an heinous habit

[rone]

Why the hell do people write "an historical" when nobody pronounces it "istorical"? Who the hell started this trend and why did it catch on?

Comments

[merde.livejournal.com]

it's a pretentious new york intellectual thing. just like americans who say something like "euman" for "human".

makes me want to smack the shit out of 'em.

[fredfred.livejournal.com]

It's not pretentious, it's just dialect. One of my professors -- least pretentious guy you'll ever meet -- just said it that way. "yuman beings". He was from NY somewhere.

[fanf]

and "erb"

[tritone.livejournal.com]

Uh, leaving h silent in "herb" is common dialect, not an affectation. It's the first pronunciation in American Heritage (http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=herb), for example.

(Assuming you're referring to a plant, and not a person, of course.)