flour/flower etc.

[Douglas G. Wilson]

>I'm not sure why you don't like pretentiousness and foreignness as
>connotations, but there are huge differences between "phat" and "fat" and
>many other hip-hop (and other youth culture words). See the forthcoming
>Journal of Sociolinguistics for a number of articles which focus on the use
>of spelling to establish social position and/or identity.

I don't know whether this is directed to me. My recent message was quoted,
but I was responding to Ron Butters, who was the one who proposed excluding
'pretentiousness'/'foreignness' (probably justifiably, I think, but this
would be too complex a discussion to initiate right now).

'Phat'? I know it's conventionally associated with 'fat', but has it been
conclusively established that it's not just a contraction of 'emphatic'?
[Cf. 'radical' > 'rad'.]

If outright slang is admitted, there are many examples ... such as
'whore'/'ho' (which was mentioned recently), I think.

-- Doug Wilson