Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Entertainment/2021 February 28

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February 28

Cricket spelling questions

The article Finger spin uses the words "wristspin", "fingerspinners", "backspinner", "off-spinbowling", "offspiner", "off-spindelivery". Are these all correct or are there spaces missing from some or all? I see we have e.g. wrist spin. -- Beland (talk) 04:42, 28 February 2021 (UTC)

Surely, "offspiner" is a typo for "offspinner". Our article Off spin uses the spelling "off spinner" – however, as a term referring to the bowler, and not to their bowling technique. Another spelling is "off-spinner". Curiously, Top spin redirect to Topspin, but Offspin redirects to Off spin. I expect you can find all versions (written together, with a space, or hyphenated) in newspaper sports articles. Personally, I'd write "off-spin bowling" and "off-spin delivery", not "off-spinbowling" and "off-spindelivery", but for the verb I'd use a one-word version, as in "I wish I was able to offspin as well as Bilal Asif" (just an example sentence, not an actual wish of mine).  --Lambiam 10:56, 28 February 2021 (UTC)

English compound says: "Usage in the US and in the UK differs and often depends on the individual choice of the writer rather than on a hard-and-fast rule; therefore, open, hyphenated, and closed forms may be encountered for the same compound noun, such as the triplets container ship/container-ship/containership and particle board/particle-board/particleboard" (not much help I'm afraid).

I couldn't find any guidance in the Wikipedia:Manual of Style, but I believe that you can't go too far wrong if you follow the sources. Alansplodge (talk) 13:13, 28 February 2021 (UTC)

Cool, I've fixed the suspected typos and put the rest on a candidate list for Wiktionary. Thanks! -- Beland (talk) 03:23, 7 March 2021 (UTC)