The vowel changes are interesting, Herb. But what about the disconnect betweent the speaker's intent and the hearer's perception? This is where the interesting issues lie (issues that make good conversation at Edith's faculty meetings! and at ours too!)

 

If a speaker says 'flush it out' but she really means 'to fill in the details', she is not communicating effectively to me because I will understand that she means 'to get rid of it'.

 

If she describes a little girl as a 'pre Madonna' but I hear 'prima donna', we are understanding things rather differently.

 

I guess that these are examples of how one generation can create new concepts that in some places will supplant the old ones. 

 

Does anyone have any more examples?

 

Linda