A new (to me, IAC) spelling rule

[Arnold Zwicky]

On Aug 31, 2010, at 6:11 PM, Wilson Gray wrote:

> On Tue, Aug 31, 2010 at 7:26 PM, Arnold Zwicky <zwicky at stanford.edu> wrote:
>> Wilson, if you can post the whole damn passage, why can't you tell us where it came from?
>>
>
> <http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/wp-comments-post.php>
>
> It is or was the last comment on p.4 of the comments.

that link wouldn't work for me, but (now that i have the right neighborhood) this one gets to to the comment you quoted:

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/08/30/the-curious-world-of-bedbug-research/?apage=3#comments

[comment #74]

> There's an
> earlier instance to which the NYT replies that it used the Webster's
> New World Collegiate as its authority and notes that other comments
> making the same complaint have been received.

that's:

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/08/30/the-curious-world-of-bedbug-research/?apage=1#comments

[comment #19]

I understand that entymologists refer to them as bed bugs (2 words) not bedbugs, as the author of this article uses. Apparently if the animal is an actual bug, it should be 2 words. Dragonfly is an example of an insect that is not really a fly, so they merge it into one word.

FROM TPP — Yes we have heard about this from a few readers. The Webster’s New World College Dictionary, which is our definitive source when something’s not specifically addressed by the NYT stylebook, spells it as one word. So for now, it’s bedbugs in the New York Times. But I agree the argument for bedbugs as two words is compelling.

—    David

[TPP is Tara Parker-Pope, author of “The Curious World of Bedbug Research” in the Health section of the NYT 8/20/10]

notice that TPP just buys the "rule", thinking of it as an "argument".  that's the main thing i wanted to post about, but of course the facts are also on my agenda.

arnold

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