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From: "Mike Lyle" <mike_lyle_uk@REMOVETHISyahoo.co.uk>
Newsgroups: alt.languages.english
Subject: Re: Spirally or Spiral?
Date: Wed, 5 Oct 2005 19:08:00 +0100
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Johan Branders wrote:
> Mike Lyle wrote:
>> Johan Branders wrote:
>>> Can anyone help me with the following question?
>>>
>>> What is the right expression?
>>>
>>> Spiral welded pipes
>>> or
>>> Spirally welded pipes
>>>
>>> According to Google a huge majority uses "spiral welded". Are
they
>>> right?
>>
>> A specialist would give a better answer than I can, but my guess
is
>> that the context will tell such a specialist all he needs to know.
>> From the point of view of style, though, a straight pipe made by
>> welding strips spirally would generally be a "spirally welded
pipe":
>> a "spiral welded pipe" might logically refer to a welded pipe
which
>> is helical in form -- a "welded spiral pipe". But if a majority of
>> the Ggl hits for "spiral welded" come from those who know about
>> welded pipes, and turn out on examination to mean "pipes made by
>> welding strips spirally" it's probably safe to follow their
example.
>> You have to study even an Oxford Dictionary entry in the light of
>> your knowledge, and that applies even more strongly when it comes
to
>> Google.
>
> Thanks for your answer, Mike.
>
> I still have a question, though.
>
> Isn't it possible that "spiral" is an adjective to indicate that
the
> weld has a spiral form?
>
> Compare with: "thin-walled structures". The structures have thin
> walls.
> Why not "spiral-welded tubes", i.e. tubes which have spiral welds?
That's why I said I thought a specialist would know what was meant
from the context. But, yes, the hyphen does have the effect you
suggest.
--
Mike.
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