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You could try asking a disinterested third-party in your company to look at the sentence.
Write it as originally presented. Then write it your way. Have them look at both.
If they don't know or don't care about the hyphen, then probably no one else will, either.
Craig
-----Original Message-----
From: techwr-l-bounces+ccardimon=m-s-g -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com [mailto:techwr-l-bounces+ccardimon=m-s-g -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com] On Behalf Of Ken Poshedly
Sent: Tuesday, February 21, 2017 1:32 PM
To: Lin Sims <ljsims -dot- ml -at- gmail -dot- com>
Cc: TECHWR-L Writing <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com>
Subject: Re: punctuation et al. rules
Yep, I've nicely reminded him of that, but no luck -- at least not yet. Hopefully, I'll have time today to assemble an e-mail showing proper usage and the source links provided to me here by you guys.
-- Ken
On Tuesday, February 21, 2017 12:59 PM, Lin Sims <ljsims -dot- ml -at- gmail -dot- com> wrote:
Could you try, "You're the expert in your field. I'm the expert in mine. Trust me when I say it works this way, even if you've never seen it."
Would showing him examples of where it's in use help convince him?
On Tue, Feb 21, 2017 at 12:35 PM, Ken Poshedly <poshedly -at- bellsouth -dot- net> wrote:
The problem is that he simply says he has never seen my way of punctuating in other industrial manuals. Thus, that's it.
Remember when your mom said you can't have candy before dinner? And when you asked why not, she said, "Because I said so."
In my case, the two situations are similar.
-- Ken in Atlanta
  On Tuesday, February 21, 2017 12:21 PM, Tony Chung <tonyc -at- tonychung -dot- ca> wrote:
ÂI know there's a dastardly plot afoot to remove hyphens from all written communication. I was a part of this conspiracy until I learned that hyphens work when they work!
-Tony
On Tue, Feb 21, 2017 at 3:33 AM, Ant Davey <ant -at- ant-davey -dot- com> wrote:
 The way to win the argument is to ask your boss 'What if there were two
 of these connectors?'
 What would he do with 7 pin connectors? And if it works for two, why
 not one?
On Tue, Feb 21, 2017 at 6:11 AM, Annette Reilly <annetterieee -at- gmail -dot- com>
wrote:
>
>
> It can be a problem when a hasty reader looks for seven (7) of those
> pin modifiers. The hyphen helps.
>
>
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--
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