Pigeon-hole
I've only been away from London for a week and mine is full - mostly nonsense, of course. Managed to get through the Lib Dem conference on a diet of fish and chips, Picnic bars , coffee and red wine , and now armed with invitations and info am preparing to head off to Bournemouth for Labour's gathering. I'm also armed with a conference cold. Par for the course.
Pigeon-hole, incidentally, to be absolutely correct ,should now be spelt pigeon hole. According to the Telegraph the hyphen has fallen by the wayside, as it has in a number of other words like fig leaf, and leapfrog. The reason, apparently, is because we no longer have time to reach over to the hyphen key in our busy text and email- dominated 21st century lives. We're hoping to discuss the death of the hyphen on the prog tonight. Do you care? Does it get you up-in-arms (or up in arms)?
Off air, we will be discussing further the colour of Peter Rippon's jumper - he's wearing an olive green continental number today - very Jose Morinho.
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The death of the hyphen is surely premature - how would you do all those emoticons (vide previous blog entries)?
Personally speaking, I've taken to putting them in where they should be, such as writing eighty-seven (when writing a cheque, for example). But then most people will attest that I'm contrary and old-fashioned. (polite term for boring old f*rt)
Perhaps the problem with the hyphen is ignorance rather than an lack of dexterity with the little finger. If you are not sure about when and how to use that short horizontal bar, just leave it out from everything and explain that its the new minimalist style. Like the apostophe really, where recent tabloid headlines referred to "Rhys parents …"
Its use in pigeonhole or email is unlamented. But the hypen has not died, merely shifted usage - as demonstrated in your first sentence, Sequin, it has made a comeback in use as a sort of pause in place of the semicolon (or is it semi-colon?).
Also there are times when hyphens are absolutely required to avoid ambiguity - say you write "thirty five year old children". Is that thirty five-year-old children? Or thirty-five-year-old children?
Wikipedia uses the examples "more beautiful scenery" vs "more-beautiful scenery" and "man-eating shark" vs. "man eating shark".
Hmmm. When my "mother-in-law" is my "mother-in-law" I don't have any problems, as it just defines a relaionship.
But if she is to become my mother in law, then I think I should be allowed to reconsider the whole thing!
Back when I was alive and a working journo, our style sheet dictated that hyphens were only to be used in adjectives. So we had two-year olds but two-year-old cows, for example. Hyphens were also banned in such words as co-operative, though I always thought the cooperative alternative rather odd. However, I was well drilled and the old style sheet still governs my grammar and writing to the point that I find myself suppressing furious irritation when someone does it 'wrong'.
I do hope your reports of the death of the hyphen are premature. Is it not misuse of the hyphen which has given us the fine tooth-comb?
A quick straw poll (I asked twenty-odd people) supports my feeling that the hyphen still has life in it. One of them pointed out that the conflict in Darfur is a third-world war.
Sid
The hyphen (-) is the small bar found on every keyboard.......woa, shirley some mishtake.....make mine a small G&T then :)
see how i managed to link hypen with emotican....brill, there is no disputing it
Or even thirty-five year-old children Dragon (3).
See you in Bournemouth Sequin!! :-)
btw, can't get at the "wine" page, either from "comments" or "next" button here -- just get 404d. :-(
Deepthought (1):
I say, I say, I say, my smiley has no nose.
Your smiley has no nose?
My smiley has no nose.
How does it smell?
It doesn't smell in either sense of the word because it is just an electronic representation of characters signifying emotion and has neither sense organs nor chemical evaporation leading to scent.
Eyethangyou.
;o)
Sid (6)
re straw poll, are u sure, hee hee, it wasn't twenty odd people..
DIY :)
I'm getting error 404, too, for the Wine thread.
And I happen to think that Peter Rippon's jumper is olive-green!
iDIYman - I was trying to illustrate just how useful the hyphen was. You have grasped my point effortlessly.
Sid
Cat (10) Tee hee.
Sid-(13)
no-problemo-matey
SSC - (oh look,a hyphen!) tee hee hee and a fab strapline too.
Aperitif (14):
You're very kind.
Especially as I ended the "joke" with the word "scent", when I was really groping towards olfactory stimulation.
...and that's a phrase I have never typed before and probably never will again.
Re. Newsletter:-
Why is a house of wool a fire hazard? I always thought wool was a slow-burning product with a di-stink-tive smell when burning.
Mmmm, did somebody mention Jose Mourinho? That moody, broody, gorgeous man? Sequin, what are you thinking!
Hooray for hyphens.
As has been pointed out, they help to eliminate ambiguity.
About the only place they don't work any more is in email addresses.
But that was in the old days before we knew we could have ouremailaddressesasalloneword.
Sorry Appy, didn't mean to keep your girly giggle! Whizzed by your post (14)
Big Sis (19)
Re: death of the hyphen.
Has anyone interviewed Lynne Truss yet? Her tome may have concentrated on the demise of the apostrophe, but she also covered other punctuation marks, including the hyphen.
And it's not just emoticonophiliacs that need to use hyphens - however would computer programmers signify a subtraction without it? It's also pretty useful stuff for ascii artists - here, have a rose: ---`---,---@
Witchi (21), I don't get what you're sorry about, so no worries! :-)
GM(22): Mmmm, dropdead gorgeous. I tried yesterday to find a picture that summed him up, but his face is so mobile that it's difficult to summarise what makes him so handsome (apart from classic good looks of course!). It wa nice to see him being interviewed yesterday and to see the more relaxed, friendly side. Just as gorgeous, imho.
Not that I'm a 'fan' - or am I?
Big Sis (25) yes there's also loads of photos of him pulling silly faces isn't there? I think the mean & moody look suits him best though!
"There's lots isn't there"???
xx
edant
"There's lots isn't there"???
xx
edant
"There's lots isn't there"???
xx
edant
"There's lots isn't there"???
xx
edant
"There's lots isn't there"???
xx
edant
Ed: Did you insert three carbon papers, or were you tryng to emphasise your pedantry? ;o)
Big Sis @32, Ed has a nasty attack of irritable vowel syndrome today, or else he's inconsonant, and one or the other is making him repeat
repeat
repeat
repeat
repeat
Me, I am inclined to blame it on the frog, because he's not the only one (see the Beach, among other places).
Sis,
;)
I got sick of room 502, but couldn't stop banging on the door. My apologies to anyone who's sensibilities I may have offended.
Salaam/Shanthi/Shalom
Namaste
ed