Korean Job Discussion Forums

[keithinkorea]

I saw something written today on a Korean English language website that confused me for a little bit, and some of my North American friends don't know either.

In British English we pronounce the H in herb or herbal, but in American English people don't. Now what I saw was that they'd written 'an herb' is this a nonsense or do you North American types actually write this in the same way it is pronouced? To me it just seems totally wrong to write about 'an erb' though due to the silent h ts might make some sort of weird sense in the way that many Americans pronounce it.

Also do Americans say 'an erbal tea' rather than 'a herbal tea'. Anerble tea sounds orrible. I thought it was only cockneys that did know ow to deal with teir 'h' sounds.

Funny how you can't say c*ckneys around here but you can say arsebastard. What a strange creature American English is!

[Konundrum]

I don't wholly agree that British English says "Herb". I am Canadian, but my family is British (sisters & parents) and they all concur that it is "Erb" and they are not c0ckneys.
On the other hand, I've heard some NA's say"Herb" (as in "smoke some Herb"..or "secret Herbs and spices")
But generally, yes, we say "anerbal tea"...and as far as I'm concerned "AN" is approriate.
Just my two cents...

[redbird]

It's an honor for me to concur with Konundrum. If I were an heir to an herbal tea fortune, I could fly across to Korea this evening and we could take an hour to discuss this unusual situation.

[Kyrei]

Yet, you Brits (as I recall) would say that such-and-such was "an historic event" (or "an 'istoric event" I suppose) whereas (I believe) the average North American would say "a historic event". Its all "po-tai-tos/po-tat-os" anyway isn't it?

As a Canadian, I tend to use both pronunciations, depending on the situation: "'erb" for ingredients in food, and "herb" for "the herb superb" as it were. I just as easily say I like "herbal tea" but will have "an 'erbal tea" if one is offered. Go figure.

I wonder about your pronunciations of "offen" VS "often", "eether" V "eye-ther"? How does that compute?

[tommynomad]

Erb for nice-smelling plants.

Herb for radio admen in the Tarlek family.



Whole family (parents: British English, children: Canadian English)

[Ya-ta Boy]

As I've told my students, an honest man is a happy man; and an ugly woman can be a useful person in the kitchen, but not the bedroom.

[keithinkorea]

[Zyzyfer]

It's always written as herb.

[mindmetoo]

[mind_body_and_seoul]

In England they say herbal, not "erbal" (they pronounce it as it's spelt), while in the US they pronounce it "erbal." And they say "an historic event" in England too. I think "an historic event" sounds funny, but now I prefer to say "herbal," not "erbal." And when I was in England I thought it was funny when some people said "iss-you" or "tiss-you" instead of issue and tissue. But it was usually posh people or newsreaders who said iss-you and tiss-you and most British people pronounced it the "normal" way like me.

It's also funny how British people say "route" like Canadians ("root") but they say "about" like Americans. Do all Canadians say "root" and "aboot" and do all Americans say "rowt?" Just wondering.

[keithinkorea]

[jajdude]

Both seem fine to me.

[mind_body_and_seoul]

Keith, Americans who say "erb" or "erbal" do write and say "an erb" (an herb) or "an erbal tea" (an herbal tea), because the beginning of the word makes a vowel sound, just like an hour, an honest person, etc.

Again, I think it was posh people and newsreaders who were more likely to say "this was an historic event." It was mostly on the news where I heard them say that. And they said an historic, not "an istoric" which is why I thought it was funny, because they use "an" even though it's not a vowel sound.

[Zyzyfer]

[gypsyfish]

A herb if it's pronounced with the /h/ (consonant)sound.
A herb garden is nice to have.

An herb if it's pronounced with the /er/ (verb)sound.
An herb garden is nice to have.

When did this become so hard?