Vowel

[Casiopea]

Well, they seem to have had a good command of the Queen's English.

Here's a good steal - mind you, I've yet to check it out:

The use of the article "a" or "an" before "hotel" is influenced by the usage (i.e. whether American or British); however the conjecture that the usage of "a hotel" indicates the British is incorrect. There is a predilection for the phrase "an hotel" in the Queen's English when compared with the American usage (the Queen's English being the monastic form of British English). In using the Queen's English, the "h" is pronounced when the word "hotel" is spoken exclusively, but dropped when speaking the phrase "an hotel" (i.e. "an hotel" is pronounced: an o-tel'). This predilection is not sui generis to the word "hotel:" polysyllabic words beginning with "h" (e.g. "historic" and "hypothesis") are similarly phrased (e.g. "an historic") in the Queen's English. Whilst scholars argue the Queen's English is correct, the trend favours the 'American' usage ... even in Britain.

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