Here’s a twofer from The New York Times:
From Philip B. Corbett, “Hyphens: Too Many or Too Few,” a quick refresher course on the judicious use of our friend the hyphen:
I shy away from discussions of hyphens. It’s treacherous terrain, where the rules are murky but the opinions strongly held. The risks of error are high, the rewards for success relatively low.
Still, I’ve noticed a few cases recently where we’ve had too many or too few. We should push to get even the little things right.
From Clark Hoyt, “Consistent, Sensitive, and Weird,” a exploration of how The Times makes style guide changes:
At The Times, a lot of consideration goes into usage issues, and they are often more complicated than they seem at first blush. Why not just call Seals SEALs? Well, what about Yahoo, which wants an exclamation point after its name? What about a rock group with a name containing an obscenity?
Though some of its rules seem eccentric or charmingly old-fashioned, like calling people Mr., Ms. and Dr., The Times does change, if usually slowly.
