Re: Hyphen, space or neither?

[Alex Hudson <home alexhudson com>]

On Sun, 2006-10-29 at 18:12 +1000, Sridhar Dhanapalan wrote:
> 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'.

I think "login" and "setup" are slightly special cases, but I don't
really see why they should be treated differently.

A dictionary will reflect common usage, but doesn't indicate the most
widely-used. I would say that for the sake of consistency, retaining the
hyphen for the noun in all cases would be best.

(And removing the space would be even worse; for people who don't know
the neologism, they may not recognise the construction).

Cheers,

Alex.