Fighting for a Hyphen?

I am a National Public Radio geeklet. I used to be a full-fledged NPR geek, but I’ve recently been downgraded because I cannot edit and listen to the radio at the same time, so my total listening hours have dropped dramatically. There is one thing I make sure not to miss—The Writer’s Almanac with Garrison Keillor. I just can’t think of a better way to start each day than enjoying a perfect cup of coffee while listening to Mr. Keillor read a poem.

The Writer’s Almanac also teaches me something every day. For example, this week I learned that on January 21, 1952, William Shawn took over as editor of The New Yorker magazine. More relevant to the subject of this post (which I am slowly getting around to), I learned that Shawn and an author once argued over a hyphen until 2:30 a.m.

And the true subject of this post is: I would never do that.

If you’ve been paying attention, you know that I do care about hyphens. If you’ve been paying attention and you’re not an editor, you might think I care too much about hyphens. Rest assured, though, that I would never argue about a hyphen past 10:00 p.m. (when I fall into blissful, unhyphenated slumber).

Granted, I’m not enforcing the editorial standards of a high-profile magazine, but my philosophy is to let the author have his or her way in many of these matters. It is, after all, the author’s prerogative to be technically wrong sometimes, and a hyphen is just not worth losing sleep over. Similarly, the odd comma is not worth losing sleep over. Neither is “alright” (or “all right,” as the purists insist). In these cases, I’m perfectly content to state my case and then let the author be wrong but happy.

Don’t get me started on “lie” versus “lay” though. I’ll go to the mat on that one. I may even stay up until 10:30.