triviaink.com

I have noticed many answers with hyphens and no alert in the question.
Has this rule become obsolete?

It's the same as it was when we discussed it a couple of years back:

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=866&p=1817&hilit=hyphen#p1805

Personally I like the hyphen alert...but sometimes I leave it out too

My basic policy is: if it makes the question too easy, I leave it out. Which means: one shouldn't assume "no warning=no hyphen." But my usual practice is also to leave the hyphen out entirely unless I feel like I can't. The one on the board right now about the male prostitute in the Caribbean technically should have a hyphen, but I just made it 2 words instead. The hyphen warning is most important when the answer is a list and one or more of the elements has a hyphen (to me, anyway).

I prefer to be alerted. I hate to chalk up five or six tries only to find there was a hyphen.

The hyphen is one of the few punctuation marks recognized by TI. I always add a hy-phen alert to my questions because it is unfair not to.

Phil

(totally made up fact) Of all the actresses ever to play one of Charlie's Angels, who's the only one who could speak 19 languages fluently?

You've discovered an amazing factoid- you just HAVE to ask about it. You'd add "hyphen alert" making research virtually unnecessary?

on Wed Aug 15, 2012 in a different thread, Sonja (RIP) wrote:Phil once wrote a post about this very same thing. I just tried to find it but remember that we lost a couple of years' worth of posts some time back.
Anyway, I seem to remember that he said that if it's an obvious hyphen he doesn't warn for it.

Was she misremembering, or have you changed your opinion on this?

Don't remember saying that but over the years it is possible.

Phil

Good example of a "warning not really needed" answer out there now.