At the railway station today the new 'computerised' announcement was apologising for the usual delays, and spoke of 'the oh nine hundred' train. Except, the 'the' was pronounced 'the', and not 'thee' (if you've kept up with this so far, you're doing better than I am).

This set me to thinking that it was likely that English will become more and more regularised with the advent of computer-simulated speech and writing. The irregularities of the language (pronouncing it 'thee' before a vowel sound) will be smoothed out in order to make the software less cumbersome.

Which led to the idea that they would probably still respect the more obvious irregularity in the indefinite article - of using 'an' instead of 'a' before a vowel sound. At least for now.

This thought led me yet further, to one of the (apparently defunct) irregularities whose passing I mourn - the phrase 'an hotel'. I have always used it, and even recommended its use in various style-guides etc that our company issues (in which I have a hand), but one of our staff quoted an up-to-date Fowler (or something similar) to me, which said that it was a stodgy archaism and not in general use, and further, not recommended business language. Ever since, with some reluctance, I have tried to write, and pronounce, it 'a hotel', but it grates.

Do any of you have an opinion on this one? What do you think is the best usage today? (And, just to try to make my entire long story relevant - any thoughts on the regularisation of English because of the need for streamlined software?)

cheer

the sunshine warrior