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From: anonymous@bogus_address.con
Newsgroups: alt.ascii-art
Subject: Re: what is it?
Date: Thu, 04 Oct 2001 02:24:47 -0000
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On 2001-10-03 l3mst0r@bumblbee.demon.co.uk said:

   > >It's rather easy when you know it really, when a word begins with
   > >a vowel, you say "an" (an apple, an oven, an utter) if it begins
   > >with a consonant, it's always "a" (a pear, a clock, a ship).
   > >It's easy as (a) pie :-))
   >
   >What about Hour, Hotel, Happy?  It's not enough to know that the
   >word starts with a vowel, you have to know it *sounds* as though it
   >starts with a vowel.

In American English, the preferred (and proper) usage is:

  =A= hotel
  =A= happy
  =A= hovel
  =A= ham
  =A= herring

..since in American English, the leading 'h' is almost always
pronounced.  There is no 'dropped-H' Cockney accent in the U.S.A.

'Hour' is the exception that proves the rule.  In American English,
the leading 'h' in 'hour' is =not= pronounced...so correct usage
there is '=an= hour.'  But that's a rare exception.