On Sat, Feb 21, 2009 at 10:19:33AM -0800, Gary Johnson wrote:
> On 2009-02-21, Chris Bannister <mockingb...@earthlight.co.nz> wrote:
> > On Mon, Feb 16, 2009 at 11:55:00AM -0500, Noah Sheppard wrote:
> > > On Mon, Feb 16, 2009 at 10:44:45AM -0600, Kyle Wheeler wrote:
> > > > [..]
> > > > Of course, now we're getting into pedantry, and kinda off track. :)
> > >
> > > We are computer geeks; pedantry is never off-track.
> > ^^^^^^^^^
> > No need for the hyphen; you are not splitting a word.
>
> Hyphens are not used only for splitting words; they are also used
> for joining words to form compounds, as when forming a single
> adjective as in "ten-foot pole" or "off-track pedantry". In the
But "tenfoot" is not a word. I don't see any ambiguity in "ten foot
pole", in fact "ten-foot pole" looks weird and possibly insulting to the
reader.
According to my dictionary:
hyphen. 1. n. Sign (-) used to join two words or divide a word into
parts (e.g. man-trap, re-echo).
2. v.t. Join, divide, with h.
but hyphenated is a U.S. term:
hyphenated (U.S.), hyphened. (hyphenated Americans. German-Americans,
Irish-Americans, &c).
[Gk = under one]
--
Chris.
======
I contend that we are both atheists. I just believe in one fewer god
than you do. When you understand why you dismiss all the other
possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours.
-- Stephen F Roberts
