This Just In: Confidence in Hyphens Undermined

Another casualty of the internet age, the hyphen meets the same fate as the proper use of quotation marks. Also blame designers:

Another factor in the hyphen's demise is designers' distaste for its ungainly horizontal bulk between words.

"Printed writing is very much design-led these days in adverts and Web sites, and people feel that hyphens mess up the look of a nice bit of typography," he said. "The hyphen is seen as messy looking and old-fashioned."

Ah, "design-led," "old-fashioned." Methinks someone is subtly critiquing and undermining the thesis.