Honey bee or honeybee

[gavin]

The pick of today's social media brings you .....

https://jeffollerton.wordpress.com/2017/02/28/honey-bee-or-honeybee-bumblebee-or-bumble-bee/

I recall making a conscious decision to change from using two words to one about a decade ago. I likely still use both :p

G.

[Mellifera Crofter]

Why did you change to 'honeybee'? We've chatted about the reason for 'honey bee' being two words on here before (entomology: it is a bee, as opposed to, say, 'butterfly' where a butterfly isn't a fly).

I would have suggested that the shift towards 'honeybee' must be as a result of social media with its vast contribution of people who can't spell - but it started in 1921. So, I don't know ...

Kitta

[gavin]

I think that some researchers I respected were using the single word and I had to make a decision for some documents I was writing.

I see that this paper (I'm one of many authors) splits it in two.

http://strathprints.strath.ac.uk/37337/1/JAR_51_1_12L.pdf

Maybe I'll switch back again before I'm done. Certainly SNHBS requires the two-word option for its title.

[Calluna4u]

Gavin...you're bored! lol Go and look at the bees flying.

[gavin]

Gavin...you're bored! lol Go and look at the bees flying.

Lol, yeah ... but I *was* watching them flying from the nucs at the front of the house earlier. Off to help out at the beginners class now.

[Jon]

Is it not one of those US/UK distinctions?
You say potato and I say tomato or kidney beans or whatever...

[SDM]

Is it not one of those US/UK distinctions?
You say potato and I say tomato or kidney beans or whatever...


I'm pretty sure it explained that way in one of the books I've got.
It is for sure honey bees in the US.

[Mellifera Crofter]

Is it not one of those US/UK distinctions?...

I don't think so - not according to that Ngram viewer mentioned in Gavin's link. If I use it for 'English (https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=honeybee%2C+honey+bee&year_start=1800&year_end=2000&corpus=15&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t1%3B%2Choneybee%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2Chon ey%20bee%3B%2Cc0)', the change-over from honey bee to honeybee happened in 1921; for American English (https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=honeybee%2Choney+bee&year_start=1800&year_end=2000&corpus=17&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t1%3B%2Choneybee%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2Chon ey%20bee%3B%2Cc0) in the '30s; and for British English (https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=honeybee%2C+honey+bee&year_start=1800&year_end=2000&corpus=18&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t1%3B%2Choneybee%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2Chon ey%20bee%3B%2Cc0) in 1947, followed by three spikes in favour of honeybee, and then ended up about equal in 2000.

BTW, I'm not bored, C4U.

Kitta