What about the practice of dropping certain articles? I've always wondered about this:

UK: "He's in hospital" US: "He's in the hospital"

Isn't the latter actually correct English, even in England? When would you use one and not the other?


Speaking of words that start with H... What about the practice of treating H as if it were silent at the start of a word? Even extending to the choice of using "a" or "an" when placing the article before the word:

UK: "The dolphin will jump through an 'oop" US: "The dolphin will jump through a hoop"