Ardith Hinton:   
      
   AH> While you understand how the system works, others may   
   AH> not.  I hear many younger folk nowadays saying things   
   AH> like "a elephant"....  :-Q   
      
   Well, children have a chance of improvement.  Meseems I   
   remember that in "Dennis the Menace" (ashamed to have   
   watched movie on Russian TV :) the little boy made that   
   error when accosted by the thief as to what it was he held   
   in his hands. "A apple" -- answered the boy.   
      
   AS>> Similarly, we do not say "What an wonderful world".  It   
   AS>> is an hunderd times more lip- and ear-straining.   
   AH> I assumed you were joking because this remark   
   AH> immediately followed upon another example of how "an"   
   AH> may sound cumbersome if used where it isn't really   
   AH> needed.   
      
   No, I was serious.  I think "an hundered" survided into the   
   late Victorian era with some writers, but I am in the shape   
   to you quotations.   
      
   ---   
    * Origin: nntps://fidonews.mine.nu - Lake Ylo - Finland (2:221/6.0)