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    hyphenated words - different custom in BE and AE?

    16­ Replies
    Topic

    hyphenated words - different custom in BE and AE?

    Comment
    I sometimes read and comment on writings of a friend from Luxembourg. From my perspective as a native speaker, I often confidently comment that such-and-such is wrong, or at least non-standard or non-idiomatic. But I do sometimes wonder whether I'm giving comments from an AE perspective that are not fully correct in BE. My friend is not a native speaker of English, but he was educated in the UK (Cambridge and Durham), and writes well in English. So maybe his tendency to use hyphens is right, from a BE perspective.

    So, for example, I often comment that he tends to hyphenates words which don't need hyphenating. For example, he has written off-spring, re-interpret, re-adjustment, check-up. In all of these cases, I would write the word without hyphen: offspring, reinterpret, readjustment, checkup.

    What do our UK colleagues think of this? Are there customary differences between BE and AE regarding hyphenation in these cases?

    Author eric (new york) (63613) 25 Nov 12, 22:36
    Comment
    Hi, Eric!
    We were taught to hyphenate the those words way back when, too (except for offspring). Same thing with co-operate, co-operation. But then, U'm from the "cancelled, anulled, modelling..." generation :-)
    #1Author Carly-AE (237428) 25 Nov 12, 22:42
    Comment
    Hi Carly.

    In each of these cases, I've checked Google (putting the words in quotes), and the non-hyphenated variant is more common. But Google doesn't have any way of doing an AE vs. BE comparison.

    For example:

    re-interpret - 348,000 - https://www.google.com/search?q=%22re-interpr...

    reinterpret - 1,450,000 - https://www.google.com/search?q=%22reinterpre...
    #2Author eric (new york) (63613) 25 Nov 12, 22:47
    Comment
    In American English, the hyphenation of prefixes and of compounds evolves. Today most prefixes are no longer hyphenated. This includes the prefix re. So "reinterpret" and "readjustment" no longer have hyphens.

    Compounds often begin life as separate words, then acquire a hyphen, and eventually become solid. "Offspring" and "checkup" are today no longer hyphenated.

    The prinicipal authority for these questions is the Merriam-Webster dictionary, which is available on line (http://www.merriam-webster.com). The Chicago Manual of Style, which you already have, explains these issues in more detail and has useful guides to all hyhenation questions.
    #3Author Bob C. (254583) 25 Nov 12, 22:53
    Comment
    Oh dear, NOW I see my typos :-)

    eric, I'm not quite sure when these hyphens were dropped, but it was some time after I graduated from high school (1973).

    edit: Just checked my MW from 1991 - prefixes weren't hyphenated.
    #4Author Carly-AE (237428) 25 Nov 12, 23:02
    Comment
    @Bob C.:

    Do you have any idea whether the BE style is different in this respect?

    My own instincts and experience are pretty reliable with respect to AE. But I need to be cautious about BE, because there are undoubtedly some AE/BE differences in style and usage that I'm not aware of.
    #5Author eric (new york) (63613) 25 Nov 12, 23:24
    Comment
    This is what's stated in the English Style Guide issued by the European Commission Directorate-General for Translation


    1.52 Prefixes are usually hyphenated in recent or ad hoc coinages:
    anti-smoking campaign, co-responsibility levies, co-sponsor, ex-army, nonresident, non-flammable, pre-school, quasi-autonomous

    If they are of Latin or Greek origin, however, they tend to drop the hyphen as they become established:
    antibody, codetermination, codecision, cofinancing, cooperation, subcommittee, subparagraph

    Others are more resistant to losing the hyphen:
    end-user, end-phase, end-product, (I've never ever seen these hyphenated:-)) all-embracing, all-metal, off-market operations, off-duty
    but note
    endgame, nonsense, overalls

    I recall one of my teachers also telling us that new words were often hyphenated, but dropped the hyphen once they had become established.

    edit: Here's the link:
    http://ec.europa.eu/translation/writing/style...
    #6Author Carly-AE (237428) 25 Nov 12, 23:35
    Comment
    Eric, I do believe there are differences between British and American English rules for hyphens, but I do not know the authoritative sources for UK.

    Carly, it's important to note that the established guide for all questions of punctuation and style for US book publishing is the Chicago Manual of Style. The CMS recommends the Merriam-Webster dictionary (as well as one or two others) for all questions of spelling as well as for hyphenation of prefixes and compounds and for word division.

    For academic papers and some scholarly works, one should in addition consult the MLA style sheet; for journalism there are style guides published by leading newspapers.

    Some US government departments and agencies have their own style manuals as well.
    #7Author Bob C. (254583) 26 Nov 12, 00:02
    Comment
    Bob, I've long-since bookmarked the Chicago Manual of Style :-) Since eric asked about BE, I provided the link to the EU Style Guide.
    #8Author Carly-AE (237428) 26 Nov 12, 00:06
    Comment
    Hi eric. I'm sometimes equally uncertain when doing work for US clients. Ultimately, you can only consult a BE dictionary to be sure (or an AE dictionary like MW in my case). The free Oxford Dictionaries Online site allows you to toggle between the US English dictionary and the British & World English dictionary. I wouldn't have thought there was all that much difference between BE and AE hyphenation nowadays, but there are exceptions, check-up/checkup being a case in point:
    http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/amer...
    http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/engl...

    I was going to mention the European Commission's style guide too, but Carly beat me to it. Other BE style guides to look at are The Economist:
    http://www.economist.com/style-guide/hyphens
    or any of the style guides of the "better" British newspapers, e.g.:
    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/topics/about-us/st...
    http://www.guardian.co.uk/styleguide/h

    But it's probably quicker and simpler just to consult a BE dictionary like ODO or Chambers:
    http://www.chambers.co.uk/search.php?query=ch...
    #9Author Anne(gb) (236994) 26 Nov 12, 00:21
    Comment
    The Chicago Manual has an excellent section on hyphenation of compounds and prefixes, including quite a bit of information about where BE usage does and does not differ from that of AE.

    Here's one that just came up today that's still awaiting a BE answer:

    related discussion: fellow-worker - der Arbeitskollege
    #10Author hm -- us (236141) 26 Nov 12, 01:29
    Comment
    I still hyphenate check-up :-)) Guess that reveals my age, more or less :-)

    edit: For some (unknown) reason, I still hyphenate "co-worker," but none of the other "co prefix" words.
    #11Author Carly-AE (237428) 26 Nov 12, 09:39
    Comment
    Anne and Carly,

    Thanks for the links. Those are good resources. I was not aware that there were free online dictionaries of BE and European English.

    hm -- us #10: Thanks. I'll drag it out again and check that section.
    #12Author eric (new york) (63613) 26 Nov 12, 11:00
    Comment
    Carly, one reason might be that coworker could look like a compound with 'cow.' I can see why someone might prefer the hyphen, even though Chicago 16th ed. evidently doesn't. The same once often went for 'coop'; now they recommend 'cooperation,' but 'co-op' and 'co-opt.' Go figure. It's clearly not an exact science.

    eric, I may have lied, or been remembering some other source, because this morning, now that I look at Chicago 16th ed., it doesn't have the part I remember that explicitly lists hyphenated British prefixes. I wonder if it was in a previous edition (I think my older one is the 14th), or in a dictionary or something (Webster's unabridged? it has a long section on spelling in the front matter) instead. Sorry for the false scent.
    #13Author hm -- us (236141) 26 Nov 12, 16:53
    Comment
    Thanks, hm :-) As I already mentioned, we were taught co-operation way back when. And my Webster's (1991) still states: co-op, co-opt. Will check later on whether they list the hyphenated British prefixes.

    edit: My MW doesn't include that particular list.
    #14Author Carly-AE (237428) 26 Nov 12, 16:58
    Comment
    The Merriam-Webster dictionary online (http://www.merriam-webster.com) has lists of most words with common prefixes (co-, re-, sub-, anti-, etc.). For example, if you enter "coauthor", it gives you a long list of words with that prefix.

    Since there is only the hypothetical possibility that anyone would think coworker is compounded from cow-orker, MW reasons that it need not be hyphenated for clarity. But since "co-op" and "coop" are distinct words, it is necessary to have a way of distinguishing them. It is quite scientific and logical, not arbitrary.

    Such considerations govern all prefixes today. In American English, the only ones still hyphenated are those that would otherwise be ambiguous, for example "recreation" and "re-creation." Proper nouns must also be separated from their prefixes: anti-Obama, pro-Raiders.
    #15Author Bob C. (254583) 26 Nov 12, 19:20
    Comment
    #7: I do not know the authoritative sources for UK.

    I don't know whether there are authoritative sources as such.
    #16AuthorKinkyAfro (587241) 26 Nov 12, 19:21
     
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