Muriel Vasconcellos Feb 11, 2016:

@Roberrt The OED uses a hyphen, so I don't agree with what you say. I do agree that in ordinary writing Brits are more inclined to leave out hyphens and genitive apostrophes than Americans are. We (you and I, and the rest of us on this site) are the professionals. We should be following the standards. I wrote a 200-page style manual for the American Region of the World Health Organization. There is a chapter on the rules for hyphenation, based on the Chicago Manual of Style. They are not that complicated once you put your mind to them. Once again, we are the professionals. You wouldn't use a blatant misspelling, so why do you defend a less obvious one?

Robert Carter Feb 11, 2016:

Yes Carol That's clearly a necessary case. They are a tool like every other part of punctuation, where omission or misuse can sometimes have critical results.

Carol Gullidge Feb 11, 2016:

Where I DO take them seriously is for other uses, such as in compound adjectives before a noun, especially if failing to use them could be confusing in any way. If I remember correctly, the guardian s.g. quotes a lovely example: "black cab driver", where the omission or inclusion of the hyphen changes the meaning completely!

But that is another issue entirely...

Robert Carter Feb 11, 2016:

Apparently... ...the OUP style manual quips: ‘If you take hyphens seriously, you will surely go mad’ :-)

Robert Carter Feb 11, 2016:

Hyphenation One of the simple heuristics I use for hyphens in British and American use (my two main working languages), is that I tend to omit unnecessary hyphens in American English but leave them in in British English.
Trouble is, that doesn't work in this case, as Americans keep the hyphen in well-being, whereas the British (along with Australians) leave it out!
Style guides are obviously useful if you're asked to stick religiously to them, but most of the time it's a question of judg(e)ment, based on various style guides. There are dictionaries that prove and disprove the same points (Collins being a case in point), and they only follow trends, they don't make them. In the case of well-being with the hyphen, they've let that go on for way too long in my opinion, after all, we left well-fare, after-noon and sun-rise behind a long time ago. Is there any chance of mistaking its meaning if we don't use the hyphen?
I think the only thing that might change my mind about it is Carol's perception that wellbeing without a hyphen has some kind of new-age (hyphen needed) tinge to it, but I haven't notice that myself, and from what I can tell, it seems to be the preference on UK government websites.

Carol Gullidge Feb 11, 2016:

post grading but maybe worth noting (fwiw!) Incidentally, the "Which?" Report website has a section entitled "Shopping, Grooming and Wellbeing"

And I'm not going to argue with that!

Muriel Vasconcellos Feb 8, 2016:

@Carol Yes, you got me. I know better. And thanks for reading my post!

Carol Gullidge Feb 7, 2016:

Oops Muriel since you're being so particular, which "it's" is correct and which is incorrect out of "when it's time to change" and "Microsoft can't do it's job" in your posting above?

Muriel Vasconcellos Feb 7, 2016:

@ Carol In my world, you decide what's right by checking the latest edition of the most widely accepted dictionary - OED for UK and Merriam-Webster for US (unless your client has has a different fave). Let the dictionary's staff of linguists decide when it's time to change. Their experts keep a constant eye out for change and make their updates based on criteria we don't have access to. If we don't follow dictionary spellings, we contribute to confusion. As a graduate major in linguistics, I'm keenly aware that languages change; if they don't change, they die. But we live in a world in which text is now largely in electronic form and we need standardization for clear, accurate, and speedy communication. Computers will not recognize a word if it doesn't match what they have stored in their dictionaries. In MS Word, that's what happens when a word is underlined in red. Microsoft can't do its job when a word isn't recognized (the green line pops up). Granted, neologisms like 'healthcare' and 'wellbeing' have been added, but there's lots of other software that doesn't include the newer spellings and isn't as easily updatable.

Carol Gullidge Feb 7, 2016:

Muriel I wholeheartedly (1 word!) agree with you - in principle. I am a great supporter of dictionaries and style guides. However, language evolves these days at an ever-increasing rate, and how frequently are dictionaries updated? My latest Robert was already out of date by the time I bought it… And you can even spot differences of opinion regarding usage between the Observer and The Times sg's, so how do you decide which - if any - is right?

Muriel Vasconcellos Feb 7, 2016:

Not necessarily correct Let's take an even more common example: 'healthcare'. It appears ubiquitously as a single word in newspapers, insurance programs, and just about everywhere else, but it hasn't been adopted in the dictionaries. Therefore, it is not recognized by the World Health Organization, which sets standards for health care worldwide. To me, it's inconceivable that translators wouldn't follow dictionary spellings. It's a recipe for chaos. Who decides what's right? Where does it end?

Carol Gullidge Feb 7, 2016:

more on wellbeing v well-being Wellbeing is becoming increasingly (almost universally, in some circumstances?) used. But it seems to me that there's a very subtle nuance between "well-being" (one's state of health and/or mind or psyche) and "wellbeing" - which seems to be a rather commercialised concept of an expectation that we can fulfil by visiting various centres where we can work out our frustrations and shed excess weight, perhaps whilst wallowing in deliciously warm water... This latter use of the expression is definitely very widespread if all my translations of resorts, spas, wellbeing and sports centres, etc, etc, are anything to go by!

Muriel Vasconcellos Feb 7, 2016:

Hyphens Competing spellings of a word lead to confusion, especially in the digital age, since they change the alphabetical order for the majority of search engines. General Theory of Terminology teaches that we shouldn't be frivolous about hyphens and other spelling variations. As translators, we should use dictionary spellings and let the dictionaries decide when it's time to update. They're the experts. If we're not sure, we should check.