an historical (pronouncing the h)

[Joel S. Berson]

At 9/15/2010 10:12 AM, Paul Frank wrote:
>Interesting. Maybe my tin ear, the fact that I'd never noticed the
>difference between a little huff before "an historical" and a definite
>huff before "a history", and that I want to hear no huff before "an
>historical" and a definite huff before "a history", is simply a
>Spanish speaker's ear.

Try saying "an idiom" (or some more parallel word beginning with a
short I) and "an historical" and "a history".  My mind's ear has them
all a little different.  For the last two, there is more pause
between the two words, which perhaps allows me to expel more (hot) air.

Joel

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