flour/flower etc.

[RonButters at AOL.COM]

In a message dated 10/17/2000 12:35:20 AM, rtroike at U.ARIZONA.EDU writes:

<< History does show that orthographic differences can become
attached to semantic differences, when the latter are there be associated
with, or manufactured after the fact, "flour"/"flower" being a prime
example. >>

But FLOUR and FLOWER are semantically pretty unrelated. I still am looking
for a case where alternative spellings suggest differences in connotation
rather than denotation, where the conotation is something other than
"pretentiousness" or "foreignness." Even the alternative _pronuncations_ of
/vaz/ and /ves/, /strIng/ and /straeng/, /ant/ and /aent/ stem from
"pretentiousness"/"foreignness" (i.e., dialect associations). You say
"potato" and I say "potahto"