[meteorite-list] Strewnfield or Strewn Field?

From: lebofsky at lpl.arizona.edu <lebofsky_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Sat, 16 Jan 2010 05:11:23 -0700 (MST)
Message-ID: <a4b3a987bde6de409f5ba67b15b0ff78.squirrel_at_webmail.lpl.arizona.edu>

Hi Jeff:

This was just the conversation that was had several years ago (almost to
the day). It was at the Tucson Gem and Mineral Show (2006?; was it that
long ago?) and I (with Nancy?) was having this very discussion with Anne
Black and Geoff Notkin in their salesroom (one word) as to how to spell
strewfield (or strewn field) since we were getting articles with both
spellings. Geoff gave us the sage advice: pick one and use it! We did and
we do--an editorial decision that we have stuck to since then. So, Jeff,
since we do it a magazine (where the word is used a lot) we have chosen
strewnfield over strewn field (even if Microsoft Word does not like it).

Larry

Co-editor, Meteorite magazine

> I would conjecture that this term must have originated with the phrase
> "meteorite-strewn field," i.e. a field strewn with meteorites. If you
> search for the term "rock-strewn" in publications, it virtually always
> appears with the hyphen when used as an adjective, which I believe is
> grammatically correct. For some reason, meteoriticists in the 1940s, who
> seems to have brought the phrase into common usage, didn't like the
> hyphen, and I'm not sure anybody ever actually used "meteorite-strewn
> field" (or "tektite-strewn field") in a publication. Instead, you see
> it without the hyphen (still a common form, "meteorite strewn field"),
> and in the abbreviated forms without the word meteorite at all:
> "strewn-field," "strewn field," and "strewnfield." But the word
> meteorite (or, sometimes, tektite) is always implied; I don't think you
> ever see mention of pumice strewnfields or hailstone strewnfields, etc.
>
> It seems to me that a new word was then born, independent of the
> original phrase. I think the hyphenated form can clearly be discarded
> as a remnant of the original phrase, incorrectly hyphenated. The other
> two forms are really both new coinages, and I think one might argue that
> either could be "correct," if there is such a thing as correct. Both
> are in common use now. If I were editing a publication, I would
> probably make the stylistic choice of adopting the single-word version,
> "strewnfield."
>
> Jeff
>
> On 2010-01-15 8:57 PM, Frank Cressy wrote:
>> Hello all,
>>
>> I think it would be correct to use "strewnfield"...one word.
>>
>> When someone talks about a corn field, two words are used. Another way
>> to say this is : "field of corn."
>>
>> If "strewn field" is the correct, would one also be correct in saying
>> "field of strewn"? I don't think that works.
>>
>> So I think the correct usage should be "strewnfield" like Martin used to
>> use in his columns.
>>
>> Just my 2 cents,
>>
>> Frank
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> ________________________________
>> From: "lebofsky at lpl.arizona.edu"<lebofsky at lpl.arizona.edu>
>> To: Meteorites USA<eric at meteoritesusa.com>
>> Cc: Meteorite-list<meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
>> Sent: Thu, January 14, 2010 7:52:16 PM
>> Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Strewnfield or Strewn Field?
>>
>> Hi Eric:
>>
>> For about a year, this was a topic for the editors of Meteorite
>> magazine.
>> We decided to be consistent with strewnfield since we had the column
>> "From
>> the Strewnfields" by Martin Horejsi at the time (miss your articles in
>> the
>> magazine, Martin).
>>
>> Larry
>>
>>
>>> Hi Listees,
>>>
>>> Thanks to you all who've written in with kind words and comments on my
>>> new article a few days back titled "What is a Meteorite Strewnfield?" I
>>> really appreciate your compliments. I hope you all enjoyed it. If you
>>> haven't read it yet please do so. It's a good informative read, and
>>> even
>>> has some pretty pictures too. ;)
>>>
>>> The reason for this email is to ask about proper use of the word(s)
>>> strewnfield. While researching the article I noticed that the numerous
>>> websites on the internet had 2 ways of spelling the it. Should it be
>>> "Strewnfield" one word... or "Strewn Field" two seperate words?
>>>
>>> Every time I type in strewnfield in a search it comes up with "Did you
>>> mean?" "strewn field" with a space. I've seen it described as "Strewn
>>> field" on Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strewn_field Then in
>>> the paragraph just below it reads "strewnfield" all one word again. To
>>> make matters more confusing Encyclopedia Britannica has the word with a
>>> hyphen i.e; strewn-field.
>>> http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/569002/strewn-field Google
>>> shows 67,500 results for the phrase "strewn field" and the same amount
>>> for strewn-field" with a hyphen, meaning they don't recognize the
>>> hyphen. Google also shows 23,700 results for the single word
>>> "strewnfield". Not to mention the many articles and papers all over the
>>> internet with ALL 3 ways of usage of the word.
>>>
>>> So which is it? or does it really matter?
>>>
>>> Regards,
>>> Eric Wichman
>>> Meteorites USA
>>> www.meteoritesusa.com
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
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>>>
>>
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>
>
> --
> Dr. Jeffrey N. Grossman phone: (703) 648-6184
> US Geological Survey fax: (703) 648-6383
> 954 National Center
> Reston, VA 20192, USA
>
>
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Received on Sat 16 Jan 2010 07:11:23 AM PST