This a great example of how the languages (such as English, and its
variations, like American and Australian) are 'living'. They are constantly
changing. Look at all the new words we have learnt in the last few years
that relate to the internet! Some them are not even in my computer's
dictionary!!

Combined words like breastfeeding have 'evolved' from two separate words to
hyphenated versions to one single word in a relatively short number of
years. The latest edition of the official Australian dictionary, the
Macquarie, lists breastfeeding as one word but still has bottle-feeding
hyphenated. So this is (or supposed to be) general usage in Australia. I
don't know who actually decides when these changes will occur in published
dictionaries (supposed to be according to common usage, I thought), but I
would think it might be possible to influence this, if enough people
complained to the publishers. When people say that they are following their
country's dictionary spelling, it might be worth asking *when* their
dictionary was printed. It's possible that it is out-of-date!

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Joy Anderson B.Sc. Dip.Ed. Grad.Dip.Med.Tech. IBCLC
Nursing Mothers' Association of Australia Breastfeeding Counsellor
Perth, Western Australia.   mailto:[log in to unmask]
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