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Subject:Re: online or on-line From:Jane Bergen <janeb -at- AIRMAIL -dot- NET> Date:Tue, 6 Feb 1996 19:48:01 +0000
Joyce Flaherty wrote:
> Xxxxxxx On-Line.
> When I protested, they said, "After we talked to you, we consulted a
> grammarian. The proper spelling is on-line." They did apologize to
> me. They did admit error in changing the name of our product. BUT,
> they implied that there is something very wrong with naming a system
> Xxxxxxx Online (one word, no hyphen). What do you think?
At my company, we use one word, no hyphen: online
If you look at most documentation (Microsoft for starters, but also
Delrina, Adobe, and others....not to mention the internet magazines),
you will see that "online" is by far the most prevalent. Probably it
began as "on-line" but has now evolved to the current version. I'd go
with the flow. Now, "on-line" looks very strange to me.
Jane
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Jane Bergen Technical Writer
janeb -at- answersoft -dot- com or janeb -at- airmail -dot- net
"The difference between the right word and the almost right word
is the difference between lightning and the lightning bug"
(Mark Twain)
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