That’s the thing Helen, English is so fluid that it is increasingly difficult to state something is correct or not. I am also an editor and, whilst acknowledging predate is not the best word for “to prey upon”, it is now in common enough usage to be accepted. In that case, I would personally hyphenate pre-date as in dating from before, as I use hyphens like commas – how you pronounce the word, indicating a slight pause.
On 27/08/2011 11:01 AM, Helen Larson wrote: > Predate doesn’t have a hyphen, ’tis a perfectly good word in the sense of > antedate. Ask the Oxford. > Predate as in “Sharks predate on small fish” is not a good word and gets used by > people who think it’s derived from the words “predator” or “predation”. Possibly > the same people who use “impact” as a verb. Sharks prey upon small fish. Milk > bottles do not prey upon great tits. > Will now remove my editorial nitpicker’s hat and try to remember that the > English language is evolving, even if I don’t like it. > Helen > > <')/////==< > > > > > ________________________________ > From: brian fleming > To: birding-aus@lists.vicnet.net.au > Sent: Fri, 26 August, 2011 17:19:17 > Subject: Re: [Birding-Aus] BBC News – Killer plant ‘eats’ great tit at Somerset > nursery > > On 26/08/2011 3:02 PM, John Leonard wrote: > >> predate = dating from before >> predate = preying upon >> >> Aren’t the same word, they are separate words that happen to be spelt >> the same. They are clearly distinguished by the stress >> >> pre’date vs >> ‘predate >> >> John Leonard >> > I would use a hyphen. > > I wonder if “Language Log” will pick up this discussion. > > Brian Fleming > =============================== > > To unsubscribe from this mailing list, > send the message: > unsubscribe > (in the body of the message, with no Subject line) > to: birding-aus-request@vicnet.net.au > > http://birding-aus.org > =============================== > =============================== > > To unsubscribe from this mailing list, > send the message: > unsubscribe > (in the body of the message, with no Subject line) > to: birding-aus-request@vicnet.net.au > > http://birding-aus.org > =============================== >
