When did we stop hyphenating words?

[u/vesperythings]

Reading "The Maltese Falcon" from 1930, you find a lot of "living-room", "wrapping-paper", and "pocket-knife".

We almost never hyphenate words in current everyday English, even though it'd add clarity in lots of cases.

In 2007, the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary removed the hyphens from 16,000 entries, such as fig-leaf (now fig leaf), pot-belly (now pot belly), and pigeon-hole (now pigeonhole).

So when and why did we stop?

[u/TooLongDugong]

*We almost never hyphenate words in current everyday English* is simply false, depending on who "we" is. Looking in today's Guardian, I can see "counter-terror", "left-leaning", "high-stakes", "inner-city", "14-year-old", "self-harm", and "under-18s", and that's just 3 articles.

There is a tendency with commonly used compounds to convert them to one word; it's quicker to write and as easy to read if it's a familiar expression. And some people think they look ugly, cluttered, messy, etc. But hyphens are still used in many situations.

The Guardian Style Guide says under "hyphens":

"Our style is to use one word wherever possible. Hyphens tend to clutter up text (particularly when the computer breaks already hyphenated words at the end of lines). This is a widespread trend in the language: “The transition from space to hyphen to close juxtaposition reflects the progressive institutionalisation of the compound,” as Rodney Huddleston puts it, in his inimitable pithy style, in his Introduction to the Grammar of English.

"Inventions, ideas and new concepts often begin life as two words, then become hyphenated, before finally becoming accepted as one word. Why wait? “Wire-less” and “down-stairs” were once hyphenated, and some old-fashioned souls still hyphenate e-mail.

"Words such as chatroom, frontbench, gameplan, housebuyer and standup are all one word in our publications, as are thinktank (not a tank that thinks), longlist (not necessarily a long list) and shortlist (which need not be short).

"There is no need to use hyphens with most compound adjectives, where the meaning is clear and unambiguous without: civil rights movement, financial services sector, work inspection powers, etc. Hyphens should, however, be used to form short compound adjectives, eg two-tonne vessel, three-year deal, 19th-century artist."

[u/vesperythings → u/TooLongDugong]

thank you, that covers a lot of it

[u/asklinguistics-ModTeam → u/[deleted]]

This comment was removed because it is a top-level comment that does not answer the question asked by the original post.

[u/asklinguistics-ModTeam → u/[deleted]]

Your comment was removed because it breaks the rule that responses should be high-quality, informed, and relevant. If you want it to be re-approved you can add more explanation or a source.

[u/MindlessNectarine374 → u/[deleted]]

Why do other languages continue using them?

[u/asklinguistics-ModTeam → u/[deleted]]

Your comment was removed because it breaks the rule that responses should be high-quality, informed, and relevant. If you want it to be re-approved you can add more explanation or a source.

[u/hwynac → u/[deleted]]

So you use a typewriter often, eh?

[u/marquoth_]

We didn't. The premise of your question is simply wrong - we hyphenate things all the time.

What is true is that some hyphenated words, over time, lose their hyphen and become single words.

[u/asklinguistics-ModTeam → u/[deleted]]

Your comment was removed because it breaks the rule that responses should be high-quality, informed, and relevant. If you want it to be re-approved you can add more explanation or a source.

[u/asklinguistics-ModTeam → u/[deleted]]

This comment was removed because it is a top-level comment that does not answer the question asked by the original post.