Your Mrs. Language Person isn't always a Snitty Old Bitty. You may roll your eyes, Dear Reader, but a sense of humor she does have - although an ill-developed one. "About as funny as an uptight mother-in-law," say you? "Only if 'funny' means looney as a full moon in June?" That may be; we will see.

Clever, however, thou must admit, mais non? Already has she conferred upon thee no fewer than eight compound words. "Showoff," say you. Bravo! Nine!

Sound simple, these do, but they can be elusive, too. How many do you see? Did you know their varieties are three? OK, so neither Seuss nor poet shall be your MLP.

Closed: Closed compound words look like one word, but began as two, slowly merging over time with use. Notebook, Newsroom, although, uptight, upon, showoff, firefighter, maybe, waistcoat (Do gentlemen wear those anymore? Do you see four more within these parentheticals?)

Hyphenated: Obviously, compound words still hyphenated. Editor-in-chief, self-evident, twenty-four, mother-in-law. Linguists might say many are on their way to becoming closed, as did to-day, to-morrow, and birth-day. However, other compound words are tailor-made (ahem) and typically used as adjectives or adverbs, combining two or more words to mean something neither could manage alone: ill-developed, face-to-face, 10-year-old, cat-like, half-baked, keeper-of-the-list (if used without an article, such as "a" or "the"). These too may hook up (giggle) someday (couldn't resist), if made popular enough.

Open: Adjective+noun=new noun. Non-hyphenated yet distinct. Living room, attorney general, real estate, coffee mug, Latin American, and of course, Dear Reader.

"How about side-splitting and slapstick?" Yes, smart-alecks. You asked; MLP delivers, albeit (once three words in Middle English) lazily reproduced from reader feedback:

Avoidable - bullfighter's goal (so that's if-y).

Eyedropper - clumsy ophthalmologist.

Left Bank - end of a robber's checklist.

Rubberneck - how to relax your wife.

Housefly - Dorothy's tornado vision

Eye-rollers, please remember: A good pun is its own reword. Therein (surely you noticed that one) lies your hint for the next installment of MLP.

And (yes, your MLP occasionally throws caution to the wind and begins a sentence with "and") before shamefully slinking away, Mrs. Language Person would like to wish a very happy birthday (!) this week to Main Street columnist and oh-so-venerable keeper-of-birthday-lists, Kerri Thoreson. Cheers.

Mrs. Language Person is a persnickety and cantankerous reluctant columnist for the Hagadone News Network. Contact her through Sholeh Patrick at Sholeh@cdapress.com.