The End of the Hyphen?
- Thread starter Sandi LeFaucheur
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End of the hypen? Probably not ...
Disturbing? Not very much!
Disturbing? Not very much!
To read more, check out http://theslot.blogspot.com/ and scroll down to "Much A-do about No-thing," to enjoy a delightful read by Bill Walsh. Check out the great graphic, too.
I don't find it particularly disturbing, I think it's one of those "it's about time" things. I've personally written email and website each as one word for many years. And not that I've ever used this particular verb before, but I've etailed things on eBay. Or was that eresaled?
I'm a Brit. I don't hyphenate things like dressing gown, but I use the hyphen in qualifiers.
Maybe I've been in NA too long because I write words like email and website all the time.
Maybe I've been in NA too long because I write words like email and website all the time.
Ah, but carry it on to the greater scheme of things: if the hyphen falls, will the semi-colon be far behind? It's like wiping out all the insects in the world because we don't need them; indeed, they're downright irritating. But wipe out the insects, and birds/fish/mammals will not be far behind.
I quite like the example in the worldwidewords article about twenty odd people.
I quite like the example in the worldwidewords article about twenty odd people.
I, too, pine for those halcyon days when per-cent and to-day appeared regularly in my novels, if only because people co-operated back then.
And, as our beloved hyphen fades into the mists, joining the nearly departed double L of cancelled and travelled, which harken back to the most famous double-L of all: "... Aprill with his shoures soote / the droughte of March hath perced to the roote ...,"
...it all reopens the wounds we nursed when the beloved inflection -th fell from the 3rd person singlular; I trowe no woman hath greater teare fallen from her ene than myne.
And, as our beloved hyphen fades into the mists, joining the nearly departed double L of cancelled and travelled, which harken back to the most famous double-L of all: "... Aprill with his shoures soote / the droughte of March hath perced to the roote ...,"
...it all reopens the wounds we nursed when the beloved inflection -th fell from the 3rd person singlular; I trowe no woman hath greater teare fallen from her ene than myne.
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Can I ask... how many call a 'hyphen' a 'dash'? That's the term I was taught waaay back in first grade. Oh, Miss Eahrhart, did you lead me astray?
davids
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And the old lobsterino is continually harrassipated because of his over-use of the hyphen-I use it cause it fits where me fingers are on the damned keyboard-you know for puncteyeation and such-and-and-no I do not use when writing for money-well I am lyin' there-but hey that is a novelist wont-or deesahr-or whatever-right???? For me the hyphen is as all my knowledge of the art of writing-none whatsoever-like my knowledge of poetry which I write and have published as well as other stuff that I have no idea about-triolets and chevrolets it's all the same to me. Verbosity is the blessing of the indolent child. BTHOOM and that is me-now back to the hyphenation-it was hyphenation I know, might have ended right here at the start-jut a passing glance-just a sweet romance-and I might have gone on my way empty hyphenatipatorially aloofified!!
Calling a hyphen a dash isn't a sin
Lots of folks use the terms interchangeably and commit no crime. There are also specialists' fields (such as proofreading, copyediting and printing) where a speaker might wish to distinguish among hyphen, em dash and en dash. Sometimes they'll even say "hyphen," "long dash," and "short dash."
I must dash --
Cheerio.
Afterthought: In general, saying "hyphen" indicates the symbol that goes inside words or groups of words, or which breaks words at the end of a line. Saying "dash" indicates punctuation in a sentence -- often replacing commas and such -- or a mark to show a sentence breaks off without finishing. In some European texts, the dash also introduces quoted speech, including Spanish, I believe. Please correct any error I'm making.
You guys are just dashing!
Lots of folks use the terms interchangeably and commit no crime. There are also specialists' fields (such as proofreading, copyediting and printing) where a speaker might wish to distinguish among hyphen, em dash and en dash. Sometimes they'll even say "hyphen," "long dash," and "short dash."
I must dash --
Cheerio.
Afterthought: In general, saying "hyphen" indicates the symbol that goes inside words or groups of words, or which breaks words at the end of a line. Saying "dash" indicates punctuation in a sentence -- often replacing commas and such -- or a mark to show a sentence breaks off without finishing. In some European texts, the dash also introduces quoted speech, including Spanish, I believe. Please correct any error I'm making.
You guys are just dashing!
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Semicolons irritating?
Some people find them so. I don't. I love the little blighters.
I worry little about dehyphening, but I hope the lexicographers consider combining a few of their targets rather than leaving them separate words.
The excess of the em-dash, which is not the same as a hyphen when created using a word processor, is tiring to many of us over 35 years of age, but it is as natural as, like, the use of like to mean, like, nothing. It replaces commas and serves its purpose with all the grace of the smiling emoticon. We seek the simplest and quickest way to express every pause or change in thought rather than use the subtleties of the language as it was used a century ago. I expect em-dashers to poo-poo my opinion as though I were criticizing Pollock for splattering randomly without purpose or Hemingway for 100 word run-on sentences, some with as many as 15 ands.
The excess of the em-dash, which is not the same as a hyphen when created using a word processor, is tiring to many of us over 35 years of age, but it is as natural as, like, the use of like to mean, like, nothing. It replaces commas and serves its purpose with all the grace of the smiling emoticon. We seek the simplest and quickest way to express every pause or change in thought rather than use the subtleties of the language as it was used a century ago. I expect em-dashers to poo-poo my opinion as though I were criticizing Pollock for splattering randomly without purpose or Hemingway for 100 word run-on sentences, some with as many as 15 ands.
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