One word or two?

In Swedish, compound nouns are written as one word, and Swedes enjoy making fun of unfortunate phrases such as “rök fritt” (“smoke freely” rather than the intended “no smoking”).

In English, compounds are sometimes written as one word, and if the words are written separately the meaning may change. All black birds are not blackbirds.

If one part of a compound noun is a proper name or an abbreviation, hyphenate in Swedish but separate the words in English. No “PhD-students“ with a hyphen, please.

• the VH Faculty / Erasmus student