ABC Fun: a, an

There's no real reason to define a or an, they are definite articles.

I just wanted to start with this because of this statement:
The Anglo-Saxons tended not to use an article at all.

The Anglo-Saxon being the English.

If you listen to British radio, or watch British TV, (or even read a certain kind of book!) you will see sometimes that the "rustic" character will not use the a or an, when talking.

Take for example the famous first Spanish Inquisition sketch from Monty Python:

Chapman: Trouble at mill.
Cleveland: Oh no - what kind of trouble?
Chapman: One on't cross beams gone owt askew on treadle.
Cleveland: Pardon?
Chapman: One on't cross beams gone owt askew on treadle.
Cleveland: I don't understand what you're saying.
Chapman: [slightly irritatedly and with exaggeratedly clear accent] One of the cross beams has gone out askew on the treadle.
Cleveland: Well what on earth does that mean?
Chapman: *I* don't know - Mr Wentworth just told me to come in here and say that there was trouble at the mill, that's all - I didn't expect a kind of Spanish Inquisition.

Bibliography
Dictionary of Word Origins, by John Ayto