Date: Wed, 14 Jun 1995 08:43:31 EDT
From: Larry Horn
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