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Revision as of 18:18, 14 August 2005 by 68.126.7.5 (talk)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)The single word "gameshow" is an evolution from "game show". Just as "flashlight" and "screwdriver" became a single word through usage, "gameshow" has also become commonly used as a single word. When the words can be separated and still used to describe the object, they stay as two distict words. When they become inseperable, they evolve into a single word (ex: "piano key" also is commonly "keys on a piano", but "screwdriver" would never be "a driver of screws", even though that technically describes the object).
This is called a Compound Word. Since nobody ever says "a show about a game", or "a game type of show", or "a show of the game variety", and since every "game show" is describable only with that term (the word "game" followed by the word "show"), it is logical that it should be expressed as a single word.
This can be exampled by the concept of an "e-gameshow", which is a word neologism that has been featured on a news network ZDNetand and on a .com site which uses the term "gameshow" throughout: Gameshow Revolution. The e-gameshow is not a show at all; it's a website. Putting a "game show" into a computer program doesn't make it any less of a "gameshow", then putting a soccor game into a computer makes it any less of a soccor game. However, once it's moved over it ceases being a "show" entirely.
An online game will be immediately recognized and identified by most people as "an online game show". It is inappropriate to use the term "game show" because it is not a show at all, and keeping the words separate implies that "game" is an adjective modifying "show". It is however appropriate if you use the term "gameshow", because then "gameshow" ceases to be a description and becomes a new noun in which the concept of "people competing for a cash prize by answering questions/completing randomly assigned tasks" is held.