Re: "An Herby" vs. "A Herby"

**Catriona Tudor Erler c*@gardenvista.com**

    I think Pat is right that American English is closer to the 
"original" than British English.  Read an English Victorian novel; the 
characters will refer to vacations, not holidays, they'll use the word 
"gotten" which is never now used in England (it's always "got"), and 
you'll find other expressions that are still used in America, but have 
changed in Britain.  I've not been there, but apparently on Tangier 
Island off the coast of Virginia the older people speak almost 
Elizabethan English (and that's not Elizabeth II....). 
     Incidentally, it is Noah Webster who is responsible for the 
American spelling differences.  He was determined that America should be 
different from Britain in as many ways as possible, so when he wrote his 
enduring dictionary, he removed superfluous letters from many words, 
such as colour/color; harbour/harbor and changed letters that have 
similar sounds (s's, c's and z's). 
    Catriona

Pat Meadows wrote:

>On Tue, 14 Feb 2006 08:47:25 -0500, you wrote:
>
>  
>
>>This has nothing to do with Volkswagens or Valentine's Day. I want to know who removed the H from spoken words like "herb" and "historic". 
>>    
>>
>
>Certainly not the British.  My husband - from the Liverpool
>area - pronounces the 'h' in both those words.  I (American)
>say 'erb' but 'historic'.  
>
>Generally, when the American usage differs from the British
>usage, the American usage is the older, more conservative.
>(I've looked differences like this up quite a few times, but
>not 'herb' specifically.)  The Brits seem to change their
>usages faster than we do; maybe because we're more isolated,
>don't interact with the rest of the world as much, and we're
>certainly a larger country (larger population).
>
>Pat
>
>-- northern Pennsylvania
>"Rats and roaches live by competition under the laws of
>supply and demand. It is the privilege of human beings to
>live under the laws of justice and mercy." - Wendell Berry 
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