Bada bing, wordsmiths ditch the hyphen

WHETHER you’re bootylicious or a muppet is strictly open to debate. But the use of such terms has become a phenomenon that lexicographers at the New Oxford Dictionary of English have been meticulously tracking for many years.

Published yesterday, the second edition of The Oxford Dictionary of English is considered to be the foremost single-volume authority on the English language.

Almost 3,000 words have entered the dictionary. Apostrophes are moving and shaking and the hyphen may well have had its day.