TexasCHLforum.com

DoubleJ wrote:...

carry on....

Exactly! The OP is a genius ... this is a great thread.

Liberty wrote: ...
That's not what I was taught, although that was a long time ago.

Most of the confusion with a or an arises from acronyms and other abbreviations: some people think it's wrong to use an in front of an abbreviation like "MRI" because "an" can only go before vowels. Not so: the sound, not the letter, is what matters. Because you pronounce it "em ar eye," or "law enforcement officer" , it's "an MRI" or "a LEO".

One tricky case comes up from time to time: is it "a historic occasion" or "an historic occasion"? Some speakers favor the latter — more British than American speakers, but you'll find them in both places — using an on longish words (three or more syllables) beginning with h, where the first syllable isn't accented. They'd say, for instance, "a hístory textbook" (accent on the first syllable) but "an históric event." (Likewise "a hábit" but "an habítual offender," "a hýpothetical question" but "an hypóthesis.") Still, most guides prefer a before any h that's sounded: "a historic occasion," "a hysterical joke," "a habitual offender" — but "an honor" and "an hour" because those h's aren't sounded.

I just remembered another bit of miserable screed guaranteed to over-torque my headbolts: Article Confusion.

Specifically, it is a person's confusion concerning the articles "a" and "an". Improper: "an LEO". Proper: "a LEO".
Should a person (not an uneducated lout) be speaking, he/she would not say "an Law Enforcement Officer".

Abraham wrote: ...
I guess we all have our failings...

... and some of us exhibit them in public.

I'm with Kythas. The misuse of possessive plural never fails to draw my attention.