Me and Mr Medibs are debating whether eBay is one or two words. To save the

Guess what I got in the mail...? from going off topic I've created this one.

He writes:

it has the colon so that makes it a compound word.

So here are my thoughts on the matter...

: <- That is colon, used after a word introducing a quotation, an explanation, an example, or a series and often after the salutation of a business letter.

- <- Is a hyphen, used between the parts of a compound word or name or between the syllables of a word, especially when divided at the end of a line of text. But technically a compound word is two or more words; one word consisting of a head, i.e. the categorical part that contains the basic meaning of the whole compound, and modifiers, which restrict this meaning.

Now there may be some linguistic professionals that disgree with me here, so sumbit your thoughts...

One word, two syllables.

Now all we have to do is wait for Webster to add it...

Life is Good.

Uhhhh... Add it to what?

But I disagree that it is one word and two syllables as "e" and "vil" are two syllables within the one word.

Now if it was just "e-Bay" then I could agree that it was one word.

Okay so tell me again ; why do you want to know how many words evilbay is?

Its not so much wanting to know. I've decided that its two words and now I'm going to find how accurate I am.

I think it's one

And what makes you say that? Have you researched compound words like I did, or are you just speaking your mind?

For me it's one.

In Germany we have tons of composed words like "K

But if it was one word then could we jettison the hyphen?

I just think it's one, I'm not basing it off anything. I just like it better as one :P

Ahhhhhh... So its personally subjective... Really I don't care, I just want to what the official truth is in case I ever have to use it any academic writing...

I gotta say one word, for me its just the way it rolls off the tounge.

Ahhhhh... But have you actually said "Evil Bay" out loud, for real?

Ahhhggggg........My bad i didnt read the title properly i thought it said ebay :$ , in that case i say its 2 words.......right im off to my shame closet now ;)

The e in eBay does not stand for Evil.

Yes, we're well aware that the 'e' in eBay doesn't stand for 'evil'. There's an explaination to what's going on in first post of this thread. Hopefully that will inform you.

I believe (unless mistaken) the 'e' stands for 'electronic', however that's not entirely relevant as the debate is whether Evil-Bay is one or two words.

Well, if you ever have to use it some sort of official correspondence, you write it as it is spelled (which, in their official press releases is eBay). Its a proper noun, as it indicates a specific web business that is very well known.

Given that there mission purpose and press releases lack a hyphen and are listed simply as eBay, I'd say its one word, now.

Akkh

Ah yes, I'd agree that eBay is one word. But what I'm trying to find out is if Evil-Bay is two words. Some seem to disagree.

I think I have an answer for you:

Using Microsoft word, I typed in the word "Evil-Bay" and then ran word count. Apparently, the word counter counts such an entry as one word. So, it seems hypenated words are counted like other compound words (like bookkeeper) as one word.

And so, with that bit of reasoning, I'd say its one word.

Akkh

However, the Word word-counter also counts single letters like 'a' and 'i' as one word. One letter obviously doesn't make a word so I don't really trust Word.

But in the context of of a writing narrative, the letters 'a' and 'i' are words, 'I' being the first person singular noun in the english language.

At the very least, the spelling of Evil-Bay makes it a compound noun.

As someone already mentioned, english is a lot like german in the way that it often combines words over time till they are one word (like the aforementioned bookkeeper).

In the end, I think its less a matter of it being one word or two, becasue it serves as a compound noun, and at that a slang variation of a proper noun. If one were daigramming a sentence with the word(s) "Evil-Bay" inside of it, you wouldn not seperate the aspects of the word, even though obstensibly in this case 'evil' is being used as an adjective to describe 'bay'.

Another way to put it: ever notice that you'll find compound nouns and even compound adjectives as whole entries in the dictionary ? For example: commander-in-chief, fly-by-night. While the compounds might have once been more than one word, they have a definition that is set by their combinations.

As such, I think that as a compound noun, it makes it one word.

Ohhh, and on the notion of using it in offcial writing and the like, as it is slang, you wouldn't want to use it without prefacing it as slang in some form or fashion. i.e. "Ebay, also referred to as Evil-Bay by a sardonic collecting community..."

Akkh

But in the context of of a writing narrative, the letters 'a' and 'i' are words, 'I' being the first person singular noun in the english language.

Tell my university tutors this... They don't seem to want to count these as part of the word limit which means I have to write more in essays.

Well, in some regards that does make sense.

It is fairly accepted as standard now that in all lot of writing now speaking in first person is no longer acceptable. Additionally,. it is common practice for people to try to cut 'padding' from sentences.

That said though, if they were to tell me that a sentenece like "all good men should come to the aid of their country" was a sentence consisting of only 4 words because the majority of the words of the snetence contained three or less letters, I'd tell them to learn how to count. then again, I'd also attempt to diagram the sentence and demonstrate how they were wrong. But then again, I think that efficent communication requires things to be said in different ways. Somethings are best left terse and unadorned. Others, however, flow much more smoothly and become much more elopquent with the proper application of additional words.

Akkh

Edit: And amusingly enough, this post of mine is the answer to life the universe, and everything. Somehow, that seems fitting.

Being at an Art School it is acceptable to write in first person and offer personal opinions. There would be no point telling them anything. They wouldn't listen. I must comply to their standards or destroy them.