Hey, it really works! I can get my thesis down to 100,000 words after all!
I hadn't thought about it before, but the fast in hard-and-fast must be as
in robust, unmoving rather than speedy or quick; if it were the latter then
the hyphens may be unnecessary. The point is really more to do with thinking
carefully about what one writes -- which of course we all do, hereabouts.
I'm not a good grammarian, so the convenience of the 'no hyphen unless
really necessary' rule suits me.
P
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Poetryetc: poetry and poetics [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
> Behalf Of Joanna Boulter
> Sent: 24 September 2007 12:24
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: rip hyphens
>
> I've just had occasion to use the term punch-drunk, and realised that
> neither punchdrunk nor punch drunk seemed to be what I meant.So, is it
> possible to make a hard-and-fast ruling? Which would not be the same as a
> hard and fast one, nor yet as hardandfast.
>
> Doesn't word-count have something to do with it? So much text these days
> seems to be reckoned by number of words, and totals can be adjusted by
> inserting or taking out hyphens. I've done it myself, when it wouldn't
make
> me feel compromised -- as indeed writing 'cooperate' (ouch!) does.
>
> joanna
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Peter Cudmore" <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Sunday, September 23, 2007 3:47 PM
> Subject: Re: rip hyphens
>
>
> > I've long been a minimal hyphenator. I still wince every time I type
> > 'cooperate', but I just grit my teeth and get on with it.
> >
> > Anyway, noting in passing that the New York Times' comment pages are
once
> > more free (no more premium content), I noticed this today:
> >
> > <http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/23/opinion/23margolick.html?ref=opinion>
> >
> > The Day Louis Armstrong Made Noise
> >
> > Mr. Lubenow stuck initially to his editor's script, asking Mr. Armstrong
> > to
> > name his favorite musician. (Bing Crosby, it turned out.) But soon he
> > brought up Little Rock, and he could not believe what he heard. "It's
> > getting almost so bad a colored man hasn't got any country," a furious
Mr.
> > Armstrong told him. President Eisenhower, he charged, was "two faced,"
and
> > had "no guts." For Governor Faubus, he used a double-barreled hyphenated
> > expletive, utterly unfit for print.
> >
> > I wondered, just for a moment whether it was the hyphen that made it
unfit
> > to print.
> >
> > P
> >
|