THREADWORM and other members of crack grammar squad, please help

[policywonk]

I've had some guidance from a client that they want me to hyphenate adjectival compounds (working-class residents) but not adverbial compounds (newly built housing).

But I keep coming up against things like goat-trading (a goat-trading business) and capacity-building that seem to me to need to be hyphenated.

Am I right (in the deeply ambiguous sense of 'right' that applies to grammar conundrums), and if so, why?

Chicago Manual of Style just says 'use hyphens when their omission would generate unclarity'. Isn't that nice and sensible?

Trouble is, we are afraid of inconsistency, so we need rules, and the specification of the rule seems to involve us in all sorts of unnecessary and elaborate grammatical ontologies.

x-post. Mine was £380, plus delivery etc. Is a fairly basic one.

I like the Chicago Manual of Style's style, but I think we have established that, rather like a child with a family-sized bag of Mars Planets, I am not to be trusted with hyphen distribution.

I bought online from Boots Kitchen Appliances and got £15 of Advantage Card points to fritter away on me-purchases.

• • 'transit-oriented development' * *

Oh dear. I almost feel compelled to start a new thread lambasting 'mumbo-jumbo speak' that often goes into reports.

Must resist. Must resist.

International development is an absolute quagmire of jargon, particularly when employed by people for whom English is not a first language. I barely turn a hair at 'gender-adjusted means-based capacity building' these days.

Somebody reminded me the other day of the time when Hazel Blears stood up in Parliament and said 'we are rolling out fruit in schools across the country'.

I have a colleague who uses the words 'tasked' and 'scoping' in every single meeting. We don't even bother with the meeting bingo cards when we know he's going to be there. We just die a slow death instead.

Well as I'm sure you'll have noticed Vulp, I used 'firewalling' as a verb on a thread today. I feel I am really pushing the envelope on this one.

No Jackie, you're the proud owner of that one

(but also a bit ). I do love a good grammar thread.

LOL.

'Meeting Bingo Cards':
www.bullshitbingo.net/cards/bullshit/
www.companyculture.com/topics/BullshitBingo.htm

lol at 'rolling out fruit'.

Not really jargon, but did anyone notice Evan Davis on Today the other day, speaking to an 83-year-old transplant patient:

"If this were twenty or thirty years ago, you wouldn't be alive today."

at thready, still my fave MNer

ooh, thank you stinkyfart. How lovely.

at Lenin's packets.

Lenin, as well as a washing machine I have to by a budget birthday laptop for teen son. Chiefly for internet, managing iPod Touch downloads etc. Need to get WiFI (what's that?).Can I fall at your feet and beg some advice? For WiFi what do you need? Just a piece of hardware? Will I still need my existing tiscali service or will WiFi magic in to my house without that? Help!

Thanks Lenin. £300 was about my marker.

I like Dell too. I have Dell desktop. Lots of people seem to be anti-dell though. I don't really know what a Wireless Access Point is. I do know that WiFi is available in our area -- and I assume that I just have to buy a router or something? Or is that built in to laptop?.

No independent store nearby I think. I know I can go into Comet and talk to spotty youth, but it is so helpful to have a friendly word with a knowledgeable soul first. I hate all this stuff. Am Family IT Supprt Professional witout having the first notion about anything.

Thanks v much Lenin.

Don't Dell do a netbook now, for £300-ish?