Thanks
One of the threads I did find when searching is this one
http://www.phpdig.net/showthread.php?s=&threadid=708
I think "partial word matching" as is mentioned in that thread is what I'm after here, and it sounds like this is a direction that phpDig will head when MySQL 4.x becomes more widespread. Matching on other parts of words is a must have for my site, so I reckon I'll hack it into phpDig and see where it gets me in the meantime.
If it's worthy, I'll post what I've got in case it's useful for someone else...