TLDR; English (like all languages) is crazy ... but one particular bit of craziness, the a/an split (and the exceptions to a simple understanding of it) isn't as crazy.
I was so primed to expect crazy I had to reread the article and your comment to notice "this bit of English isn't that crazy".
For those who won't read the article, either the word "a" or the word "an" is used before a word. Which is used depends on the first sound of the next word (not whether the next word starts with a vowel, as is commonly understood).
With this rule, only "129 of the 32,455 words in my list needed exceptions.", which is surprisingly regular.
TLDR; English (like all languages) is crazy ... but one particular bit of craziness, the a/an split (and the exceptions to a simple understanding of it) isn't as crazy.
I was so primed to expect crazy I had to reread the article and your comment to notice "this bit of English isn't that crazy".
For those who won't read the article, either the word "a" or the word "an" is used before a word. Which is used depends on the first sound of the next word (not whether the next word starts with a vowel, as is commonly understood).
With this rule, only "129 of the 32,455 words in my list needed exceptions.", which is surprisingly regular.