|
|
Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 2,636
Carpal Tunnel
|
OP
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 2,636 |
As part of a program to beautify our highways, a sign on US131 N as you enter the southeast corner of Grand Traverse County has been replaced with a brand-spanking new one that reads:
Prison Area
Do not pickup
hitchhikers
Is it just me, or is this sign missing a space?
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
I've seen this in other phrasal verbs, specifically back up conflated to backup. I've even seen the past tense form backupped.
Also backuped, but that's a little too much, even for this staunch descriptivist.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 2,204
Pooh-Bah
|
|
Pooh-Bah
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 2,204 |
I spose it equates to "pickup truck" :-(
If 'twere me writing the notice, I'd stick in not only one space but one hyphen as well.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 3,467
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 3,467 |
TEd
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
it equates to "pickup truck"
Well, yeah. Connie's lovely pun depends on that*. But the sign should just use pick up.
*I just know I'm going to hate myself for pointing it out.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 2,661
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 2,661 |
How long did/will it take for hitch-hikers and pick-up to gain/lose a hyphen? Does the 'space' evolve first or does the hyphen? How long will it take for both to disappear, leaving us with *a word? ...and will Batman escape from what is sure to be a gruesome death?
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
With baseball it started as two words, pickupped the hyphen, and then became one word. There was a period in there when all three variants were seen.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,891
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,891 |
Funny, I just went through this same discussion about the word make-up (v. makeup) today with one of my U.S. suppliers and a client. Our assorted dictionaries spelled it in different ways depending upon its age and country of origin.
We decided to go with make-up since two out of three Canadian dictionaries spelled it that way and the product is for the Canadian market. My supplier's U.S. Webster's spelled it makeup.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 3,467
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 3,467 |
I'd actually never thought about it, and I would have spelled it without the hyphen, as in H2G2. I googled and found about a 3-2 preference for the word without the hyphen, but many of the citations were the same.
And I remember this word from many years ago when a bunch of us were searching for words that had double letters in them. Double-aitch ain't that common. And thank God Exxon proved that a big oil company didn't have to be Humble.
TEd
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542 |
OED2 hyphenates; W3 does not -- this suggests a bank-bias.
(or OED hasn't updated the aitches yet)
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
Far as I'm concerned, the general rule is that nouns have the parts stuck together, e.g., backup, as in 'the computer backup ran last night' as opposed to verbs, in which they're separate, e.g., 'I'm going to back up the computers tonight.'
|
|
|
|
Forums16
Topics13,913
Posts229,326
Members9,182
| |
Most Online3,341
Dec 9th, 2011
|
|
|
0 members (),
585
guests, and
7
robots. |
|
Key:
Admin,
Global Mod,
Mod
|
|
|
|
