Copy Dog,
I guess you first should clarify what you mean by “faster, cleaner and much more listenable [sic]”. These words are not grammatical terms and do not count when discussing grammar. If you know what is the function of the definite article, then you may easily see that you can’t say “guitarist, BB King” because that would combine an indefinite noun (guitarist) with a definite one (BB King) which would be contradiction in term. Because a noun in a sentence could either be definite or indefinite. It couldn’t be both.

Steph, are you suggesting that Shakespeare spelled his words "however he wanted?"

GP, get outa town! :-)
Some British (or Irish probably) may not pronounce the H in some words. 'Ope instead of Hope for example in Cockney accent.
You would say "an hour" because the H is mute there. So as SW said it merely depends on the pronounciation and not on the spelling. (Unless your English teacher was "an" GP!!)
Have a look at this too: http://painintheenglish.com/post.asp?id=152

Ruth, I know theatre. I didn't know Latin! ;-)Thanks anyway.

Back to this again. Is in "a H" or "an H?"
With Irish accent I am sure it is "a H" because they pronounce it like "heych" but in English and American I hear something like "eych." Huh?

As some of you know my mother tongue is Persian. Because of historical reasons, which mostly has to do with the first Iranian students going abroad to France in the 18th century, most of European words, and especially the human scince terms, are pronounced in Persian with their French pronounciation. So to me Cuebec "originaly" sounds as "kebec."
But then when I began to learn English I had a hard time to adapt my ear to the English pronounciation of the words which already been part of my mother toung. So what I hear (especialy in American accent) is "kyubec." and the U is pronounced the same as the U in Cuba the way Americans pronounce it.

Ananymos,
It is oUrangutan. So I think that conection is mere guess. I've read that before.

No, no, no, Thomas! You better read the post and other comments before answering.

Well Speedius,
So we can just simply say "scenic life" instead of "scenic bios" and not be marked as hillbilly, right?

Janet,
Not everywhere in Europe. I guess it is very German. I've never been in Austria, but in Germany and Switzerland one always drinks bottled water which is bought. Tap water is never used.
In Denmark tap water is what one drinks and I think the bottled water is mostly bought by tourists. However if you ask for water in a restaurant you'll be charged anyway, yet they fill a glass from the tap.
In the south, like Spain, one never drinks water; It is not logical. Because a glass of beer is just 1 Euro!!