Hyphens At-Risk
The most recent punctuation species to hit the endangered list: the hyphen.
The new Shorter Oxford English Dictionary has new spellings of 16,000 words. Formerly-hyphenated words appear in this new edition as either compound nouns (pigeonhole) or two separate words (pot belly).
" 'People are not confident about using hyphens anymore, they're not really sure what they are for," said Angus Stevenson, editor of the Shorter OED, the sixth edition of which was published this week.' "
Stevenson is quick to point out, however, that there is still a place for the hyphen in modern language - twenty-odd people came to the party; or was it twenty odd people?
In 2002, Florida candidate Patrick Feheley sued opponent Candice Brown-McElyea over a hyphen. He accused her of hyphenating her name to secure a better position on the ballot. Had she not changed her name prior to the election, Feheley's name would have been listed first on the ticket.
I never would have guessed that a gung-ho dictionary editor could be such a rabble-rouser.
There are a great many hyphens left in America. For my part, I think the most un-American thing in the world is a hyphen. —Woodrow Wilson, speech, 1919
Tags: [Short Oxford English Dictionary] [Angus Stevenson]
[Patrick Feheley] [Candice Brown-McElyea]
[The Hyphen] [Woodrow T. Wilson]
3 comments:
I was there. That made it 20 odd people.
Ironic. You don't need the hyphen in the phase "hyphens at risk." You would use it in "at-risk hyphens."
Thank you, not everyone saw that. It is ironic, which is another convention that is misunderstood.
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