On Wednesday 27 September 2006 09:54, "David Lodge" <dave cirt net> wrote: > So in this case, we can rule "plugin", "login" etc. as having become fixed > over time to be non-space (as nouns at least) and as there are no > pronunciation difficulties a hyphen is not required. > > In terms of invented words (that people like to use, e.g. the use of > ellipisize [sic] in gtk+), if we can't avoid the new word, we should apply > the simple test to it (if used as a noun): > * Is it a common term? (= one word) > * Does it have pronunciation difficulties, or may cause confusion out of > context (= hypenated) > * Otherwise (= spaced) > > In terms of use as a verb I'd agree with Toby, but I feel that we are > pandering to the American English tendency to turn nouns into verbs on a > regular basis: log in should be treated as the verb "log" and the > preposition "in", rather than the whole thing as a verb. I have recently discovered that the Collins Dictionary uses 'log in' and 'set up' as verbs, but 'login' and 'setup' as nouns: http://www.collins.co.uk/wordexchange/Sections/DicSrchRsult.aspx?word=log+in http://www.collins.co.uk/wordexchange/Sections/DicSrchRsult.aspx?word=set+up Looking at other popular terms in the world of computing, Collins treats 'start up' as a verb but 'start-up' as an adjective/noun. The same rule applies to 'plug in', 'pop up' and 'mark up'. http://www.collins.co.uk/wordexchange/Sections/DicSrchRsult.aspx?word=start+up http://www.collins.co.uk/wordexchange/Sections/DicSrchRsult.aspx?word=plug+in http://www.collins.co.uk/wordexchange/Sections/DicSrchRsult.aspx?word=pop+up http://www.collins.co.uk/wordexchange/Sections/DicSrchRsult.aspx?word=mark+up I propose that these spellings become official for the GNOME en_GB translation. If there are no objections, I'll be moving to make this an official policy in Ubuntu en_GB. -- Sridhar Dhanapalan {GnuPG/OpenPGP: http://www.dhanapalan.com/yama.asc 0x049D38B4 : A7A9 8A02 78CB AB1B FCE4 EEC6 2DD9 249B 049D 38B4} "It is easy to be blinded to the essential uselessness of computers by the sense of accomplishment you get from getting them to work at all." - Douglas Adams
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