I'm actually testing on a clean Denali build on a clean machine, with the latest word breakers. I'm also just using sys.dm_fts_parser queries, so no relying on a full-text index.

I...

Not the same thing.

Here's more about custom dictionaries in SQL Server FTS:

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/sqlfts/archive/2009/12/03/did-you-know-that-sql-server-2008-provides-the-ability-to-create-a-custom-dictionary-of-special-terms-to-be-indexed-as-is-i-e-at-t-into-the-ftindex.aspx

I'm just having trouble getting the results that I would expect - can't tell yet whether I chose poor...

I was surprised to see your recent post because I've also been trying to get this to work since yesterday. I hope to have more information soon.

Theoretically the steps are...