This Week's Inquirer: Antisemitism vs. anti-Semitism: Which is worse?
That little hyphen is far more consequential than it looks. A quick history lesson explains why.
Between Kanye West, Doug Mastriano, and Donald Trump, antisemitism is regrettably having a moment in the national conversation.
But those spelling it anti-Semitism, with a hyphen, might be making it worse.
The word anti-Semitic appears in Merriam-Webster and the Oxford English Dictionary just like that: hyphenated, with a capital S. But many news organizations — including The Inquirer, the Associated Press, the New York Times, and the Washington Post — spell it as one word: antisemitic. Microsoft Word allows both spellings.
That little hyphen is far more consequential than it looks. A quick history lesson explains why.
Read the full column on Inquirer.com.