Hyphen Or No Hyphen

CASE

William Shawn, editor of The New Yorker, was going over a long article with the author Philip Hamburger at 10 pm one evening. The piece ended with the phrase, “stone cold.” Shawn said, “Stone cold requires a hyphen.” Philip Hamburger said, “Put a hyphen there and you spoil the ending. That hyphen would be ruinous.” William Shawn said “Perhaps you had better sit outside my office and cool off. I’ll go on with my other work.”

From time to time he would stick his head out and say, “Have you changed your mind?” Philip Hamburger replied, “No hyphen, absolutely no hyphen.”

Some time around 2:30 in the morning Shawn said wearily, “All right, no hyphen. But you are wrong.”

COMMENTARY

William Shawn was editor of the New Yorker for over 40 years, during which time it was perhaps the leading magazine in the country. Each article, each punctuation mark was important to him, yet he also gave his staff a lot of encouragement and latitude. Philip Hamburger was a long time writer for the magazine, who also cared deeply about his work. Care, attention and endurance are important elements in true transformation. Both men respected each other greatly. There is a secret here. Do you recognize it?

VERSE by Dairyu

To hyphen or not to hyphen
May be the question
Stay close to your heart
And the hearts of others