Let ME Try

Okay, it's hyphens again. It's always hyphens sooner or later.

I had to laminate a store poster for some sort of kids' craft club thing, and the text read as follows:

It's a FREE in-store, hands-on, hey let-me-try it kind of activity day!

So close! They got the first two hyphenated phrases correct, and then they completely dropped the ball. And the rule is incredibly simple, too: when you're hyphenating a multi-word phrase into an adjective, no matter how many words there are, you have to link all of the words together with hyphens. It's like a string of beads, and if you miss one connection, the whole thing falls apart.

And now there's a handout (it's called a "bag-stuffer", because cashiers are supposed to tuck one into each shopping bag), and that reads:

It's a FREE in-store, hands-on, hey-let-me try it kind of activity day!

So the phrase has been hyphenated in a different way, and they still got it wrong!

Makes you fear for the future of humanity.