>>Why should anyone be surprised. These are NOT English words - they are
GERMAN words which happen to be partly of English origin.<<
You are right. The reason why it’s surprising is because when it comes down
to German compounds, the "reform" often separates them into individual
words with sometimes alienating results:
furchteinflößend:
“eine sehr Furcht einflößende Sache”
gewinnbringend:
“eine Gewinn bringendere Geldanlage”
With English words, however, the reform can work the opposite way:
Black Box -> Blackbox
Chewing-gum -> Chewinggum
Country-Music > Countrymusic
Jumbo-Jet -> Jumbojet
Midlife-crisis -> Midlifecrisis
Science-fiction -> Sciencefiction
Second-hand-Shop -> Secondhandshop
Standing ovations -> Standingovations
If you think you’ve understood the principle (no hyphenation of English
words), you’ll find that in other cases the rule is reversed and hyphens
are inserted, where there weren’t any before:
Blackout -> Black-out
Comeback -> Come-back
Countdown -> Count-down
Knockout -> Knock-out
Layout -> Lay-out
Playback -> Play-back
The word “Teenager”, previously separated “Teen-ager” has now become “Tee-
nager”.
Alles klar?
Elke Philburn
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