Compound nouns (business people vs. businesspeople)

[Torsten]

I often come across compound nouns that are spelled as one word rather than two separate words. One example is businesspeople which according to most dictionaries should be spelled "business people". Would you agree that there is no "hard rule" here?
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TOEIC Preparation & TOEIC Vocabulary

[Mister Micawber]

Yes, no hard rule. Such nouns grow together with use (often with an intermediate hyphenated stage). Finding the form that is acceptable in the right quarters can be difficult sometimes.
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Canadian-American native speaker
who teaches English for a living at Mister Micawber's
ESL cafe: Interview with Mr. Micawber

[Tom]

Mister Micawber wrote:

Yes, no hard rule

Could I distract from the topic a bit please?

I have learnt that:

Yes, a positive sentence
No, a negative sentence.

For example:

A- No, I do not smoke.
B- Yes, you do.

A- You do like her?
B- No, I don't.
B- Yes, I do

Keeping this 'understanding' in mind, I would write:

No, no hard rule.

Could you please explain?

Tom

[Pamela]

Tom, Torsten's question was:

"Would you agree that there is no "hard rule" here?"

And Mister Micawber answered:

"Yes, no hard rule."

That means that he agrees that there is no hard rule

[Yankee]

Hi Tom

Pamela has hit the nail on the head.

Q: "Would you agree that there is no "hard rule" here?"
A: "Yes, (I agree that there is) no hard rule."

Amy
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Amy
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ESL teacher, translator, and a native speaker of American English

[Conchita]

– Do you mind if I play a CD?
– No, go ahead!

– Do you mind if I go now?
– Yes, (please) don't go!

[Yankee]

[Yankee]

Hi Torsten

What a coincidence! Have a look at this test question:

Meaning of "pay cut"
http://www.english-test.net/forum/ftopic12872.html#36593

Amy
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Amy
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ESL teacher, translator, and a native speaker of American English