Not-so-dirty word spellings
When one reads as many sex stories as I do, one starts to see the same words in every story. Here are a few that I’ve had to look up in the dictionary for the preferred spellings. If you disagree, please weigh in on the matter. Also feel free to add words that have debatable spellings to the list.
The following words are written in my preferred style:
1) girlfriend, boyfriend
2) best friend
3) half sister, half brother (yep, I read incest stories)
4) stepmother, stepfather
5) makeup
6) miniskirt
7) knee socks
8. high heel shoes
9) floodgates (you’d be surprised how often this word appears in erotic stories)
10) telltale
11) collarbone
12) rib cage
13) bull’s eye
14) goosebumps
“Bull’s eye” or “bull’s-eye”? Or does either work?
Either spelling works. I don’t like the way the hyphen looks with the apostrophe ’s’ so I prefer to use the former.
It’s high-heeled shoes. I know.. I wear stilettos all the time!
Yep, you’re right I just checked my Oxford Dictionary and it says the noun is “high heels” and the adjective is “high-heeled shoes.” However, a quick Google search lists both “high heel shoes” and “high heeled shoes.” Thanks to you, VR, and your stilettos (or is it stilettoes?) I will be sticking with the spelling of “high-heeled shoes” from now on. Thanks!
Your posts make me realize that I generally *don’t* turn to the dictionary when I’m writing erotic stuff–though of course I should take the same care now that I once took as a “publishing professional.” Once upon a time I so lived by Webster’s Ninth that I flat wore the poor thing out: http://twitpic.com/1m471r That’s one aspect of the care we owe the genre to keep it from being marginalized among other literature.
That’s my thought exactly, CD!
You wouldn’t believe how many authors have been surprised by the amount of work I have put into editing their erotic stories. They always say something along the lines of “I didn’t know you would take it so seriously.” I go over every manuscript with a fine-tooth comb because I respect the genre and I respect the readers. I want to live in a world where sex stories are well-crafted and free of spelling and punctuation errors. Is that really so much to ask? I don’t think it is.
I would think anything like “high-heeled shoes” would be hyphenated as it’s two words together describing something; a compound adjective, I guess. For things like “half sister,” it’s looks more correct to me as “half-sister.” I think to me “half sister” looks like it means half of a person, were the hyphenated version indicates the person and their relationship better. Of course, how it look isn’t necessarily how it should be.
I agree. “Half-sister” makes more sense to me than “half sister” – which does look like half of a sister. But I think the correct version is what Emma has on the list.