Constant Content

Hello Everyone,

Do the editors have a specific dictionary they prefer? I get confused with hyphenated words sometimes, and I'd love to have a quick reference to check. What method do you use to determine if a word should be an open compound, closed compound, or hyphenated?

Example: "get the lowdown"

Oxford Dictionary has "low-down," (hyphenated) Merriam-Webster has "lowdown," (closed compound) and Google is full of a movie called "Low Down." (open compound)

Constant Content editors have referenced Merriam Webster in their revision requests, so I use MW when in doubt.

Ahh lowdown, one of my favorite words! It seems to me that it would be more helpful to learn the rules of hyphenating words rather than finding out what dictionary CC editors use. For example the Merriam dictionary doesn't hyphenate the words off campus and that is correct sometimes. You can say- she lives off campus. But if you say she lives in an off-campus apartment the two words need to be hyphenated. And the rules on hyphenation also say that lowdown is one un-hyphenated (and that hyphens are okay when you're making up words too lol)

Merriam-Webster's clarification on when to hyphenate:
https://www.merriam-webster.com/help/faq-compound-words

While we're on the topic of editorial preferences, did y'all know we no longer have to capitalize Internet and Web? (AP Style)
http://www.poynter.org/2016/ap-style-ch ... re/404664/

Maybeyehno wrote:Ahh lowdown, one of my favorite words! It seems to me that it would be more helpful to learn the rules of hyphenating words rather than finding out what dictionary CC editors use.

It's definitely good advice for everyone to learn the rules of hyphenation. However, in this case, the dictionary does matter. Oxford uses "low-down" as a noun and adjective while M-W uses "lowdown" as the noun and "low-down" as the adjective. My crazy brain likes to stick hyphens in all sorts of nouns that may or may not require it. Whenever I'm editing, I always have to remind myself that APA style doesn't hyphenate "posttest" or "pretest" no matter how much I think they should have hyphens.

Yeah, I've had issues with "user name" versus "username." Had two different editors tell me to do it different. I just kinda submit and cross my fingers. lol