Collegiate "geek" in the '70s (was Re: Synonymy avoidance)

[Benjamin Zimmer]

Larry Horn:
>and similarly the classic [veys] (< $200) /[vaz] (> $200) example
>(where the latter is often taken to be more costly)

Jonathan Lighter:
>I've  always said /vaz/ even though I can't afford any.
>
>Didn't this "distinction" really start out as a joke ?  Does anybody(except
>a few uptight linguists) really observe it ?

AFAIK, Labov was serious when he mentioned a woman in New York having that
distinction.  I tracked down the exact reference: it's in _Sociolinguistic
Patterns_, p. 251 (in a footnote).


--Ben Zimmer