Language: Miscellaneous Observations

They pronounce the "h" in "herb" up here. At least, many chef-like and regular people seem to. CBC Radio announcers don't always, so I wonder if it's a word in transition. I would pronounce the "H" in "Herb," as in "Herbie the Love Bug," but not in "herb."

Also, choirs here wear "gowns." Where I'm from, we wore "robes." "Gowns" were worn, with caps, at graduation and, without caps, at night, as in "nightgown." And yes, one type of robe was a "bathrobe." I suppose up here it would be a "dressing gown." It sounds so Peter Wimsey, though.

And while I'm here: when did "homage," pronounced either "HAHM-udge" or "AHM-udge" according to both my American and Canadian dictionaries, become the fauxly Frenchified "oh-MAJ"? That's probably something we can all blame on Hollywood. Obviously, people in Quebec can say it however they want.

My father, a historian, was a staunch rejector, if one can be that, of "an historian" as "too pretentious." I suspect he'd feel the same way about "oh-MAJ."