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9/24/2007
A September 23, 2007 Reuters article reports that the sixth edition of the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary (OED) removes the hyphen from approximately 16,000 words that were hyphenated in earlier editions. A trend toward less formal communication, increased use of technology (such as text messaging and e-mail), and a focus on appearance and design in printed materials all played a part in the decreased use of the hyphen. Based on an analysis of over 2 billion words, many compound nouns dropped their hyphens and have either been combined into one single word or split into two separate words. The article includes a sampling of some of the words that have changed.
The article is available at the MSNBC Web site.
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