Do you use a lot of hyphenated words when you write?
By ctrymuziklvr
@ctrymuziklvr (11057)
United States
April 15, 2008 10:59am CST
The new edition of The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary has done away with about 16,000 hyphens. The editors of the dictionary have decided, in an awesome display of ruthless language modification, that the conventions of hyphenation were arbitrary and needed simplification. They changed most of the hyphenated words – such as leap-frog and ice-cream by turning them into one word (leapfrog) or two distinct words like ice cream. I always thought that ice cream WAS two different words but I guess in this dictionary it's hyphenated! Who knew 
How often do you use hyphenated words when you write or do you just use the two words without the hyphen?
How often do you use hyphenated words when you write or do you just use the two words without the hyphen?3 responses
@Jezebella (1446)
• United States
15 Apr 08
I generally make hyphenated words into two words. I don't like seeing so many hyphens in my writing. It kind of makes it looks choppy and what not.
@CheshireKat (564)
• United States
15 Apr 08
I guess I was doing things right in the eyes of the Oxford English Dictionary, because usually I omit hyphens. I either made them one word or made them two words. {as far as I was concerned, ice cream was two words, too :P}
Oh well, I guess it's really ultimately all the same. Odds are that no one would have corrected me if I was using words without hyphens that needed them, and now that some dictionary somewhere thinks that my version is right, I should do nothing but celebrate. :P
