Hyphens (1 Viewer)

MJB said:

Incidentally, pronounced 'Windam-windam'....., so as you can see, the hyphen followed by a lower cased word is absolutely essential here... or not.:eek!:
MJB

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Augustus “Gussie” Fink-nottle? No, never! Lower(-)casing the noble name of “Nottle” reduces the poor chinless newt-fancier to total insignificance.

Thanks guys. I will go by the IOC list and try not to ask any questions about the hows and whys...probably better off that way!

Hyphens
The use of hyphens in the spelling of compound bird names is a contentious issue among ornithologists. More broadly, grammarians now view past enthusiasms for hyphens as excessive and unnecessary ...

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IOC's own words/"rules", here.

Regarding English Names they also deal with; Spelling Rules, Capitalization, Patronyms and Accents, British vs American, Geographical Nouns vs Adjectives, and Compound Names ...

If of any use?

I have switched to the IOC logic and removed most hyphens even if I do not mind them too much.
It can be a lot worse. For the birds of South America, Van Remsen wants monophyletic compound bird names with a hyphen, non-monophyletic compound bird names without... So now they are stuck with "Ground Doves" and "Warbling-Finches".
I think the latter does not make any sense from a linguistic point of view. To express taxonomic details we have scientific names: it is quite ridiculous to bang on about hyphens when tanagers, sparrows, warblers etc. are spread over a multitude of families!

Riddle me this: IOC lists "buttonquail". Then, it proceeds to list "stone-curlew". Why would stone-curlew not be stonecurlew, if buttonquail is without a hyphen?

Silverwolf said:

Riddle me this: IOC lists "buttonquail". Then, it proceeds to list "stone-curlew". Why would stone-curlew not be stonecurlew, if buttonquail is without a hyphen?

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Answer to your misery is in post 22 😃

Silverwolf said:

Riddle me this: IOC lists "buttonquail". Then, it proceeds to list "stone-curlew". Why would stone-curlew not be stonecurlew, if buttonquail is without a hyphen?

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From the IOC Website (http://www.worldbirdnames.org/english-names/spelling-rules/compound-names/):


Compound single words are used...
"IF the second word is a kind of bird (e.g., Nighthawk, Bushtit, Waterthrush, Meadowlark), but the taxon is not a member of the bird family named.

For example, a Meadowlark is not a Lark; a Cuckooshrike is not a Shrike. Thus the name should not be spelled as two words without a hyphen (e.g., Meadow Lark), or spelled with a hyphen followed by a capital letter (e.g., Cuckoo-Shrike). Rather, a single word is used except where it would be hard to pronounce or look odd (e.g., Silky-flycatcher, Stone-curlew, Flycatcher-shrike). Conversely, if the second word is a type of bird and the taxon is deemed to be a member of that bird family, the name would be spelled with two words, either without a hyphen or with a hyphen followed by a capital letter (e.g., Bush Lark, Eagle-Owl). Converting these to single words states, in effect, that the taxon is not in that family but is rather something different. Exceptions have been made in a few cases where long and widespread usage dictates a single word, such as Goldfinch, Skylark, Woodlark, and Sparrowhawk. These and other cases are under review for potential revision."