An Haughty Statement

Don't worry, humble pilgrim, I have not yet passed the metaphysical boundary into the abyss. I have caught myself fending off the encroaching, daily-procrastination and hesitation. Hardly the gallant blogger. The cure? Anger, of course. Something that seems to have metastasised into my routine lately has been the repeated misuse of proper lexis when identifying a noun with the prefixes 'an' and 'a'. For example, I recently read a poster promoting a local performance that announced, "an hilarious mix of...". Likewise, I have frequently read in the campus newspaper of "an helicopter circling...". Now, call me what you will, but the expulsion of air caused by the explicitly pronounced 'H' surely denotes the need for "a hilarious mix", and "a helicopter". Foregoing your inevitable quibble; yes, I concede that, on occasion, 'an' in place of 'a' is valid where the other is not. For example, "an honorable gentleman", in speech and in prose is much more pleasant on the ears and tongue than "a honorable gentleman". However, this distinction must be made clear, whether through deliberate overuse, such as what I shall now commence, or through simple word of mouth (literally). Humble pilgrim, this web space is oft ordained as a place of angst-ridden retaliation against anything and everything, this is no different. Combat the frenchification of the English language and meet the problem head-on.