Odd hyphenations

[Wilson Gray]

When I was in the second grade, Sr. Claire Marie metaphorically kicked my
ass for hyphenating "often" as "of-ten." She just blew up. But, f the word
is pronounced "off'n," then its proper hyphenation will be less than
straightforward to the six-year-old mind. I *still* don't understand why.

Of course, these days, one is surprised by hyphenation not because it is
done well, but because it is done at all.


On Tue, Jun 17, 2014 at 4:05 PM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
> Subject:      Odd hyphenations
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Hyphenations seen today in the Boston Globe Sports section:
>
> de-ked -- to take off one canvas shoe?  (In reality, how Clint
> Dempsey maneuvered to score his goal for the U.S. in the World Cup.)
>
> chan-geup -- a cowboy urging on his Chinese horse?  (In reality -- or
> vain hope? -- something Red Sox pitcher Rubby De La Rosa is
> rightfully proud of.)
>
> No wonder non-native speakers can't learn how to pronounce English.
>
> Joel
>
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--
-Wilson
-----
All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"---a strange complaint to
come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
-Mark Twain

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