From the comments: "I would like to discuss a point of hyphenation, please.... At some point in the past, water-fall grew up and become waterfall, drive-way aged into a driveway and mother-fucker matured into a motherfucker."
From the comments: "I would like to discuss a point of hyphenation, please.... At some point in the past, water-fall grew up and become waterfall, drive-way aged into a driveway and mother-fucker matured into a motherfucker."
I think not:
Origin:
bef. 1000; ME; OE wætergefeall
There was a middle period of hyphenation, I think. During the word's "tween" years.
Get out of my driveway motherfucker
Getout!
fuggoff, bothayouse!
And yet Brangelina's brood will grow up to be Pitt-Jolies. Motherfucker!
This is an important point because, in the current polling, "bang" is leading "blast" by a huge margin: http://poll.pollcode.com/7QO2_result?v
So when fingerbang takes its rightful place in the OED, so it should be proudly hyphenless, methinks!
Are you pointing a finger, for emphasis?
Who the fuck ever said drive-way? Did they also play base-ball? Did they post that comment from 1912?
19 Century writers, that's who!
The ones who wrote for news-papers!
what a bunch of melli-fluous dill-does!
See also: e-mail --> email
Oh, excellent!
Cha-ching.
Joanie suuuuure loves her Chaching.
web-log
Not hyphen-related, but when will people stop capitalizing "internet"? Isn't referring to "the Internet" kind of like watching "the Television" or listening to "the Radio"?
Maybe this can just become The Awl's "language rant" open thread ...?
The capital I makes me feel safe and in control. I am not going to rush that one, personally.
I feel my adenoids swelling as I type this, but... It's possible to be on an internet with-out being on "The Internet." But even if we are, we usually use words like WAN, because letters.
The article brings up a whole new debate! Because we definitely browse the internet (or Internet), and we listen to the radio, but no one watches the television. We watch television or a movie, or go to the movies.
Where's the structure?! Where's the consistency!?
I think a few definite articles are regional. Some people go to the movies and watch the teevees.
@Bettytron: I don't know, but my mother still "opens up the computer" to check her "e-mail", thrice-monthly!
As seen with the word "douchebag," for example.
Precisely!
And "asshole," for that matter. Likewise, "shithead."
And there are many other examples, I am sure ...
I accept shithead, and also pothead. But there are times when I've quickly read these terms and thought "Wait, what's a shi thead?" Sometimes a hyphen might help!
"Maybe in order to understand mankind we have to look at that word itself. MANKIND. Basically, it's made up of two separate words "mank" and "ind." What do these words mean? It's a mystery and that's why so is mankind." -- Jack Handey
No matter how great your argument, Mr. Hip, the NY Times will still refer to it as "a word that cannot be printed in a family newspaper that describes an amateurish quasi-sexual act between a finger and a woman's sexual organ."
Or, as it was originally called, the New-York Daily Times.
I dream of one day having one of my comments earn its own "From the Comments" post. Not today, though.
What about a from the comments post within the comments of a from the comments post? Would this make you feel better?
I'll take what I can get. Thank you.
From Joyce: "The sea, the snotgreen sea, the scrotumtightening sea."
Meaning is intact. Not sure we should use him as a model in this debate, but you could do worse!
Personally, as an editor and former proofreader (not proof-reader), I'm against any unnecessary punctuation.
"What's It Really Like to Be a Copy Editor" begat "The Great Fingering Debate" begat "Brief Thoughts on Hyphen Usage." Quick, someone say something incredibly profound and new-post-worthy!
Which is uh, not to say that all of these comments haven't been profound. They have been! OK, I'm going home.
And when exactly did "á propos" become "apropos"???
Yester-day.
apropos of "hitting the spacebar one more time is annoying."
DIAL 1 FOR ENGLISH
I'm just going to take the opportunity here to say that I love the word "sharted."
Duly noted.