... two predicates with exactly the same sense" (1983:102). Sometimes perfect synonyms are found in languages because one of the expressions is in the process of dropping out of use in the language. Perfect synonyms may not even exist under normal circumstances - "it is usually possible to find some nuance which separates [the expressions], or a context in which one of the [expressions] can appear but the other(s) cannot." (Crystal 1995:164). Things like style, formality, colloquialism and speaker attitude are just a few of the 'nuances' that can do this. For example if you take the synonyms 'toilet' and 'lavatory' these can be separated by the fact that 'toilet' is used in informal situations and 'lavatory' is used in formal ones, but otherwise they are completely synonymous. Speaker attitude reveals positive or negative attitudes in speech and in some synonym pairs one word is seen as negative and the other ...

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