There are words that I have to go back to the dictionary to determine which is the correct version: “whoever” vs. “whomever”, as shown in the image; “who’s” vs. “whose”; “come” vs…. well, you get the idea.

But I have noticed a similar confusion/transformation in my LinkedIn job notifications: “copyeditor” vs. “copy editor”.

I am receiving notifications of positions with titles of either spelling. One says “copyeditor”, another “copy editor”. The job descriptions under both titles are very similar–if not the exact same–but one question begs answering: who is correct?

Even more pressing is which spelling of the title should I use in order to land a potential interview? Should it be the spelling I believe or have always believed to be correct, or risk further embarrassment by using the post’s spelling and argue about it later (if, of course, given the opportunity to argue)?

According to the Chartered Institute of Editing and Proofreading in the U.K., the hyphened version “copy-editor” and “copyeditor” are both interchangeable as nouns, but the hyphenless form – ‘copyeditor’ – is the CIEP’s preferred style.

This article from Grammarist, though, dives deeper into the exploration of the term. Like most compound words, it began as two separate words: “copy” and “edit”. As they became more common, they became one word.

Some prefer the hyphenated version of the practice (copy-edit) because they can’t pick between copy edit or copyedit. But the hyphenated word is still much less common today, with other dictionaries recognizing the one-word and two-word forms, but not the hyphenated version.

Bu it seems that the jury is still out on the issue, as different style guides prefer different versions as opposed to uniting under one, universal spelling. When it comes to the title, the Chicago Manual of Style, the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, and the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association prefer the two-word “copy editor”, where as Merriam-Webster and Oxford dictionaries–as well as the Associated Press Stylebook, prefers the one-word spelling of “copyeditor”.

The argument goes even amongst copy editors/copyeditors themselves. Grammar Girl prefers the two-word title but says the one-word version is not wrong; author Debbie Emmitt prefers “copywriter”, whereas Erin Wright elects for the two-word “copy editor” and suggests that copy editors should batter copyeditors for naming rights, but concedes that it would be a futile fight:

A winner-takes-all game of grammar trivia is the obvious choice, but it would never work because we would never agree on the correct answers.

So the question remains: which is correct?

Unfortunately, you at the mercy of the job posting and the HR professional who posted it. Whether you lean on one side or the other of this hotly-debated topic, the answer is that you must bite your tongue and use whatever version of the title is utilized in the job description. At least this will show that you read the title and can adhere to their expectations. But it could also lead to that all-important phone call–that interview–where the ageless debate can carry on.