Q. My staff and I encountered a phrase and there’s a bit of debate as to how to hyphenate it: Wall Street darling-ready. Some believe an en dash should be inserted between Street and darling, followed by the hyphen between darling and ready. Others, however, feel the addition of the en dash would make the phrase even more difficult to interpret for readers. Thoughts?
A. I’m sorry, but the phrase looks like nonsense; I don’t think you can save it by tacking on hyphens or dashes. Please rewrite the sentence and—as they say—murder your darling.