Talk:Columbus, Georgia/Archives/2021

Combined Statistical Area

In my recent edit, I was a bit too quick to edit the existing phrase "a 2020 estimated population" to include a hyphen between 2020 and estimated. Mason.Jones, I sincerely thank you for checking my grammar and style, which I admit to getting wrong occasionally. However, my grammar and style were not wrong this time; in fact, both phrases are grammatically and stylistically correct, though their meanings are subtly but significantly different:

• Without a hyphen – In the unhyphenated phrase "a 2020 estimated population", 2020 is a simple adjective being used attributively to describe the compound noun estimated population. Thus, the phrase could be rewritten as "an estimated population during 2020". When the estimate was generated is unknown, but the estimate is for the year 2020.
• With a hyphen – In the hyphenated phrase "a 2020-estimated population", 2020-estimated is a compound adjective used attributively to describe the simple noun population. Thus, the phrase could be rewritten as "a population estimated in 2020". The year for which the population is an estimate is unknown, but the estimate was generated in 2020.

These two phrases, as I have shown, have two different meanings. While researching which meaning was a true statement, I was unable to find the US Census Bureau's 2020 decennial data for the Columbus–Auburn–Opelika Combined Statistical Area (CSA). The version of the article previous to my latest edit included a claim that the figure was 503,789. The closest I could find to 2020 data for this CSA was a table giving the estimate obtained from the 2019 American Community Survey: 486,645.

If anyone is able to find a reliable source for the figure 503,789, or any figure given as 2020 decennial data, please update the page again, and be sure to include the source.
~ JDCAce (talk) 07:51, 25 August 2021 (UTC)

In theory, that is correct (modifiers are modifiers), but here it's the principle of overhyphenation. Hyphens should be avoided whenever the phrase is totally understood without one. For example, most copy editors would leave "high school student" open, as this is a very common expression and quite readable without the hyphen. Hyphenation is employed if it will prevent confusion (and a second reading). Numerical years are almost never hyphenated. Moreover, the figure itself is based on official 2020 U.S. Census data (not truly "generated" and available to the public until August 2021). I certainly won't edit-war over this. Wikipedia has far worse issues than grammar—especially when both sides have an argument.

Re the figure 503,789, it seems that someone has done original research (simple addition of all 2020 figures per the CSA county definition). I agree that it's probably best to wait until the Census Bureau calculates the total and posts the official CSA stat on its site. Mason.Jones (talk) 15:09, 25 August 2021 (UTC)

I appreciate you weighing in on this. I agree too many hyphens or dashes could make for difficult reading; also, it's just plain ugly. Looking back at the sentence now, I see it already has two endashes in the name of the CSA, so it's probably best we don't throw in another dash. As for the 503,789 figure, I also thought it was probably the sum of the other figures. Not only is that original research, like you said, but it could easily be wrong. Assuming it was a sum, the person who added it may have missed a county which the Bureau forgot to mention is included in the CSA, or conversely the person could have included a county which the Bureau incorrectly stated was part of the CSA. I think we can all agree the US government isn't immune to mistakes.
~ JDCAce (talk) 00:35, 27 August 2021 (UTC)

References