What's a hotspot not? A hots pot...

A quote from a police spokesman, taken from recent copy:

Freight crime can have an adverse effect on the economy, with businesses staying clear of hotspot areas


So my first question - what's a 'hotspot area'? Is it synonymous with 'hotspot' and therefore an example of redundancy, or is it in some way different to a common-or-garden hotspot? Perhaps a hotspot area contains a number of hotspots, or maybe it's just like a hotspot but larger.

My second question - 'hotspot' or 'hot spot'? The Concise OED prefers the latter, but I'm the only member of our editorial team who agrees.

And the reason I prefer 'hot spot' to 'hotspot' is simply because I always read 'hotspot' as 'hots pot', and so find it breaks my flow. What's the name for when that happens - is it dissonance?

1 comment:

Unknown said...

I think I prefer "hotspot," though I don't think I have a good reason for that. And "hotspot area" is definitely redundant, but in the completely superfluous way rather than the helpful way.

Obligatory Dinosaur Comics link.