Insofar

[Stewart Gordon]

INSOFAR was accepted, not for the first time, on yesterday's show. I'm made to wonder: How exactly does the ODE list this word?

I wonder because it seems to me that it exists only as "insofar as", not as a word in its own right. Generally, pseudowords like this haven't been accepted - for example, "mistle" has been rejected as it exists only as "mistle thrush".

What exactly is the situation here?

[Charlie Reams]

INSOFAR was accepted, not for the first time, on yesterday's show. I'm made to wonder: How exactly does the ODE list this word?

I wonder because it seems to me that it exists only as "insofar as", not as a word in its own right. Generally, pseudowords like this haven't been accepted - for example, "mistle" has been rejected as it exists only as "mistle thrush".

What exactly is the situation here?

I think generally if a word occurs with a preposition then it will be accepted, whereas words in noun phrases and suchlike won't be. This might seem arbitrary but I think it works intuitively. If you allowed "gung" as in "gung ho" then that seems weird because the word doesn't seem to have any meaning in isolation, whereas it's clear what meanings "insofar" or "inasmuch" carry even though they require a preposition.

[John Bosley]

mistle is another spelling for mizzle (fine rain)

[Graeme Cole]

INSOFAR was accepted, not for the first time, on yesterday's show. I'm made to wonder: How exactly does the ODE list this word?

I wonder because it seems to me that it exists only as "insofar as", not as a word in its own right. Generally, pseudowords like this haven't been accepted - for example, "mistle" has been rejected as it exists only as "mistle thrush".

What exactly is the situation here?

ODE3 lists INSOFAR on its own, which is why it's allowed.

[Gavin Chipper]

INSOFAR was accepted, not for the first time, on yesterday's show. I'm made to wonder: How exactly does the ODE list this word?

I wonder because it seems to me that it exists only as "insofar as", not as a word in its own right. Generally, pseudowords like this haven't been accepted - for example, "mistle" has been rejected as it exists only as "mistle thrush".

What exactly is the situation here?

ODE3 lists INSOFAR on its own, which is why it's allowed.

It does in the NODE too. Did it stop for a bit and then start again?

[Brian Moore]

Déja vu. There is something odd about the arbitrary cementing of words and not others. Still, a few loose prepositions is probably better than the German habit of using word-glue liberally. Rindfleischetikettierungsüberwachungsaufgabenübertragungsgesetz is particularly fine.