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Seriously...I learned the hard way from some "Hyphen Wars" of my own. All I
could do is explain the need for the hyphens: point out that I was using
them consistently through my copy, in accordance (documented, or course)
with established writing standards, and most importantly, for clarity's
sake. And I was told, "Take 'them out," even though doing so made the copy
more difficult to parse.
You may want to document your disagreement: If it's a problem down the
road, you'll want to be able to demonstrate your good-faith effort to
prevent the client from screwing up perfectly good punctuation. Photocopy a
few of these comma-killing edits for posterity's sake. Even consider
writing a memo to the client that you've identified this as an issue. If he
sees you've taken the time to identify it in a CYA memo, maybe he'll
reconsider. In any case, even if the client's not always right, the
client's always the client. And I guess my sig is particularly apropos here.
<sigh>
Bill McClain
("Writers are always selling somebody out." - Joan Didion)
-----Original Message-----
From: Michele Davis [mailto:michele -at- krautgrrl -dot- com]
Sent: Thursday, November 16, 2000 12:30 PM
To: TECHWR-L
Cc: TECHWR-L
Subject: dialog box
The owner of the company has written several Osborne books, and he also
took out all my comma's, even serial ones! How do you "educate" your
misbehavin'
clients to do it your way?
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