Is this sentence wrong?

@McTag,

McTag wrote:

this year of Our Lord 2103.

Careful, Doctor! The sonic screwdriver is misaligned!

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@McTag,

McTag wrote:

"tonight" is not hyphenated in this year of Our Lord 2103.

But the Saki piece she was quoting from was written in 1912 - that's 101 years ago, (191 years ago on your planet, evidently).

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@contrex,

Forgive us our typos, as we forgive those who typo against us.

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@contrex,

I see what you mean. But everyone who later posted (including friend JTT although my remark was not particularly directed thither) wrote it with a hyphen. So I thought it worth mentioning, lest a foreign learner learn the wrong thing.

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@McTag,

McTag wrote:

I thought it worth mentioning, lest a foreign learner learn the wrong thing.

People were quoting directly the original material. It's only a matter of style, of typography really. I could decide to write "to-day" and "door-knob" and "letter-box" and I wouldn't be wrong. This is an important point.

1 Reply

@contrex,

Well you may believe that. Me, I don't think that today and piledriver are so different. Knockout, weekend, pullover. I think a sub-editor would disagree with you and if not, I'd sack him.

1 Reply

@McTag,

McTag wrote:

I think a sub-editor would disagree with you

Think... agree... your very choice of words reinforces my point. It's a choice.

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@McTag,

You're the one who is being stupid, McTag. See my next post.

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@McTag,

Quote:

But everyone who later posted (including friend JTT although my remark was not particularly directed thither) wrote it with a hyphen.

I never wrote it with a hyphen. I copied and pasted the original because it's not my place to try to correct what was correct when it was written.

Contrex has explained all this, pointed out when it was written, that it was appropriate then so why all the to-do.

Quote:

So I thought it worth mentioning, lest a foreign learner learn the wrong thing.

But you still feel it's dandy to teach many incorrect things.

1 Reply

@JTT,

Look guys, this is obviously too big a question to decide today. So let's sleep on it, and come back to it

to-morrow.

Wink

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@contrex,

Quote:

your very choice of words reinforces my point.

sub-editor? I don't think it's much of a choice, unless you're after a Germanic or American style.

Why do we write submarine, but sub-editor, sergeant-major, under-manager?

Weekend, but over-wrought?

I've got a theory.

Overseer, an exception to the McTag guide.

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Re the chronology of dropping the hyphen in BrE, to-day, to-morrow and to-night were listed as alternatives in editions of the Concise Oxford Dictionary down to and including the 7th edition (1982) but were dropped in the 8th edition of 1990. Even that fossil Fowler called "to-night" etc "a very singular piece of conservatism" in 1926.

1 Reply

@McTag,

McTag wrote:

Quote:
your very choice of words reinforces my point.

sub-editor?

No, "think" and "disagree" - words that are used about opinions. I actually quoted them with ellipses following.

Quote:

McTag wrote:

I think a sub-editor would disagree with you

Think... agree... your very choice of words reinforces my point. It's a choice.

1 Reply

@McTag,

McTag wrote:

Why do we write submarine, but sub-editor, sergeant-major, under-manager?

Weekend, but over-wrought?

I've seen overwrought, subeditor, Sergeant major, (the appointment - the rank is hyphenated: The Sergeant major of the 1st Battalion Mudshire Regiment is Sergeant-major Jones). The spelling "Serjeant" was official in the British Army until November 1953, and correct for the period prior, and confusingly some infantry regiments have kept the 'j' spelling.

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@contrex,

Oh yes, sorry. I misunderstood/ mis-understood the meaning of the ellipses.

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@contrex,

Quote:

Even that fossil Fowler called "to-night" etc "a very singular piece of conservatism" in 1926.

So I was right? How refreshing.

Although I must say I've got a soft spot for Mr Fowler. And I didn't write that just to get JTT worked up. His writing is full of interest, if not rectitude.

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@McTag,

McTag wrote:

So I was right? How refreshing.

You were "right" to the extent that hyphenating today, tonight and tomorrow is howlingly old fashioned. You were not right if you meant that is is "wrong" to do so, or that doing so is an error.

1 Reply

@contrex,

That's close enough for me. I paint with a fairly broad brush.

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I have this acquaintance who has been a young fogey since he was about 30, I can just imagine him writing "to-night". He's a member of the Victorian Society. He won't have a computer or TV in his house. I can also imagine creative writing e.g. in a novel using such things to give a fogeyish air.

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@McTag,

Quote:

Although I must say I've got a soft spot for Mr Fowler. And I didn't write that just to get JTT worked up. His writing is full of interest, if not rectitude.

Again illustrative of how ignorant you are on language.

Quote:

if not rectitude.

You would never know.

1 Reply

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