On Aug 29, 11:09am, Richard Earnshaw wrote:
} > jnemeth@victoria.tc.ca (John Nemeth) writes:
} > > } co-ordinate -> coordinate, etc. Igor Sobrado, PR misc/19813
} > > 
} > >      Actually, the first is correct.
} > 
} > The Merriam Webster Dictionary and the American Heritage Dictionary
} > both disagree with you. I tend to believe them.
} 
} Fowler (Modern English Usage)[1] prefers dropping the hyphen in this case.
} 
} In fact, he goes on to say that for technical words then the hyphen should 
} generally be dropped *if the reader can be expected to know the word 
} already*.
} 
} It's really a matter of flow: if the reader would have to pause and go 
} back and re-read what was written a second time, then a hyphen would 
} probably be required; otherwise, it's safe to drop it.  Hence unusual 
} combinations of words should probably be hyphenated, but common word pairs 
} need not be.

     A prefix isn't a word.  The original example deals with prepending
a prefix to word, not smashing two unrelated words together.

}-- End of excerpt from Richard Earnshaw