Legal Writing

No Hyphen in ?Ramshackled?

By Maeve Maddox

When I saw ?ram-shackled? used to describe a boat. the image of a boat chained to a goat sprang immediately to mind.

Both ramshackle and ramshackled are used to describe a building or other fairly large object in a state of extreme disrepair.

The word started out as ransackled and is related to such words as ransom and sack (as in ?to pillage.?)

I?ve also seen ramshackle/ramshackled written as two words:

Ram-shackled economies –headline at the New Statesman

Factories in China range from some of the most modern in the world to small ram shackled facilities. –story at the Huffington Post

Both ramshackle and ramshackled should be written as one word.

Unless, of course, you are making a pun, as the writer of this Washington Post headline was doing:

Ram-Shackled
The Redskins’ Defense Is Shredded For 579 Yards in an Overtime Loss

The opposing team was the St. Louis Rams.

Full post as published by Daily Writing Tips on March 16, 2010 (boomark / email).