I’ve thought about this ever since I was a little kid and that cartoon Talespin aired. I found it interesting that it could be split between two pairs of letters to form two words: tale-spin and tales-pin. I’m sure the latter pair was unintended, but it’s still kind of interesting. Just a few minutes ago, I read another one (that isn’t a name): groundswell. It can be spilt ground-swell and grounds-well. What are some other examples of this? The split words have to be at least two letters long, no a-pathetic.
Mangetout = mange tout or man get out
Or magnet out, right?
Lets see…words that actually apply to the OP…
backslash = back slash or backs lash
chopstick = chop stick or chops tick
doeskin = doe skin or does kin
forego = fore go or for ego
There are more, I’m sure. I just scanned the first bit of a list of compound words to find these. Then, I got bored. Sorry. My favorite was probably hotshot (hot shot or hots hot). Words with s in the middle seem to be the easiest to break up in multiple ways.
Well, that would be an anagram
Along similar lines, if you were to cast a magic spell on a doorway, you would entrance and entrance.
Some coworkers can be real cow orkers.
I think a really good example is that pain-staking <> pains-taking. Most people tend towards the former while the latter is correct.
man-slaughter /= mans-laughter
This one is interesting because the ‘gh’ in the second word is pronounced in one version and not in the other.
Sun space
Suns pace
That is interesting. It takes this to a whole other level.
This doesn’t quite fit the criteria of the OP, but it’s interesting and somewhat related.
Most people break helicopter into heli- and -copter, but the Greek words from which it derives are heliko – spiral – and pteron – wing.
Cool, huh?