> I bet the real rule is some reality about feasibility of pronunciation YUP! Sorry I don't have a good citation handy, but lots of English grammar happens as

> I bet the real rule is some reality about feasibility of pronunciation YUP! Sorry I don't have a good citation handy, but lots of English grammar happens as a result of misaligned word boundaries. "napron" (from the French naperon) became "an apron". Orange (from the Arabic naranj)... "an ewt" became "a newt". etc.