CLEMatiS, cleMAHtis, cleMAYtis

[Laurence Horn]

At 5:49 PM -0500 4/6/02, Duane Campbell wrote:
>On Sat, 6 Apr 2002 09:55:49 -0800 "ANNE V. GILBERT"
>>
>>  I've been wondering about this for some time.
>
>At a matter of fact I just covered this question in a column last week.
>I set the guideline as follows: If you paid more than ten bucks for the
>plant, it's a CLEMatis; if you got it on the cheap, it's cleMATis.

Aha.  As in "vahz" vs. "vace"--the former is for the vase costs more
than $100.   I can just see it now:  "The Price of Linguistic
Variation"

larry

>While this was written in jest, there is a grain of truth in it. I have
>found the difference to be both regional and cultural. In my area, and
>many others I'm sure, it has always been cleMATis, and I'm sure there are
>regions where it is commonly CLEMatis, though I haven't been able to
>pinpoint them. But in cleMATis areas I have found that upscale gardeners
>migrate to CLEMatis, which is perceived as being more fashionable.
>
>D