Hyphen tragedy

[TheDustyZebra]

For the record, I object.

AP Stylebook Changes Hyphen Guidance, Ushering In Total Chaos

Everything was going just fine on a sleepy Wednesday afternoon and then the AP Stylebook had to go and upset the apple cart with an Earth-shattering news bomb.

thebiglead.com

 

[HareBrain]

I'm not keen either, not that it affects me.

"Commonly recognized as one phrase" by whom?

 

[Ursa major]

For the record, I object.

So do I.

It's almost as if those changing the style guide don't realise that the function of grammar is to make the meaning of text as clear as possible. (Well, as clear as the writer requires** it to be.)

But I suppose that if one takes the name of the rules one expects to be applied -- style guide -- at face value, one has already taken the first step down the slippery slope to incomprehensibility: clarity is not the aim; adherence to the latest fashion is.


By the way, if we were to follow AP down this rabbit hole, it would make it harder to keep within the word limit of the challenges... so I'm confident that most of those taking part in the challenges will be against adopting this nonsense of a change....


** - Writers are allowed to deliberately obscure what they mean: deliberate ambiguity is a useful tool in the writer's toolbox.

 

[elvet]

I'm not keen either, not that it affects me.

"Commonly recognized as one phrase" by whom?

I’m not a writer, but anything that might make our flash fiction challenges more difficult is unwelcome news.

 

[KiraAnn]

I read that article, and I wouldn't pay much mind to it. It's for AP writer, which means reporters, and we all know they aren't a definitive source for good grammar. That's rather like asking a doctor for penmanship lessons

More specifically this appears to be aimed at sports reporters, who are even worse at practicing good writing. From the sounds of that article, this came about because they couldn't agree on whether to use "first-quarter-touchdown", or "first-quarter touchdown" or "first quarter-touchdown" or just without hyphens. These are the same guys that us such marvelous expressions as "x of y" indicating "x" successes in "y" attempts.

I would ignore them anyway.

 

[-K2-]

More specifically this appears to be aimed at sports reporters, who are even worse at practicing good writing.

Perhaps, but at least they're snappy dressers

K2

 

[J Riff]

That's Grapes - Don Cherry, for any non-hockey-aware people... and we've had a different suit from him every week for decades.

 

[Culhwch]

"first quarter-touchdown"

The first time a team gets a quarter of the ball into the endzone? That's gonna get confusing if they start giving out 1.5 points for that...

 

[Nozzle Velocity]

From the sounds of that article, this came about because they couldn't agree on whether to use "first-quarter-touchdown", or "first-quarter touchdown" or "first quarter-touchdown" or just without hyphens.

Luckily, the new hyphen doesn't change the old math. Winning athletes will still need to give "a hundred and ten percent".

 

[CTRandall]

The AP aren't the only ones with it in for the hyphen. Note this discussion about the hyphen "problem" in HTML.

As a bonus, I will send a box of cookies/biscuits to anyone who manages to read the whole article.

 

[Abernovo]

As a bonus, I will send a box of cookies/biscuits to anyone who manages to read the whole article.

I claim my box of biscuits. You owe me. That almost killed me, and I'm more confused now than at the beginning!

 

[sknox]

>More specifically this appears to be aimed at sports reporters, who are even worse at practicing good writing.
I object! Some of our best sports writers (not TV announcers; different critter) have written some of the best short work of the 20thc. I can't speak to 21stc as I've rather stopped paying attention.
Here's an example, often cited. https://www.bloodhorse.com/pdf/DeathofaRacehorse_Heinz.pdf

 

[KiraAnn]

@sknox, I would submit that the “best” sport writers like many “best” book authors rarely observe all of the rules of a style guide.

 

[sknox]

True enough. I would add, though, that for the student writer--and we are all of us students of the craft--knowing the best writers sometimes break the rules is less valuable than learning when they do observe the rules. Which is just another way of saying "study the masters."