Date: Wed, 14 Jun 1995 08:43:31 EDT

From: Larry Horn LHORN[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]YALEVM.CIS.YALE.EDU

Subject: Re: new phrase



Well, in response to Lynne's query about misreadable non-hyphenated names and

descriptions: I'm not sure whether the constraint she mentions--



but...i (and those in my great sphere of influence) use bday and cmas

(christmas)--the former is quite wide spread among those who mark the

joyous season of lynneukah (otherwise known as the 8 days of lynne's

bday). (only 110 shopping days left! shop now and avoid the rush.)



these are better than "krations" because, in english, you'd have to

syllabify the "b" before "day" and the "c" before "mas", but the

"kr-" works as an initial cluster. (the k rations e.g., is kind of

cheating, though because it's not hyphenated in the first place.)



is operative for me, although it clearly is for others with their own

significant spheres of influence. Some time ago I realized that the chain of

stores I've always thought of as K Mart (space, no hyphen) is officially, at

least in these parts, rendered with capital K but no space: "Check out your

neighborhood Kmart store for bargains during this special Lynneukah shopping

season!" For me, this is a severe violation, since I can only pronounce

their store [kmart], with at most a schwa to epenthesize mid-initial-cluster

(as in "c'mon" or the down-underian "G'day!"). No wonder they're heading for

bankruptcy. B'bye, Kmart!



Larry