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At the risk of sounding flip, but really only urging you to
standardization and consistency:
What does the dictionary of choice that your chosen stylebook (or house
style) references say?
Hopefully, you have a stylebook. Hopefully, it references a dictionary.
If not, you're quite likely headed for subjective, on-the-fly decisions
and internal inconsistency.
If you have both and neither provides an answer, make a decision, add it
to your house style, get the word out, and edit accordingly.
-----Original Message-----
From: techwr-l-bounces+jim -dot- pinkham=voith -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
[mailto:techwr-l-bounces+jim -dot- pinkham=voith -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com] On
Behalf Of Chris Vickery
Sent: Wednesday, May 30, 2007 2:54 PM
To: Ladonna Weeks; TECHWR-L
Subject: RE: compound word usage
If you want a quick answer, I say keep them split up. "Log" is a verb.
"Login" is not. All these just sound wrong to me...why combine the verb
with the preposition with the verb? What about "Startup" as in "Startup
your car"?
While the Chicago Manual of Style may say that words tend compound-ward,
I'll wait for Oxford on these terms.
Incidentally, our GUI also uses all of these terms, and I decided to
keep them apart for the verb form.
Chris
-----Original Message-----
From: techwr-l-bounces+cvickery=arenasolutions -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
[mailto:techwr-l-bounces+cvickery=arenasolutions -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com]
On Behalf Of Ladonna Weeks
Sent: Wednesday, May 30, 2007 12:48 PM
To: 'TECHWR-L'
Subject: compound word usage
Hello,
I know that it is technically correct to split "setup", "login", and
"logout" into two words when using them as verbs but I see them quite
often as one-word verbs. The GUI for our new product is replete with
them. My inclination is to let them be since it appears to me to be an
emerging trend of usage in the industry.
What do you think?
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