If you allow apostrophes then the possessive form of someone called Bess would be Bess's – and similarly for Tess, however at least one online dictionary hyphenates cross-slide.

Another word with multiple esses is the one you use when you are slamming a quick release bench vice shut and you catch your finger in it – sssssssssssssssssssssss!

Edited By Nick Clarke 3 on 26/04/2019 13:27:15

Given that there is no definitive authority on language, just traditional bodies who postulate on what is correct, you can make up what you want and call it legitimate. That's how language evolves for better or worse. This lot would say you are "not really" correct Neil. sss

Words with sss are either hyphenated or one s is dropped, vis Mick's examples.

As an aside can anyone guess the (allegedly) only word in the English language with 2 consecutive h's? I hesitate to ask this as someone is bound to know of more than one ….

I know the word but it's withheld due to risk of starting a roughhouse. Oh fishhooks!

Deleted V8.

Edited By V8Eng on 26/04/2019 15:23:36

I should have seen the worms wriggling in their can! Who am I to say you are right or wrong? I'm doubting the misconception I've been labouring under for years now. My word is ranchhand but I can only find a correct attribution to this spelling in American English. UK English suggests all these words are two words or hyphenated.

Worms back in their can and lid sealed for now.

Closest thing I can think of is Mississippi.

Martin.

Language is a living thing. But spelling is not language. It's a consciously constructed symbolic system for representing language and thus arbitrarily decided by various authorities such as OED to a large extent. That's why we have so many non-phonetic words, such as phonetic instead of fonetik.

Over time, two words commonly used together tend to be run together, eg awhile, anybody, someone, anytime, backyard, etc and these days even underway. Hence top slide morphing into topslide.

But with crossslide, the triple s is confusing so seems likely to remain as cross slide or cross-slide as is more usual in such cases. Clarity takes precedence over convenience — in my book anyway!

The difficulty is that the self constituted authorities are supposedly guided by usage. Usage is of course mostly determined by editors (like Neil?) who in case of doubt, tend to look up their dictionary before wielding the blue pencil. Also teachers tend to insist on dictionary spelling, hence the system has ended up locked into various nonsensical spellings, which can never be changed because those who would like to do so have no say in the system. So we are stuck with absurdities like through, rough, plough and so on, despite the fact that the advantage of our Arabic based letter system is supposed to be that the phonetic nature of spelling means that you can read and pronounce words that you have never previously seen.

Mississippi is not the word I was looking for….

John

Tried to think of an example unsuccessfully…

Dave

I seem to remember that someone in "Aliice in wonderland"said of some word,"It means what I want it to mean,neither more nor less"

Seems like a very simple answer ,and suits all situations,something like our "Leaders" like to use.

I know that one. Back in the sixties our English master gave us a sentence to punctuate which had the word 'had' eleven times in a row:

The rest of the class while Galahad had had had had had had had had had had had the masters approval

George

I know that one. Back in the sixties our English master gave us a sentence to punctuate which had the word 'had' eleven times in a row:

The rest of the class while Galahad had had had had had had had had had had had the masters approval

George