Yes, “anal-retentive” is hyphenated. But the folks in my state — Missouri — apparently don’t care.

State officials recently left out the hyphen for the Show-Me State’s new license plates. But, they say, they won’t correct the new “Show Me State” plates because … wait for it … Missourians approved the error via an online poll.

“If the people want it that way,” a state spokesman said, “that’s what we’re going to deliver for the people.”

(Yes, I’m sure “the people” are clamoring for ungrammatical license plates.)

Hey, I’m all for tossing aside the grammar book to make copy more conversational and accessible. I never met an infinitive I didn’t want to split. And I love starting sentences with prepositions.

But leaving the hyphen out of a compound modifier actually changes its meaning.

There’s a huge difference, for instance, between a:

Man eating shark

And a:

Man-eating shark

I’d be delighted to dine with the former — but scared out of my Sorels to join the latter for a meal.

Even in Missouri.

Learn more ways to polish your grammar and punctuation.

Update: We loved this response from Dan Crouch of CAMICO Mutual Insurance Company to our original posting of this article:

“‘Show Me State’ sounds like a Russian visitor asking for a tour of all of Missouri!”

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Source: “Only in America,” The Week May 2, 2008

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