This is Alpha, the first-born, when he was 2YO.
This is Beta, the second-born, when he was about 2YO.
This is Gamma, the third-born, when he was about 18MO.
Gotta Keep ‘Em Hyphenated
May
8
2012
I am disappointed with the editors at the marketing department of Colgate. Here is their current toothpaste. What is wrong with it?
My wife bought the toothpaste, and the wording on the tube itself is the same as the wording on the box. I am saddened by the lack of knowledge of English. I assume that they hire people who are writers. And I assume that there are people who review and approve what the writers wrote.
“Cleans tough to reach spaces” is ambiguous. The English language gives you tools to make wording clear – use them.
In this case, the correct thing to do is add hyphens.
Let’s look at the phrase as it is: “Cleans Tough to Reach Spaces”
When I read it, I see “Cleans Tough (in order) to Reach Spaces”. In other words, it’s a tough cleaner and it can reach spaces. Cleans is the verb, Tough is the adverb (shouldn’t it be Toughly, then?), and to Reach Spaces is the, umm, rest of the sentence.
I realize that Colgate probably wanted me to read it as “Cleans Spaces (that are) Tough to Reach”. They should have used hyphens to make themselves understood. “Tough to Reach” is a phrase that wants to be one adjective. You make multiple words into one adjective by combining them with hyphens! Yea!
Conclusion: Colgate with whitening MaxClean SmartFoam “Cleans Tough-to-Reach Spaces”
The men who had been in ambush made a sudden dash into Gibeah, spread out and put the whole city to the sword.
Judges 20:37
This little article thingy was written by Some Guy sometime around 6:45 pm and has been carefully placed in the Marketing category.
May 8th, 2012 at 8:09 pm
I’ll never read it the same again.
May 8th, 2012 at 9:57 pm
I just want to tell you that I LOVE your blog. Always makes my day. Especially your choice of Bible verses.
May 9th, 2012 at 7:57 am
Ricky: then I have done my job.
May 9th, 2012 at 8:01 am
Jake: thanks for the kind words. Nice to meet you!
The initial version of this post had a section about the difference between hyphens and dashes. I chose the verse because the Bible uses the word “dash” but not “hyphen”. But then I edited the part about dashes out of the post, so the verse might not make as much sense as it used to make.