On Tue, May 14, 2024 at 09:19:08AM -0600, Doug McKenna wrote:
> So what is Webster's rationale for the difference? It seems plainly
> incorrect.
Damned if I know :-) I find the hyphenation dic-tio-nary defensible,
even if it may be felt to be inconsistent with other words. Perhaps you
can ask your editor acquaintance to explain why “it would not be
right” to hyphenate that way, because that’s rather a strong statement.
Considering the many idiosyncrasies of English hyphenation, and the
different schools, there are very few things that would actually be
incorrect, in my opinion.
I noted two further cases that surprised me: ple-nary and ra-tio-nal,
according to Webster’s and hyph-en-us.tex (which contains a pattern
ration4, preventing the break ration-al).
Best,
Arthur
