robboe:
is "a strongly internationally-oriented company" acceptable? the hyphen ok?
3rd March 2004
New Member37
REPLY
rommie:
The hyphen is unnecessary, but I can't really argue that it's wrong. By putting the hyphen there you turn "internationally oriented" into a single concept, effectively, a single word. There is nothing to stop you doing this - you can do it to any phrase, for example "cat-and-dog", "time-of-day". I can say that it would be an unusual thing to do, however, unless you had some good reason for grouping these words together so tightly.
Of course, the real purpose of marketing-talk (note the hyphen there) is usually to obfuscate the true meaning of the words and confuse the public. In that sense your hyphen is entirely in context. Personally I would love to see the phrase "strongly internationally oriented company" replaced by a statement of what that actually means in plain English. The way I see it, anyone with a web site, a paypal account, and the ability to post things can justify calling themselves "strongly internationally oriented", with or without the hyphen.
Rommie