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

[Beverly Flanigan]

Doesn't anyone watch "Antiques Roadshow"?!

At 11:50 AM 3/11/2005, you wrote:
>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