There are roadworks taking place a few streets down from where I live and a sign, put out to advise folk that work is underway, became the topic of conversation in the car the other day. There is a picture of a worker with a shovel implying work is being done and then the wording “ON SIDE ROAD” directly beneath. The discussion centred on what this particular configuration of words might mean.

The omission of a couple of key words – a preposition and the definite article – had left the phrase ambiguous and open to some rather interesting speculation. One might assume that the writers of the sign wanted to state that there was work being done “on the side of the road” and that would be entirely accurate for indeed work was being undertaken at the side of the road.  But the side of the road is not the same thing as a side road. And therein lies the first element of confusion.

In English we can compound words together in several ways to denote something more specific than the individual words themselves. Homework pertains to a particular type of work that you do at home, usually something taken home from a place of work or study and has a more specific meaning than home+work.  A handbag is a very specific type of a bag. All handbags are bags but not all bags are handbags.

Joining two words together in this fashion is one way to create a compound word and is known as the closed form. This means the two words have worked together for long enough to now be written as one word in a closed manner with no space or hyphen. There are hundreds of such words in our vernacular: update, windmill, midnight, snowfall, website, online, sidecar, motorcycle, notepad, dishwasher, keyboard, baseball, summertime, timeline, nonetheless, moonlight, everyone… to name but a few.

Most of the time compound words are made up of two nouns joined together, but not always. What truly defines a compound word is that, regardless of how many words there are and what type they might be, it has a single denotation related to the sum of its parts that pertains to something specific.

Other compound words are linked with a hyphen to show that they work together as a single concept. Examples of this hyphenated form include follow-up, runner-up, off-peak, mother-in-law, in-depth, close-up, self-service, know-how as well as a subclass of words which are hyphenated with prefixes to avoid confusion with other words. A common example is co-op, the clip of the noun, cooperative, which is hyphenated in its short form to avoid confusion with “coop”.

Sometimes though the compounding creates a two-word phrase like post office, or power saw or racing car; this is known as the open form. Once again the meaning of the compounded word is more specific than that of the individual words. A washing machine is a particular type of machine used to wash clothing. Full moon is a very specific part of the moon’s cycle. A Help Desk is a specific function within a business’s operations, and a time frame denotes a defined period of time in which a specific amount of work needs to be completed.

Back to our sign and the confusion that can arise from its particular wording.

Side road is a compound word, and denotes a type of road that runs off a main road (open compound) or thoroughfare (closed compound) and is a lesser road, possibly narrower, or less travelled. So the sign could be interpreted as implying that work was taking place on a side road away from the current road rather than at the side of that road.

Perhaps a better wording of the sign could utilise a different form of compound word that has a more distinct meaning: roadside or maybe even curb.

But that is not the only interesting part of this three-word sign. As any sportsperson will know, a player that is within a prescribed line or area at the beginning of or during a game is said to be onside. That is to say the player is not offside or outside the line or area of play.

Back to our sign: the words taken on their own could suggest that there is an onside road, which by definition implies that there is also an offside road and might lead us to wonder what sort of game these work folk are playing.

Granted there is a space between the on and the side and so one could argue that this is not the compound form but as we have already seen compound words can be open and without any other clarifier, such as the word “work” before the phrase, then the meaning is very much open to this sort of interpretation.

I could go one step further in seeking clarity and swap out the preposition “on” for another “at”. The former implies the work is happening specifically to the road itself whereas the later simply refers to the general location and can mean work on the road or under it as well as around it. So my less ambiguous, more relevant sign would read: “AT ROADSIDE”. Or if we wanted to use as few letters as possible:  “AT CURB”.

Pedantic? No doubt, but what a great way to reflect on the use of our language and the care needed when abbreviating signs in this way. Purely in the interests of compounding clarity, of course!