Is it true that hyphenated words are just a step from being combined words, e.g., anti-inflammatory becomes anti-inflammatory. In ornithology there exists blackbird, scrub-jay and screech-owl. Additionally, hyphenated words are frequently indexed in awkward ways. All scrub-jays are listed under scrub-jay, not jay, one cannot find screech-owl under owl.

Ralph

Hi, I like the subject but you write up there: 'anti-inflammatory becomes anti-inflammatory'. Eh....this is a confusing part. Something becomes something it already is? I see listed both scrub jay and scrub-jay when I do a search. What's wrong?