Date:  Thu, 6 Apr 1995 08:16:00 EDT

From:  "Dennis.Preston" <22709MGR[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]MSU.EDU>

Subject: Harassment



The alternatives to harass reflect euphemistic practices. harASS (and

harASSment) sound too much like HER ASS; HARassment (and HARass) have

increased. (-ment follows regular rules depending on stress on the

bisyllabic) Note the similar use of Uranus. urAnus sounded too much like YOUR

ANUS, so (following Sagan's lead in Cosmos) a URanus pronunciation became more

popular than before. I treat Uranus in more detail in a Maledicta article of a

few years back.

Dennis Preston

<22709mgr[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]msu.edu>

changing to

<preston[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]pilot.msu.edu>