too much typing—since 2003

7.27.2006

MARS NEEDS PUNCTUATION

Or maybe just more education? I was at the post office the other day, and I noticed a brochure with the following printed on it:

USPS
Anti-Money
Laundering
Program


So, the USPS has a laundering program that is anti-money? Is that like, you mail your clothes to a laundromat and then use a credit card to pay?

No, what they mean is "Anti- Money-Laundering Program," right? That looks awkward, with the trailing hyphen. (If this were German, of course, "Money-Laundering" would be just one word.) I think this is correct (correct me) - but what we need is some sort of punctuation that hyphenates a prefix or adjectival modifier to a phrase. We don't use this ~ very often - why not? "Anti~Money-Laundering Program"? Eh...

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

That's very true. Anyway, that's nothing compared to the errant apostrophes littered around over here in the UK. It rouses me to thoughts of violence on occasion.