Posted by Dylan Parry on 10/25/07 20:16

Safalra (Stephen Morley) wrote:

> it's also difficult for an algorithm to tell that there should be an
> en-dash in the phrase "the letters B-Z occur after A" but a hyphen in
> the phrase "the B-Z reaction demonstrates non-equilibrium
> thermodynamics".

Hmm, if the "B-Z" in the second example of some sort of compound noun,
then it would be correctly written with an en-dash as the hyphen should
only be used in compounds where the meaning of the words involved are
changed by one another.

For example, "Bose-Einstein" should use an en-dash, as opposed to
"American-football player" which should use a hyphen. The problem that
faces me is that I don't know what a B-Z reaction is, so I have no idea
whether I am correct in suggesting an en-dash be used ;)

--
Dylan Parry
http://electricfreedom.org | http://webpageworkshop.co.uk

The opinions stated above are not necessarily representative of
those of my cats. All opinions expressed are entirely your own.

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