If you want an example of the cultural impact of technologies on language, look no further than the latest edition of the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary. Seems that hyphen usage has succumbed to the dual pressures of design-sensitive (oops) publication and shorthand keying styles of many interaction devices. While people have often been unsure of the correct use of hyphens, user confidence is not the determining factor it seems for the editors. Rather, hyphens ‘mess up the look of a nice bit of typography’, says Angus Stevenson. And who can possibly waste thumb pushes on creating a ‘-‘? That said, new words have been added, including the hyphenated ‘carbon-neutral’, part of an increased use of environmental terms. Meaning is just use, eh?
V.M Daniel Regents Professor of Information