Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Note to copy editors everywhere

Anal-retentive takes a hyphen.

6 comments:

  1. Unless you follow Chicago and it appears in a subject complement, in which case it's unhyphenated, as in "Jonathon is overly anal retentive." Personally, I think it's a silly rule, but there you have it.

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  2. It's a permanently hyphenated compound, per Merriam-Webster's 11th...

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  3. John,
    What are other permanently hyphenated compounds?

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  4. Chris:
    Preparation-H
    Ex-Lax
    Fleet-Enema

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  5. And my personal favorite, "happy-go-lucky."

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  6. And only we anal-retentive types care.

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