... is what the hell is proper style for referring to the terms "long list" and "short list"? It seems we're all over the map. I was prompted to ask after spotting
this piece on Michael Christie's The Beggar's Garden on cbc.ca, which, if you include the web abstract, makes four inconsistent uses of the terms - longlist, long list, short list and, most inexplicably, short-list (as a noun) - in the span of about 350 words.
Does anyone know what the correct usage is? Is it based on grammatical context, e.g. "the shortlisted (or short-listed) authors are the ones who make the short list", or is it British vs. American style? If you can shed some light on this, leave a comment below.
M.
Oh, good question. I like to call it a shortlist on the theory that a shortlist is a different, and more specific, creature than a short list, which I might use if I were shopping for the ingredients of a single meal.
ReplyDeleteNot that this sheds any light on anything other than my own strange ideas....
Thanks for the comment A.J. I just glad people other than me wonder about these things as well.
ReplyDeleteThis cracks me up! I was thinking about this today as I noticed the various ways it was being written. The Giller Prize tweets have "shortlist" so that's what I"ll use.
ReplyDeleteBonnie
Yeah, I think that makes the the most sense. The hyphen doesn't make a lick of sense. Ohh, don't even get me started on the misuse of the hyphen....
ReplyDelete