I've bitten off more than I can eschew

[Arnold M. Zwicky]

On Jul 11, 2008, at 4:40 PM, Rex W. Stocklin wrote:

> My wife, a marketing researcher, is in a bit of a quandary. She is
> writing a summary report for a client, who is a stickler for
> grammatical correctness.
>
> She asked me to help take a load off of her plate, by trying to find
> out what the correct spelling of the term for an audio snippet in
> vogue. Is it:
>
> soundbyte
> soundbite
> sound bite
> or sound byte
>
>
> I've gleaned, I think, that it is an "I" not a "Y"

yes.

> ... But...is it one one
> or two? For the life of me, I cannot source any references that cite
> this usage issue.

there is absolutely no issue of consequence here.  for what it's
worth, a number of reputable dictionaries (OED2, NOAD2, AHD4) all have
"sound bite" and only that, so i don't think you can go wrong with that.

arnold

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