Ran into this today. Traditional dictionaries use "brow line", but internet searches find hundreds of references to "browline" (not including the commercial products). So which is appropriate to use?
I'd assumed that "browline" would be more widely understood, but my editor objected, assuming no one would understand the term and would consider it a sloppy error.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Browline_glasses
Browline glasses go back to the late 1940s.
Personally, I don't think anyone who is confused by browline would be any less confused by brow line
I thought the issue was sailing, where ships tie up using a bow line. Or is that Bowline?
I thought the issue was sailing, where ships tie up using a bow line. Or is that Bowline?
For ships it would be bowline. Browline refers to the line of your brow.
Where do you find these editors?
I added the bit about reader confusion. He just objected to the use of the word, I'm assuming because it's not in most dictionaries.
@Dominions Son
For ships it would be bowline. Browline refers to the line of your brow.
He stumbled into the rigging, bruising his browline in the bowline.
I'm assuming because it's not in most dictionaries.
I found it in several on-line dictionaries.
He stumbled into the rigging, bruising his browline in the bowline.
Ummm ... close, but no seegar! Actually, he romped down the brow, stumbled, grabbed at the brow line and snagged his digit in the hitch, breaking his pinky. A proper bowline in the brow line would've prevented that. Ask any sailor!
Ummm ... close, but no seegar! Actually, he romped down the brow, stumbled, grabbed at the brow line and snagged his digit in the hitch, breaking his pinky. A proper bowline in the brow line would've prevented that. Ask any sailor!
Yeah, I understand what a bowline is, one of the few lines in a boat I remember, but didn't think it was worth detailing at the expense of the joke.
Yeah, I understand what a bowline is, one of the few lines in a boat I remember, but didn't think it was worth detailing at the expense of the joke.
I betcha didn't know what a brow was. What joke?
Any time I'm not sure about something like whether a term is one word, two words, or hyphened, I check the dictionary.
If you check google, you're going to find two things:
1) Grammar expert sites with people asking the same question.
2) The term used in various places in all conceivable versions by people who just guessed at it.
