Date:  Tue, 29 Jul 1997 17:30:27 -0500
From:  Jonathan Gilbert <JonG[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]DRAGONSYS.COM>
Subject: Question on a word

Apologies for posting to lists I don't normally read; I'm asking here on the
suggestion of a friend who does read them -- please send replies
directly by email, and thanks.

The question is on behalf of another friend who is working on a
dissertation (not on a linguistics topic, it's social history of a sort); she
wants to describe a situation in which the usage of one word (in a
particular context, by a small group of people) has diverged enough from
its standard usage that it has become interchangeable with another
word, normally either different or unrelated in meaning. My friend
believes there is a word for this phenomenon, but nobody we've asked
so far has been able to identify it ... does anyone out there know?

Jonathan Gilbert
JonG[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]dragonsys.com