When an author signs a publication contract, insofar as it contains strict and traditional copyright notices, he is pretty much signing his life away. It used to be that the publisher would maintain control only so long as the book is in print. Today, with digital printing, this means forever: your lifetime plus 70 years.During this time, you can’t even quote significant portions of your own writing without permission from the publisher, and you could find yourself paying the publisher for the rights. You can’t read your own book aloud and sell the results. You certainly can’t give a journal a chapter.…What if the publisher isn’t marketing your book? You can yell and scream but they don’t have to answer. In fact, most publishers have a system for dealings with authors. It’s called voice mail. Emails go unanswered.You are done for. You sold your soul and you can’t get it back. Not within your lifetime. Your creation, which copyright is designed to protect, is now the possession of someone else.… (“Authors: Beware of Copyright,” by Jeffrey Tucker, Mises Economics Blog)

A hyphen that is improperly placed is what stirs me; for example, placing a hyphen in the words thank you. There should be no hyphen here unless it is a modifier: thank-you note, thank-you letter etc.

Why does my child’s Grade 2 teacher teach my child to write thus: “Thank-you (sic) for the gift.” Is the teacher telling us she is illiterate and unable to parse the words in a simple sentence? Should she be teaching?