On Sat, 09 Sep 2006 21:28:53 GMT, Bob Cunningham
<exw6sxq@earthlink.net> wrote:
> On Sat, 9 Sep 2006 18:19:42 +0100, Chris Croughton
> <chris@keristor.net> said:
>
> [...]
>
>> The one which annoys me is "noone" for "no one", it
>> reads as "noon" with an erroneous 'e' on the end.
>
> So far as I know, no dictionary condones spelling "no one"
> closed.
Not yet, but it's becoming so common that there may well be pressure to
include it. Once newspapers take it up that's near the end, if the BBC
adopts it...
> A British dictionary, _The New Shorter Oxford_, recognizes
> "no-one" as a less frequent spelling, but an American
> dictionary, _Merriam-Webster's Collegiate_, doesn't mention
> it.
It's been used hyphenated in the UK for a long time, although that has
been considered "not correct" in some circles (like the "Oxford comma"
is's a matter of debate between those who do and those who don't like
it, with neither side giving way).
I don't recall at the moment whether the hyphenated form is in either of
the Concise Oxford dictionaries I have, and don't have them to hand,
next time I'm back home I'll check (as I recall Fowler mentioned it as
well).
Chris C
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