't silent it was 'a'. They don't talk about an hospital, an horse, or an house, so why do they say an historic? Or should I just put my anorak back on?

[jno]

Yes, I say a historic and a hotel, for the reasons you mention. But perfectly literate people I know say 'an' before both and can't really expain why (I've asked!). I think it's just historic and hotel, though, other words beginning with H have a if you sound the H, an if you don't. And save your anorak for winter.

[smorodina]

The rule was that you used 'an' before an 'h' if the first syllable of the word was unstressed. So historic and hotel take 'an', but house and horse don't. It's becoming less common these days though.

[tony1941]

I think that it's "an" before a word beginning with "h" which is derived/corrupted from the French,  for example, "people who know me call me an habitual pedant".  (must admit I'm worried about "hospital", though, 'cos that definitely is from French.. . . my wife now tells me it used to be practice to say "an hospital"!!!)

[MargeB]

Because it's got a ******* 'H' in it 

[Quizmonster]

It is optional whether or not to pronounce the opening �h' in words in which the first syllable is unstressed, as Smorodina says...eg habitual, horrendous, hotel, historian, horrific etc and therefore whether 'a' or 'an' is used before it. It is the lack of stress rather than any French provenance that matters.
However, �an hotel', specifically, is  regarded as old-fashioned though not quite extinct. The other words above are still commonly preceded by 'an'.
The Americans have an example which we do not, in that they pronounce �herb' as if there were no �h' present. Thus, they refer to �an (h)erb' just as we say: �an (h)our'.
So, Andy, your annoyance is rather uncalled-for.

[georgit79]

does my head in too- don't care what the rules are- it sounds downright silly!

[Quizmonkey]

Smorodina and Quizmonster are right - it's to do with the unstressed first syllable and generally thought to be archaic today. What should make the blood boil is when people don't understand why they're doing it and say things like 'an hospital' - akin to what's known as over-correction, when people say things like 'between you and I".

[jerburgess]

Then why do we say "it would be an honor", or "sixty miles an hour", when honor and hour both have an accented first syllable? Wouldn't this defy your rule?