A Unique Word?

[Tim StevensParticipant @timstevens64731]

Isn't the point about words that they should all be unique? A quality which I recognise is not at all common in English, though.

PS highhanded

Tim

Edited By Tim Stevens on 27/04/2019 17:12:52

[Enough!Participant @enough]

You can get anything you want with the common current fashion of portmanteau-ing words. I'm sure you can find any of them on the internet too. Doesn't make them representative. Perhaps people have a phobia about hyphens.

Personally, it's always been "cross section" (or perhaps "cross-section"  ) . And "mass spectrometer" was just that when I dealt with them.

My wife does "cross-stitch"

 

(Another phantom smiley edit)

Edited By Bandersnatch on 27/04/2019 17:44:14

[Nick Clarke 3Participant @nickclarke3]

Posted by Guy Lamb on 27/04/2019 12:35:44:

I wonder if anyone on this forum suffered being taught the Initial Training Alphabet (I.T.A.) in the late 60's / 70's

as I did ? The experiment was a dismal failure that condemned many children to a life time of misspelling . Thank heavens for 'speel cheack'

Guy

I joined Junior School in 1964 and did not use it, but my sister a couple of years younger did.

But as computers did not use the 45 character ITA but rather the ASCII character set imported from the US this would probably have killed it from the early 1980s if it had not died out before then.

[Mick B1Participant @mickb1]

Posted by Bandersnatch on 27/04/2019 17:42:46:

You can get anything you want with the common current fashion of portmanteau-ing words. I'm sure you can find any of them on the internet too. Doesn't make them representative. Perhaps people have a phobia about hyphens.

Personally, it's always been "cross section" (or perhaps "cross-section" ) . And "mass spectrometer" was just that when I dealt with them.

My wife does "cross-stitch"

 

(Another phantom smiley edit)

Edited By Bandersnatch on 27/04/2019 17:44:14

Yes, I'd probably do that too, but it doesn't mean the alternative is wrong.

Hyphens are becoming less common. For example, 'shotgun' has now largely replaced the hyphenated or split variants. But I think it's OK to be pluralistic…

Edited By Mick B1 on 27/04/2019 20:08:24

[Sam StonesParticipant @samstones42903]

Was it this one George?

The publican of the Pig and Whistle ordered a replacement sign for his establishment. Upon viewing the new sign, he expressed dissatisfaction to the sign maker. He asserted that there was too much space between pig and and and and and whistle.

Sam

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

There was a crossslide in and article I was editing, it becma e cross-slide but I thought it might stimulatean interesting discussion!

Withheld is certainly in most of the dictionaries, Collins here and Longman, Merriam Webster amongst others online (I can't be bothered to go downstairs to find an OED).

Hyphenation tends to fade with time.

Neil

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Posted by Neil Wyatt on 27/04/2019 20:30:03:

Hyphenation tends to fade with time.

.

Interesting note from the Wikipedia page;

[quote]

The use of the hyphen in English compound nouns and verbs has, in general, been steadily declining. Compounds that might once have been hyphenated are increasingly left with spaces or are combined into one word. Reflecting this changing usage, in 2007, the sixth edition of the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary removed the hyphens from 16,000 entries, such as fig-leaf (now fig leaf), pot-belly (now pot belly) and pigeon-hole (now pigeonhole).^[5]The increasing prevalence of computer technology and the advent of the Internet have given rise to a subset of common nouns that might have been hyphenated in the past (e.g. "toolbar", "hyperlink", "pastebin&quot.

[/quote]

MichaelG.

.

P.S. … the modern [?] form, which uses upper-case letters within a concatenation, seems appropriate in the case of CrossSlide

[Mick B1Participant @mickb1]

Posted by Michael Gilligan on 27/04/2019 20:59:00:

Posted by Neil Wyatt on 27/04/2019 20:30:03:

Hyphenation tends to fade with time.

…

P.S. … the modern [?] form, which uses upper-case letters within a concatenation, seems appropriate in the case of CrossSlide

I think that's sometimes called 'CamelCase' 'cos of humps in the middle? But it's mostly used of text relating specifically to computing and especially proprietary trade names for software packages or components thereof. I'd expect a little circled 'R' in superscript every time the word appeared in the manual – have to be a pretty damn special crossslide to justify it…

[HopperParticipant @hopper]

Adding to the confusion is the general rule that compound modifiers take a hyphen whereas a compound noun does not. So we would have "Hit the cross slide with a hammer" but "Hit the cross-slide handle with a hammer".

[blowlampParticipant @blowlamp]

I'm wondering if it was originally Across-slide, which has become shortened to Cross-slide, but should really be written as 'cross-slide.

[GeorgineerParticipant @georgineer]

Posted by Sam Stones on 27/04/2019 20:21:32:

Was it this one George?

The publican of the Pig and Whistle ordered a replacement sign for his establishment. Upon viewing the new sign, he expressed dissatisfaction to the sign maker. He asserted that there was too much space between pig and and and and and whistle.

Sam

That's the one I know. Are you ready to tackle Galahad next ?

George

George

[Mick B1Participant @mickb1]

Posted by blowlamp on 28/04/2019 10:35:41:

I'm wondering if it was originally Across-slide, which has become shortened to Cross-slide, but should really be written as 'cross-slide.

Well, Chapman's 'Workshop Technology' from 1946 uses 'Cross-slide' (inc. initial capitalisation), but then he also uses 'Slide-ways', which today we'd usually combine.

[Sam StonesParticipant @samstones42903]

George – Re Galahad … I wouldn't know where to start (or finish), although I'm reminded of a sentence which starts with …

I is ……

I is the ninth letter of the alphabet.

Sam

[BazyleParticipant @bazyle]

Today I had a problem with freak weather when my ship's boat shipping boats on a BOAT shipped ships and boats and sank. Ok sorry that should have been in the what you did today thread but you can clearly understand my predicament.

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Posted by Bazyle on 28/04/2019 22:17:38:

Today I had a problem with freak weather when my ship's boat shipping boats on a BOAT shipped ships and boats and sank. Ok sorry that should have been in the what you did today thread but you can clearly understand my predicament.

I heard there was a problem on the M25 when lorries shed loads of shed loads of shed loads of shed loads of sheds.

Neil

Edited By Neil Wyatt on 29/04/2019 09:57:57

[John FlackParticipant @johnflack59079]

Nobody has yet to ask if misspelt is missspelt………..

[pgk pgkParticipant @pgkpgk17461]

Perhaps we should bring back the old english long s (the f-shaped one) or use the german es-zed ß That would be handy for Miß and avoid Miss or Miz arguments – also handy for american gentleman in dark suits and sunglasses…

[GeorgineerParticipant @georgineer]

Posted by John Flack on 29/04/2019 12:06:55:

Nobody has yet to ask if misspelt is missspelt………..

I used to struggle with misshapen.

By the way, can anybody find a rhyme for month?

George

[Mick B1Participant @mickb1]

Posted by John Flack on 29/04/2019 12:06:55:

Nobody has yet to ask if misspelt is missspelt………..

Ah, well – there I think you're misled.

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

I don't think they hold Miss Pelt anymore, with the decllne in real fur coats.

Neil

[Bill PhinnParticipant @billphinn90025]

Posted by Michael Gilligan on 27/04/2019 20:59:00:

The use of the hyphen in English compound nouns and verbs has, in general, been steadily declining. Compounds that might once have been hyphenated are increasingly…combined into one word.

MichaelG.

.

Yes, I suppose this is inevitable as we get more and more used to seeing a newly compounded word. I wonder whether anyone writes "girl-friend" any more? Or "to-day" or "cup-board"?

One bugbear (or is that bug-bear?) of mine is the word "predate". Having read widely in ecology in my youth I got very used to understanding the word "predate" to mean to "prey on". "Pre-date" was the other word. Now, they're both "predate". A useful disambiguation has been squandered.

Edited By Bill Phinn on 29/04/2019 19:44:29

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

An excellent catch, Bill

MichaelG.

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Posted by Bill Phinn on 29/04/2019 19:39:47:

One bugbear (or is that bug-bear?) of mine is the word "predate". Having read widely in ecology in my youth I got very used to understanding the word "predate" to mean to "prey on". "Pre-date" was the other word. Now, they're both "predate". A useful disambiguation has been squandered.

Does this means antecedants are now predators?

Neil

P.S. relieved to finally find another ecologist!

Edited By Neil Wyatt on 29/04/2019 22:59:36

[BazyleParticipant @bazyle]

A young lad at work last week used 'curate' to say he would tidy up the store room and was unaware of its previous as in historic usage. sigh.

[Bill PhinnParticipant @billphinn90025]

Posted by Neil Wyatt on 29/04/2019 22:59:22:

 

Does this means antecedants are now predators?

 

Always were, Neil; specifically apex predators of the ursine variety, namely forebears.

🐻

Edited By Bill Phinn on 29/04/2019 23:11:48

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