Longtime and Long-term

 

Some writing mistakes are worse than others. If you were to write “I should of applied for the job,” that little “of” will reflect pretty badly on you in some people’s minds. It’s “should have” or “should’ve.” The preposition “of” doesn’t work that way. It can’t be used as an auxiliary verb.

 

On the other hand, if you were to write, “General Washington lead his troops into battle,” word-savvy readers might give you a pass on using “lead” when you meant “led.” After all, the metal is pronounced just like the past tense of the verb. And because it’s spelled just like the present tense of the verb (to lead), this mistake doesn’t necessarily mean that the writer doesn’t know the difference. It could just as easily happen to someone who does know the difference but isn’t paying close enough attention.

But there’s another class of mistakes: errors that aren’t really bad, but that peg the writer as someone who’s not a pro.

I’m thinking of the adjective “longtime,” as in a longtime companion or a longtime policy. It’s easy to assume that, like “long-term,” the adjective “longtime” should be hyphenated. And in fact, there’s nothing stopping you from doing so. Hyphens allow you to invent your own compounds. So you certainly can attach “long” to “time” this way if you want to. But doing so instantly pegs you as someone who doesn’t know that, unlike “long-term,” the adjective “longtime” is a closed form recognized by dictionaries as a single word.

It’s one of those facts that editors tend to know and non-editors don’t. So getting this one right can add a subtle touch of professionalism.  

Again:

long time = noun phrase: I haven’t see you in a long time.

longtime = adjective: They are longtime friends.

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