Jeremy Shaw wrote:
At Tue, 27 Jun 2006 20:36:30 +0100, Brian Hulley wrote:
What about words like 'hour' and 'honest'?
Don't forget "honor".
So I'd say these two words are closely related, so the search is still on for another word with silent 'h' not related to time or integrity.
How about heir?
Thanks - I'd not thought of that one!
Also, until recently, herb and humble?
I think these depend on one's dialect. I'd never think of saying "an herb" but of course many people would.
Got those from this page:
http://www.askoxford.com/worldofwords/wordfrom/aitches/?view=uk
Which also notes that sometimes we still use 'an' even though the 'h' is no longer silent. For example, 'an heroic effort', or 'an historic moment'.
This is what I meant by the evil spellchecker writer - I think this is just some particular dialect trying to take over the whole language... Still everyone will be pleased to know that I won't post any more about this subject now that the third true silent 'h' has been found :-) Best regards, Brian. -- Logic empowers us and Love gives us purpose. Yet still phantoms restless for eras long past, congealed in the present in unthought forms, strive mightily unseen to destroy us. http://www.metamilk.com