"an historic election"

[littledawley]

I was taught (I'm guessing incorrectly) that you used 'an' when the next word began with a vowel (an elephant, an exciting trip, a lovely day etc) but today have heard lots of "this is an historic day" - please can someone explain? (Slowly, as if to a child...)

well obviously not everyone says it

Orient, if you pretty much drop the h on the unstressed syllable, that makes sense. Otherwise it just sounds clunky and hypercorrect. To me.

Even Simon Jenkins, in the early 90s ed of Times style guide, calls the use of "an" in these circumstances an affectation these days ...

Is it pronounced "clome"? I might actually adopt it.

My mum is the only person I know who says 'an hotel' (with an almost silent 'h'). Was trying to explain why to DH last night, and failed, so will take all this advice on board and make another stab at it!

More here:
msnuknews.spaces.live.com.