Reply To: Dash and hyphen

[Dan Gergen]

Hello Tung,

Thank you for sharing the print with us.  We have discussed this at length and believe that you and your proofreader are both correct.

Your interpretation that they should be hyphens based on context is warranted, and many of us would transcribe it that way.  A proofreader’s job is to note and correct any deviation from print.

We think we can all agree from the print that those are very obviously dashes.  Whether stylistic dashes, because hyphens would look weird, or just because that’s what the publisher wanted isn’t our decision to make. It is a deviation from print.

In cases like this, where both parties are correct, we think the end-user or commissioning agency should make the decision.  We encounter this often in braille, even with very seasoned transcribers and proofreaders; we can’t all agree, all the time.

While both parties are correct to the letter of the code, this is an interpretation issue, not a braille rules issue.

Thanks again, and good luck.

UEB Literary Committee