TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
Subject:A round-trip excursion From:Richard L Hamilton <dick -at- rlhamilton -dot- net> To:techwrl <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com> Date:Thu, 2 Feb 2012 22:48:30 -0800
I'm in the middle of a marathon copy-edit session, and I just ran into the term "round trip" used as a verb.
A compound verb can be either hyphenated (rubber-stamp) or joined (highlight), and sometimes the dictionary will allow both (e.g., dictionary.com says copyedit(c) and copy-edit(v) are both correct).
That brings us to round trip. The online dictionaries I checked, and the ancient printed one I have in my office, don't acknowledge round trip as a verb. I frankly would also prefer not to, but in fact, using the term as a verb is pretty common and reasonably useful.
So, I'm curious as to what the techwr-l crowd thinks is the correct way to handle round trip as a verb: hyphenated or joined?
Any thoughts?
Richard Hamilton
-----
XML Press will be at:
Intelligent Content 2012 Conference
Strategies for Reaching Customers Anywhere, Anytime on Any Device
February 22-24, Palm Springs, CA http://www.intelligentcontentconference.com