Tuesday, September 12, 2006

Wasted Hyphens (UPDATED AGAIN)

I'd like to talk about an issue that concerns us all: the unnecessary use of hyphens in the world. Hyphens are not an unlimited resource. Once we use them all up, there will be no more and we will have to turn to other punctuation marks to replace them.

I'd like to ask you to do your part to save the hyphens. I'm hoping that with voluntary compliance, I won't have to legislate against excessive hyphen usage once I'm in office.

To help you out, here are several examples of words that don't need hyphenation:

And this is just a partial list. There are many, many more words that don't require the use of a hyphen. Hopefully this will get you started as you begin your own quest for the conservation of this very important and very limited natural resource.

Updated
  • misinformation
  • whereas
  • foresee
  • unattended
  • unquote
  • uncovered
  • untreated
  • unloading
  • unhealthy
  • unexpected
  • unmanned
  • unauthorizezd
  • iPod
  • subcontractor
  • in between
  • online
  • reopening
  • pigskin
  • leftovers
  • minivan
  • ongoing
  • website
  • granddaddy
  • update
  • keepsake
  • antisocial
  • midday
  • overall
  • pinpoint
  • rejoin
  • moonlighting
  • makeover
  • dugout
  • outcome
  • weekend


Updated Again
  • uncharted
  • backtrack
  • fanfare
  • dimwits
  • permitless
  • nonprofit
  • hotbed
  • heavyweight
  • lowdown
  • meanwhile
  • downtrodden
  • eyeglasses
  • prewarn (which is just about the dumbest word ever -- why not just warn someone?)
  • kickoff
  • unanswered
  • fundraiser
  • infomercial
  • PayPal
  • eBay
  • bypasses
  • fenceless
  • roughshod
  • unsupervised
  • unedited
  • backyard
  • withstood
  • previewing
  • unsanctioned
  • uncovered

2 comments:

Knightridge Overlook said...

I particularly like your references to PayPal and eBay, since there are probably some real-world consequences to thinking that P-a-yPal.com is the same as PayPal.com, since p-a-ypal.com is available for registration.

But what about hyperlinks? Are you just going to use all those up, you resource hog?

Archie T.S. Gait said...

Goodness gracious, Tom. You're right. Hyperlinks are a natural resource just like hyphens and I was very wasteful with my usage on this post. This is why I didn't link each word in subsequent updates, but rather assumed that readers might look the words up at their own leisure.

I appreciate your vigilance!