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From: Frederick Williams <frederick.williams2@tesco.net>
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Subject: Re: Spelling South East Asia
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Date: Mon, 14 Jul 2008 21:16:47 +0100
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Einde O'Callaghan wrote:
>
> Frederick Williams wrote:
> > Einde O'Callaghan wrote:
> >> Frederick Williams wrote:
> >>> How does one spell South East Asia? Like that or Southeast Asia or
> >>> South-East Asia?
> >> You will find all three versions in use. A quick look at the results of
> >> a Google search indicate that "southeast" is more common on American
> >> websites, whereas "south east" seems to be more common on British, Irish
> >> and Australian websites. The hyphenated form seems to be relatively
> >> rare, even if it is also orthographically correct - actually technically
> >> it is more correct in the adjectival form than "south east".
> >>
> >> Regards, Einde O'Callaghan
> >
> > I asked because D G E Hall's well-known book uses the hyphenated form in
> > its title.
> >
> As I said, I think the hyphenated form is orthographically more correct
> in British English - it's a compound adjective. According to the
> Merriam-Webster Dictionary the single word form is correct in American
> English.
>
> However, a quick look at the Google search results, which don't
> differentiate between the three forms, seems to indicate that the
> two-word version is the most common form on British, Irish and
> Australian websites, and the one-word version is dominant on American
> websites. Sites using the hyphenated form seem to be a small minority.
>
> Admittedly, that tells us nothing about correctness, but it tells zus a
> lot about usage.
>
> As an English teacher I'd accept all three forms as long as usage is
> consistent within a particular piece of work.
>
> Regards, Einde O'Callaghan
Now I have the book in question[1] in front of me, I can say more. Here
is a large part of the opening paragraph:
South-East Asia is a term which came into general use during the
Second World War to described the territories of the eastern Asiatic
mainland forming the Indo-Chinese peninsula and the immense
archipelago which includes Indonesia and the Philippines. In using
the term American writers have standardized the form 'Southeast' and
have been followed by Victor Purcell[2] and E. H. G. Dobby.[3] But
there seems to be no valid reason for coining a new form in
preference to either 'South-East' or 'South East', both of which
have the sanction of long usage. The Royal Navy uses the hyphen.
During the war SEAC used the unhyphenated form, but the Mountbatten
Report[4] reverts to the use of the hyphen. ...
[1] _A History of South-East Asia_ by D. G. E. Hall, second edition,
MacMillan, 1966.
[2] _The Chinese in Southeast Asia_, 1951.
[3] _Southeast Asia_, 1950.
[4] _Report to the Combined Chiefs of Staff by the Supreme Allied
Commander South-East Asia_, 1951.
--
He is not here; but far away
The noise of life begins again
And ghastly thro' the drizzling rain
On the bald street breaks the blank day.
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