[HPFGU-OTChatter] Herb (Was Re: Harry and Hairy - The Difference.)

[P. Alexis Nguyen]

> > Goddlefrood:
> > Anyway, what I'd like to know from our Amewrican friends is why on
> > earth do you not pronounce the h in herb.
>
> Goddlefrood:
>
> Any Americans should also feel free to answer :-)


The silent h, from someone whose first language wasn't English and
whose parents spoke French as their second language, wasn't unusual to
me.  What I want to know is why Herb, the name, doesn't have a silent
h.  Why the difference?  Do you know how confusing that is for a child
learning American English after she was first taught British English?

Anyway, as far as I can remember, the original pronunciation of herb,
being originally a French (Anglo-French according to Merriam-Webster?)
word, is actually sans h.  The English, in this case, added the h
letter when speaking and modified the original sound...somewhere in
the 19th Century, me thinks.

~Ali