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And, of course, they're correct !!!!!

There's all sorts of brit dialects, I'm sure what you describe is among them somewhere lol.

I always find it amusing how americans pronounce herbs. You're french now are you? lol. Whatever makes you 'appy.

Remember chaps that William the Conqueror knocked the crap out of the Saxons in 1066 at the Battle of Hastings ... and that Big Will the Konk was a French chappie ... and for 2 centuries the locals had to learn the “wee-wee” new tongue ... as a result the English language is loaded with French-isms like
dressage, barrage, garage and porrage (sorry that should be porridge (one up to the Scots!).

The story goes that the Conqueror’s cavalry mowed down the locals ... this tactic worked for many years thereafter, until “The Charge of the Light Brigade” when according to poet Alfred, Lord Tennyson

“Half a league half a league,
Half a league onward,
All in the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred:
'Forward, the Light Brigade!
Charge for the guns' he said:
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.”

And there endeth the history lesson.

PS This has nothing to do with JS Bach or the price of cheese.

There wouldn't have been a court in Europe that didn't have it's French dance master - Bach would have been quite the adept. Jean-Marie Leclair, a contemporary of Bach, started out as the principal dancer and ballet master at Turin. Mozart was said to be good enough to have earned his living as a dance master. So break out those dancing pumps folks!

It takes a stretch of the imagination to see JS Bach doing a gig ... with 23 children he must have had his hands full helping Mrs Bach prepare enough grub to feed the brawling brood ... all that dizzy dance-master French-Connection stuff alluded to, could only have been on a possible wannabe list ... but knowing Bach I think he would have been happier at his keyboard
dashing out another masterpiece.

Let's not forget we're talking about someone prone to sword fights in his youth. In his 30's he was imprisoned for a month for insubordination! Hardly the fuddy duddy.

What gobbledegook from the Englishman ...

“Let's not forget we're talking about someone prone to sword fights in his youth.
In his 30's he was imprisoned for a month for insubordination! Hardly the fuddy duddy.”

I was prone to sword fights in my youth ...
trying to imitate Errol Flynn as Robin Hood ...
at 10 years of age we used to dare each other to a midnight-duel on a local tomb ... we whistled quite a bit ... our swords were made of wood.

I still have the “The Adventures of Robbing Hood" movie ... complete with Little John, Will Scarlet, Friar Tuck and the rest of those Lincoln-green outlaws.

No one can say of what “insubordination”(JSBach) was guilty. (please note chaps that I didn’t finish off the foregoing sentence with a “preposition.” ... so many are prone to say guilty of.

With due deference ... anybody who calls me “fuddy-duddy” gets a glove in the face ... and a dawn invitation to draw pistols at twenty paces ...
anything more and I might need my glasses.

Saying guilty of is fine.

Remember diagramming sentences in English class? I believe that affectations such as "AN historic occasion" are an effort to make the article agree in number with the noun, eg "AN occasion (historic)." But we wouldn't say "AN concerto (harpsichord)," or "AN harpsichord concerto." We're in luck that "AN Easter oratorio" ducks the question. "A historic moment" would duck it... though why say that it's a moment, or an occasion, at all, when we already know it.

I think "it sounds wrong" is a good enough reason, but "dodging the bullet" is more widely admired. Being Enry Iggins is also a good enough reason... but who reads Shaw anymore.

On the other hand, "who" and "whom" serve grammatical functions which are actually useful, though most people seem to be ignorant of their proper use, and even like to brag about their ignorance.

How does "a historic occasion" differ from "an historic occasion" with respect to number agreement with the noun?

It's a question of the (perceived) vowel quality of the "h" in historic, isn't it? Similarly, one would say : "a grand piano" but "an expensive piano;" the agreement remains singular between the indefinite article and the noun.

Regards,

You're surely right. There's no possible issue of 'agreement in number.'

Of course, even I knew that and I usually have no idea about any grammar or usage questions that appear(for no good reason) at PW.

This "an" or "a" grammatical usage has got me very confused and perplexed.

Are you guys saying it is incorrect to use "an" in a sentence like say for example: "He was an histrionic pedant?"

It's quite simply a question of "a" before a consonant and "an" before a vowel. The word following "a" or "an" can be a noun or an adjective or an adverb.

An emperor.
A stupid emperor!
An insufferable emperor!
An incredibly stupid emperor!

In all examples, "emperor" is singular and so are "a" and "an."

"Histrionic," "historic," and similar words are considered by some to begin with non-aspirated, or silent "h" - even though the "h" is pronounced! - in which case those persons would speak and write "an historic occasion" - considered by some to be pedantic.

Such words as "hour," "honor," "honesty," do begin with a non-aspirated "h" so one would always write : "See you in an hour." It's an honor to know you." etc. ...

Regards,

It's pedantic.

.....although.....

I imagine lots of us are familiar with this album (which I still have the LP of):



....although another Amazon page for it calls it "A" Historic Return.

And of course this doesn't prove anything, because we'd probably consider the album title pedantic.

....and then there was this album which parodied the above, with the "an" probably being part of what they thought was funny, and I agree:

This chap went to a decent school ...

“It's quite simply a question of "a" before a consonant and "an" before a vowel.
The word following "a" or "an" can be a noun or an adjective or an adverb.”

Top marks BruceD ... but if only those American chappies
could spell words like "honour" correctly ... the baseball enthusiasts keep dropping their "u's" ...
we more cultured types play the gentleman's game of cricket, don't you know (straight-bat and all that rot).

Some say that Bach played cricket ... his finger-dexterity must have made him a very good spin-bowler.

Basebaul.

Please, btb. Get it right!

Basebawl.