August 2016 - Page 2 of 2 - Word Counter Blog

What Are Compound Words?

Compound words consist of two words which can be used independently, but when joined together as one word or with a hyphen, form a new word. The funny thing with this is it can be quite hard to spot compound words. Think about the word “airport.” It consists of two base words: “air” and “port,” but we are so used to using the word as one word, most of us don’t really notice it’s a compound word.

Closed Form Compound Words

“Airport” is an example of a closed form compound word. The two words are joined together without a hyphen or a space. Some other examples of closed form compound words include:

Baseball
Windfall
Extraordinary
Metaphysical
Worldwide
Northwest
Stockbroker
Sailboat
Railway
Wildcat
Birthday

Open From Compound Words

These words look a lot like two independent words, but they aren’t because they describe a single thing. Here are a few examples of open form compound words you are likely familiar with:

Flight attendant
Super tanker
African American
Light year
Post office
Real estate
Truck driver
Middle class
Attorney general
High school
Vice president

Think about it. If you took either the first or the second word out of the two-word combo, it would no longer mean the same thing. Is “little sister” a compound word? No, it isn’t. Take the word “little” away, and you still have a sister. You both have the same parents.

Now take “flight” away from “flight attendant”. Does it still mean the same thing? No, it doesn’t. A flight attendant has a very specific job. An attendant can be any person who attends to your needs. It isn’t even necessarily a job. As for the vice president, he or she may be happy to be promoted to president, but that hasn’t happened.

Hyphenated Compound Words

Here’s where it all gets rather tricky. Some hyphenated compounds are always hyphenated (jack-in-the-box) but others may be hyphenated on certain occasions and are not hyphenated at other times. Sometimes, you may hyphenate for clarity. For example:

“Old furniture salesman”

“Old-furniture salesman”

In the first example, it isn’t clear whether the salesman or the furniture are old. For all we know, the phrase may be describing an elderly salesman. Example two is clearer. We can see that the furniture is old, and we don’t have to worry about offending the salesman by accidentally creating the wrong impression.

To a certain extent, it’s a matter of frequency of usage. For example, we are so accustomed to used car salesmen, that we wouldn’t even wonder whether the word “used” refers to the car or the guy. Now check this out:

Example 1

“She was a part-time teacher.”

“The teacher worked part time.”

Example 2

“It was a very high-speed chase.”

“The chase was very high speed.”

“High-speed” and “Part-time” are known as modifiers. They modify nouns. When a modifier appears before a noun, you would hyphenate it. When it appears after the noun, you don’t bother with hyphenating.

Other modifiers that are sometimes hyphenated, and sometimes not:

Five-yard-long
Fire-resistant
Short-term
Good-looking
Blue-grey
Second-rate

The decision of whether to hyphenate or not is based on the location of the noun these compound words modify.

When Never to Use a Hyphen (plus exceptions)

A word ending in “ly” will rarely form part of a hyphenated compound. Think about word combinations like:

Newly minted
Hotly contested

But when you are using a whole phrase as an adjective, you might use hyphens all the same: “The ever-so-slightly embarrassed salesman continued with his pitch.”

Compounds with prefixes such as “pre”, “post” or “mid” are usually used in the closed form:

Postpartum
Preeminent
Midseason

But there are masses of exceptions to this rule, so it’s best to check using a dictionary. If you aren’t able to check a dictionary, you can work around the issue. For instance, if you’re not sure whether “mid-June” should be hyphenated, you could also say “the middle of June”. As a bonus, this helps with word count.

Compounds That Always Have Hyphens

You can be sure of these ones. They aren’t nearly as hard to pin down:

Numbers from twenty-one to ninety-nine
Fractions expressed completely in numbers: “Two-thirds” or “one-third,” but “a third” is a third and doesn’t need a hyphen.
Self, Ex and All when used as prefixes will require a hyphen: “ex-president,” “self-expression,” “all-knowing.”
Style, elect, free and based will usually be preceded by a hyphen when used as suffixes: “French-style,” “president-elect,” “Chicago-based.”

Compounds can be complicated. Almost all the work you read on compounds will tell you that open versus hyphenated forms are complicated. Most of them suggest a dictionary check when you’re unsure, and I don’t think there’s any shame in that. I find it pretty confusing too. Nevertheless, I hope this blog post will put you on the road to knowing when to use the hyphen and when you not to do so.

The Difference Between “Danish” and “Dutch”

If you know your geography and have a basic understanding of the names of the languages spoken in European countries, this might sound like a dumb question. If you live in the US and you don’t know much about European countries, you’re much more likely to be confused about these two words. Danish people come from Denmark, and they speak a language called Danish. Dutch people come from The Netherlands, and they speak Dutch. How much easier can things get?

I recently read a blog post by a Dane that showed a surprising tolerance for the way these two countries are confused by Americans. The author even called it “understandable confusion.” Naturally, you wouldn’t want that confusion to happen when booking a flight, since you’d end up in the wrong country and have to book an (admittedly short) second flight.

Similarities Between the Danes and the Dutch

Apart from both words beginning with a D, there are national similarities between the Danish and the Dutch. Both countries are small and peaceful, which means they’re seldom on CNN Breaking News.

They also speak Germanic languages, although you’d see many more differences between them than you’d find if you compared UK, Australian, and American English. It’s possible for Danes and the Dutch to find each others’ languages completely incomprehensible unless they’re written down, and even then they might struggle with some words.

Both countries are reputed to be full of healthy, blond, blue-eyed people, although having been there, I can tell you that this is a stereotype these days. But the riding of bicycles to get around is definitely no stereotype. I actually found the bicycle traffic more dangerous than the motor traffic when crossing the road since there are so many bicycles. That’s because both countries are remarkably lacking in anything resembling mountainous topography.

Last, but not least, there’s the preference for wind power, although windmills are more common in Holland. The Danes have acres of wind turbines, some of them standing in the middle of the sea, to generate electricity.

Differences Between the Dutch and the Danes

Apart from slight differences in geographical location and rather marked language differences, The Netherlands doesn’t have LEGOLAND, which is of great importance to those who love LEGOs. Other differences include the amount of taxes paid and the average number of hours worked every week. The Dutch pay way less tax than the Danes, but the Danes spend fewer hours at work on average.

The Danes also have a very casual approach to authority. Children will call adults, including teachers, by their first names. The formal version of the word “you” is seldom used, even in business letters. Danes don’t find this rude or offensive, but the Dutch are a little more inclined to use formal titles and the formal version of the word “you.”

Beer plays a big role in Danish culture, with special beers being brewed for both Christmas and Easter. Although the Dutch invented Heineken, they don’t brew special, seasonal beers.

Historically speaking, these nations have very different backgrounds. The Dutch are known for their farmlands and always have been, but the Danes are famous for “going a-Viking” which involved getting into long ships and trading and raiding their way around the coastlines of Europe.

If you had grown up on the Irish coast in those times, there would have been absolutely no confusion between the Danish and the Dutch. As you saw the long ships approaching, there is just no way that you would have yelled out “The Dutch are coming!” and if you had, you wouldn’t have struck terror into the hearts of your listeners. The Danish nation, on the other hand, is proud of its Viking history, as it should be – after all, the Danes discovered Greenland and are believed to have sailed to the Americas long before Columbus did.

Know your English Heritage

If you have English or Irish ancestors, there’s a very good chance that you also have some Danish blood in your veins. The Danes weren’t always hit-and-run raiders. They often established settlements in the countries they came across in their voyages, and England was even ruled by a Danish king Canute (or Cnut) between 1016 and 1035 AD. Your chances of having Dutch ancestors is much less likely.

The Best Words to Use Playing Hangman

If you’re looking to kill a little time using nothing but a pen and paper to entertain yourself and a friend, you have several options. One is the tried and true word game “Hangman.” In the unlikely event that you didn’t learn this game years ago, here’s how it’s played.

One player chooses a word and draws a series of dashes for each letter in the word. The other player tries to guess which letters are used in the word, and the first player fills them in with each correct guess. If a guess is wrong, the iconic image of the stick man hanging from a gallows begins to appear stroke by stroke. Rules on how the hanged man is drawn vary, but this generally allows for a maximum of 10 wrong guesses.

Do you want to defeat your friends at Hangman? Choosing words that are difficult to guess gives you the edge. According to veteran players, the ones listed below are some of the most difficult.

Jazz

It only has four letters, but it’s as tough as nails to guess. The reason why this one is so hard is that it includes two of the letters least used in the English language, namely J and Z. Be hated and feared by choosing this tough nut.

Buzz

This word makes use of the same strategy, and if your friends start to see a pattern, they’ll begin by choosing a Z ending just to see if you’re still up to your tricks. Choose a few easy words before you use this one!

Jazzed

By now, your friend is ready to throw their pencil at you and march off in a huff. Remind them that it’s just a game, while you secretly smirk at your own sneakiness in finding out which words are trickiest because you love to win at absolutely everything. By the way, “jazzing” is also a good choice as is “buzzing” and “buzzes.”

Words with Double Zees

Use your double zee words sparingly, and you can add “fizz”, “fuzz” and “dizzy” to your list, choosing as many permutations as your evil little mind can dream up. But you need more than just zees to make you a winner.

Hajj

As hangman word choices go, this one is absolutely brutal. Its success lies in the double J ending and the fact that unless your hangman partner is savvy about Muslim culture, he or she probably wouldn’t know how to spell it. Unfortunately, there aren’t any other words with a double J ending, so that’s as far as you can go with this one.

Words with a Double F

“Faff,” “duff,” “buff,” and “puff” are words that will expand your strategy of choosing rarely-used and seldom-guessed letters. Once again, feel free to add plurals, put verbs in the past tense, and so on.

Words Containing the Letter X

Do you sigh every time you pick the letter X when playing Scrabble? Turn it into your hangman friend with words like “jinx,” “vex,” and “fox.” Other words with X in them such as “six” may be too easy because they’re frequently used words, so stick with the more obscure choices.

Obscure Words with Unusual Letters

Put the double whammy on your opponents with unusual words that also contain less common letters of the alphabet. Below are a few examples you can place into your Hangman arsenal:

Quetzalcoatl
Sequoia
Asexual
Livid
Chthonic
Zwieback
Phylum

Words People Struggle to Spell

If you’d like a whole arsenal of nasty hangman words to make your friends hate you, look no further than words people often misspell. Even if they get several letters right, they may not get the correct answer.

Words with Y as a Semi-Vowel

Most people go into a Hangman game assuming there will be a vowel in the word you’ve chosen. You can use this assumption to your advantage by choosing words that use the letter Y in place of a vowel. “Gypsy” and “rhythm” are both words that will likely frustrate your opponent to no end. You can also try pushing your luck with words like “hmm,” but it really is taking a bit of a chance, and you may just be accused of cheating.

Words Ending in the Letter Q

Choosing words that contain the letter Q will make guessing the word more difficult, but if you really want to take it up a level, pick a word that ends in the letter Q. Warning: if you decide to do this, the person you play with will likely start throwing random objects at you.

Hangman

I’ve left the most annoying choice for last, and if you use this one, you had better have on your running shoes. By now, your friend is already questioning whether he or she wants to remain your friend. This is a good one to use when you’re ready to finish the game since nobody will want to play with you after you use this word.

(Photo courtesy of frankieleon)

Common Misspellings: Words That Are Difficult to Spell

We love spelling in the US. We’ve even turned it into a competitive sport, but that doesn’t mean all of us know how to spell. While many of us rely on spellcheck and autocorrect, this can sometimes lead to unintended issues.

Some words are plain tricky, and even our cousins in the UK (which invented many of the tricky-to-spell words) have similar difficulties. Words that are spelled phonetically present the fewest problems. It’s the ones with strange letter combinations, silent letters and double consonants that are among the most difficult, and it’s hardly surprising that they give people headaches.

An Embarrassment in Spelling

“Embarrassment” with its double r and double s was chosen by British survey participants as the word they found most difficult to spell. I agree that it is an awkward one. I actually keep a list of words I often misspell near my computer, and I have to confess to my “embarrassment” that this word is on the list. Why do I keep a list of words I struggle to spell? So that I can learn them, of course. Everyone should have one.

For those interested, below are the rest of the UK top ten hard to spell words consists of:

Fluorescent
Accommodate
Psychiatrist
Occasionally
Necessary
Questionnaire
Mischievous
Rhythm
Minuscule

I’m happy to say only four of these are on my list, but “necessary” was only taken off it a few years ago. As a spelling exercise for our British brethren, I suggest that they write the following sentences one hundred times without spell-check or autocorrect enabled:

“I occasionally see a psychiatrist about my inability to accommodate the rhythm of necessary chores. If my home were a minuscule bit more organized, I wouldn’t blush fluorescent pink with embarrassment when my mischievous brother comes to visit.”

Admittedly, being Brits, they’d best use the British spelling for “organized.” Although most British people tolerate American spelling well, it infuriates some of them, so if you are British, use an s instead of a z.

Words Americans Struggle Spelling

Google gets asked lots of questions, and it also gets asked how to spell words. The top ten words US Internet users asked google about were:

Grey
Cancelled
Definitely
Hors d’oeuvres
Pneumonia
Appreciate
Hanukkah
Restaurant
Ninety
Niece

How did you fare with this list? I’m happy to say I only have difficulty with two of them, and hors d’oeuvres was discussed in a recent blog post, so I think I’ll remember how to spell it now.

Based on Google searches, Idaho residents were either the worst spellers or those who were the most concerned about their spelling. Whichever the reason, they asked Google the most spelling based questions.

Google also had a go at working out which words bothered people living in different states most. Some of the results are quite interesting, although what we’re to do with this knowledge remains a mystery.

For example, if you live in Hawaii, not being sure of how to spell “Pterodactyl” keeps you awake at night. On the other hand, residents of Georgia are most worried about how to spell “Pneumonia.” Those living Sunshine State know so little about bad weather that they aren’t sure how to spell “grey.” Then there are Maine residents. They want to let us know they’re fed-up, or so it would seem. Their most googled spelling question was for “frustrated.”

Can Americans Spell “Embarrassed”?

We’re not too unlike the British in our spelling vices. More than 60% of Americans can’t spell the “e-word”. Other words that confuse us include:

Liaison
Millennium
Friend
Ridiculous

The one thing we can console ourselves with is that everybody has words they’re not confident about spelling. After all, how are we supposed to know the breed of dog that’s pronounced as “Chiwawa” is actually spelled “Chihuahua?” If we were to pronounce that in the way the series of letters suggests, it would be “Chee-who-ah-who-ah”, and that’s exactly how I remember the correct spelling. Somewhere in my head, there’s a little circuit that remembers it in its phonetically pronounced form.

There’s a school of thought saying we should be given leeway to spell things logically. Before the invention of printing and the development of the first dictionaries, there were no real spelling rules. On the other side of the argument, some are pushing for even greater standardization. But since this would mean either the Brits or the Americans would have to give up their form of spelling, it seems unlikely this will ever happen.

As a final consolation, you should know that some of the greatest writers in history were very bad spellers who relied on editors to pick up their errors, so if you struggle to spell certain words, you’re in good company.

(Photo courtesy of elginwx)

Month: August 2016