Johan Branders wrote:
> Can anyone help me with the following question?
>
> What is the right expression?
>
> Spiral welded pipes
> or
> Spirally welded pipes
>
> According to Google a huge majority uses "spiral welded". Are they
> right?
A specialist would give a better answer than I can, but my guess is
that the context will tell such a specialist all he needs to know.
From the point of view of style, though, a straight pipe made by
welding strips spirally would generally be a "spirally welded pipe":
a "spiral welded pipe" might logically refer to a welded pipe which
is helical in form -- a "welded spiral pipe". But if a majority of
the Ggl hits for "spiral welded" come from those who know about
welded pipes, and turn out on examination to mean "pipes made by
welding strips spirally" it's probably safe to follow their example.
You have to study even an Oxford Dictionary entry in the light of
your knowledge, and that applies even more strongly when it comes to
Google.
--
Mike.
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