When you have "grammar matters" in big fucking letters at the top of a blog you really need to proof read.
> So, chuckling to myself, I sent back a response pointing out that the use of a hyphen to join two words together was perfectly valid in the English language and included a handy link to the Oxford English Dictionaries definition page which described it’s usage.
POSSESSIVE ITS HAS NO APOSTROPHE.
Normally I really don't care -- apostrophe use is confusing; my grammar is lousy; I tend to be descriptivist not prescriptivist, etc.
The writer doesn't mention if these hyphens are all joining two words, or of some of them are used to split a single word across a linebreak. The arguments are different for each. For the former you point to the satisfied reviews and a bunch of style guides about use of hyphens. For the latter you mention the piss-poor typography on Kindle, and the lack of any control for authors or readers. (The setting to left-justify with ragged right margin is a hidden setting that requires a tweak to access).
The grammar mistake in the author's sentence does not matter as much as the "grammar matters" example. And there's a difference between errors and ignorance. If you type fast it's easy to not fully think through all grammar rules before the words are already typed and done. I think the author is worried that blind automation could be harming the beauty of the written word. It would be like iTunes complaining that Blues artists are using too many off-key flat notes (and they say, no, those are blue notes!). Clearly from the article, hyphens are part of this author's colorful use of language.
Apostrophe use is not confusing. Its (and yours and ours) use is pretty straightforward (if you say 'it is use' to yourself, that is) unlike many computer languages with which many folk who read HN are extremely proficient since they make their living that way.
I really, really don’t get your point. I’m utterly confused by it. This is an incidental non-issue that couldn’t be any less relevant if it wanted to. There is no possible world in which this could ever be of the tiniest relevance.
Weird that you call me Mr Know it all when i have already said that my grammar is terrible.
You're missing the point - when a person is complaining about other people's misuse of grammar, and does so on a webpage that has "grammar matters" in big letters at the top, they really need to make sure that their grammar is not blatantly incorrect. Obvious errors discredit the point they're trying to make.
You're missing the point. The author is really talking about Amazon suppressing creativity in the written word. If you're going to take issue with the title, you should probably go with the "should be a title more in line with this theme". Clearly the title is hanging people up.
No, he is not talking about suppressing creativity at all. If he was, he wouldn't argue that his usage of hyphens was defensible as "correct" per the OED.
If it was a creative issue, he'd simply say "it is a stylistic choice, what else do you need from me to re-activate this ebook for sale?"
> So, chuckling to myself, I sent back a response pointing out that the use of a hyphen to join two words together was perfectly valid in the English language and included a handy link to the Oxford English Dictionaries definition page which described it’s usage.
POSSESSIVE ITS HAS NO APOSTROPHE.
Normally I really don't care -- apostrophe use is confusing; my grammar is lousy; I tend to be descriptivist not prescriptivist, etc.
The writer doesn't mention if these hyphens are all joining two words, or of some of them are used to split a single word across a linebreak. The arguments are different for each. For the former you point to the satisfied reviews and a bunch of style guides about use of hyphens. For the latter you mention the piss-poor typography on Kindle, and the lack of any control for authors or readers. (The setting to left-justify with ragged right margin is a hidden setting that requires a tweak to access).