Barroom or bar room?

QueGuey1

unread,

Oct 16, 2001, 5:56:59 PM10/16/01

to

I'm feeling to lazy to look it up, so I'll just ask you folks. Which is
better? Is one correct and one not? I think barroom looks stupid, almost like
an onomatopoeia (however you spell it) for a car engine.

Hoovph

unread,

Oct 16, 2001, 7:00:09 PM10/16/01

to

In article <20011016175659...@mb-ft.aol.com>, queg...@aol.com
(QueGuey1) writes:

There's always the lonely and neglected hyphen (-). We have
a surplus of those setting on the shelf collecting dust. Here's
a few dozen of them for you. ----------------------------------------

Hoovph

Martin Ambuhl

unread,

Oct 16, 2001, 7:55:32 PM10/16/01

to

What's the difference between a tavern and an elephant fart?

Robert Lieblich

unread,

Oct 16, 2001, 8:17:20 PM10/16/01

to

The placement of the accent.

I checked two American dictionaries on-line, M-W and AHD4. Both
have "barroom." I then checked two British dictionaries, Cambridge
and OED. Neither has "barroom," at least not where I could find
it. (Makes you wonder if OED is quite as comprehensive as it claims
to be.) OED does have "bar-room."

Make of this what you will.

Tony Cooper

unread,

Oct 17, 2001, 1:46:55 AM10/17/01

to

Until I looked it up, I thought this poem was by Robert
Service. But, here are two verses of one of the most famous
references to the bar-room:

The Face On The Bar-Room Floor
by H. A. D'Arey

'Twas a balmy summer evening and a goodly crowd was there,
Which well nigh filled Joe's bar-room, on the corner of the
square;
And as songs and witty stories came thru the open door,
A vagabond crept slowly in and posed upon the floor.

"Where did it come from?" some one said. The wind has blown
it in."
"What does it want?" another cried. "Some whisky, rum or
gin?"
"Here, Toby sic' him, if your stomach's equal to the work
I wouldn't touch him with a fork, he's filthy as a Turk."

--
Tony Cooper aka: tony_co...@yahoo.com
Provider of Jots and Tittles

Mark Wallace

unread,

Oct 17, 2001, 2:30:57 AM10/17/01

to

"Martin Ambuhl" <mam...@earthlink.net> wrote in message
news:3BCCC99F...@earthlink.net...

> What's the difference between a tavern and an elephant fart?

Tell you what, you have a seat. I'll go get the drinks.

--

Mark Wallace
-----------------------------------------------------
Old Spice -- The Stupidest Story Ever Written
(and the second-best selling e-book in history)
The first volume is now FREE!
http://humorpages.virtualave.net/os/freebie.htm
-----------------------------------------------------

Eric Walker

unread,

Oct 17, 2001, 3:07:50 PM10/17/01

to

In American comic books, at least those of some years back,
"BARROOM!" was often gaudily displayed when an explosion was
being depicted. I have heard--though this may be urban
folklore--that the illustrators commonly used that term as a
sneaky way of getting printed a word that would not otherwise be
allowed in comic books (for, obviously, only their private
amusement).

Other posts have suggested that both forms are accepted. My
desk dictionary, which I have found generally reliable, marks
the form "barroom" as an Americanism.

My own taste would be to make it either two words or a
hyphenated form, just because, as you say, it looks silly
otherwise.

--
Cordially,
Eric Walker, Owlcroft House