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Yes, that is the Humpty Dumpty argument.

However it is still merely necessary, and not sufficient. When you enumerate the entire set of letter combinations and hyphen positions and assign “lunatic ratings” to each variant, you’ll find many that aren’t so preposterous. Ergo, the chosen form is merely a nominal preference.



This is what my objection really is. At best, the non-preposterous combinations will mean the same thing as the original. Most combinations will carry a different meaning or none at all. There's no reason to treat it like a search space to test all of the possible arrangements, because there is no additional meaning to uncover that way.


This is a sufficient argument for no hyphen at all.




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