Dear Hyphen

[albaqwerty]

I'm beginning to think your use in grammar is being under-valued.
I've just seen the word multi-tasking without you and it transported me to a world I never wanted to visit.
There's a variety of ways to pronounce that!

and there was me thinking how valuable a correctly placed comma or apostrophe could be, now it's the humble hyphen :-)

[Ellipsis]

The people that run this website certainly value the hyphen:

https://www.experts-exchange.com/

[gingejbee]

alba...I've been commenting on the non-use of hyphens (on here) for months.

[zebo]

According to Susie Dent, Countdown's keeper of the dictionary, many words which were once hyphenated are now not and in time the poor hyphen will become extinct.
We maybe need to set up a Society for the Protection of the Hyphen, similar to that set up by, I think, Keith Waterhouse to protect the apostrophe, Association for the Abolition of the Aberrant Apostrophe. I find the misuse of the apostrophe far more irritating than the lack of hyphens, sorry hyphens!

[douglas9401]

When talking hyphens one needs to know where to draw the line.

[jourdain2]

Ha-ha Douglas! The complex language code is under threat and it is the means by which exact ideas and nuances can be communicated. Youngest sprog is on the Fast-Teach course and has to write complex essays about contrasting theories of education (YAWN! BIG headache) so I've just had to give her a quick run-down on the uses of the semi-colon (very necessary in this context).
I wouldn't mind, but she has A-level English Lit. and Eng. Language! I shall be quizzing her about her depth of knowledge once she surfaces for air...…