Misrule Reigns

Come on, hyphen

            I see signs of chaos in the limerick, even. Look at this:

                        An elusive old fellow, Monroe,

                        Would never exactly say, "No,"

                                    Nor precisely, "Yes."

                                    At most, "More or less."

                        He did get his balls tattooed though.

            Nothing makes sense anymore, except the collapse of civilization (wouldn't you be considering it, at least, if you were civilization right now?) and the desolation of the planet. (Democrats are on it, legislatively, but Republicans say, "Naaaah.")

            No one can say, however, that nothing connects. Because never before in my lifetime, let alone yours, has there been such a flowering of readily-collected-in-the-media hyphenated names:

            Ebon Moss-Bachrach

            Ben Volpeliere-Pierrot

            Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf

            Maximo Bragado-Darman

            T-Pain (the T is for Tallahassee)

            Chloe-Louise somebody (Chloe-Louise is a pleasure to say)

            Victoria Tentler-Krylov

            Tsai Ing-wen

            Ray-Ray McCloud

            Jack Brinkley-Cook

            Joshua Guieb-Pangan

            Mykhailyna Skoryk-Shkarivska

            Pia Mileaf-Patel

            Zolan Kanno-Youngs

            Dan-el Padilla Peralta

            Rebecca Dowd Geoffroy-Schwinden

            Nia-Malika Henderson

            Daniela Peterkan-Benton

            Shola Mos-Shogbamimu

            Prince Alfonso von Hohenlohe-Langenburg

            Psycho Williams-Forson

            Barney Platts-Mills

            Moises Valesquez-Manoff

            Yahya Abdul-Mateen II

            Raphael Bob-Waksberg

            Chauncey Gardner-Johnson (!)

            Lillian Shawa-Siyuni

            Yuh-Line Niou

            Keegan-Michael Key

            Yousur Al-Hlou

            Yoon Suk-yeol

            Lolita Chandler-Crumpley

            Timothe Luwawu-Cabarot (did I cite him already?)

            Jon Kabat-Zinn

            Eric Feigl-Ding

            Tinu Abayomi-Paul

            Sir Anthony James Allan Havelock-Allan (ooh, savin’ it for the end)

            Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor

            Shai Gilgeous-Alexander

            Taffy Brodesser-Akner

            Juanpablo (why no hyphen there?) Ramirez-Franco

            Jaryd Emanuel Jones-Smith (wouldn't Smith-Jones flow better?)

            Laurent Duverney-Tardif

            Ha'Sean Treshon "Ha Ha" Clinton-Dix

            Ai-Jen Poo

            Does this matter? You bet. Consider the difference in rhythm between the heebie-jeebies and the jimjams.

            And who are these people? All sorts. For instance, Joshua Guieb-Pangan is an in-the-media-quoted neighbor of a couple in Hawaii who were arrested on suspicion of working for the KGB. If that couple had not taken pseudonyms from babies who died in, I believe, Nacogdoches, Texas, they could have hyphenated their real names and been the Primrose-Morrisons. Bet they wish they had, now. No fresh news today, by the way, on once-and-quite-possibly-future-President Trump's possibly-espionage-related goings-on.

                        An accused ax-murderer, Wes,

                        When asked was it true said "I guess,

                                    But don't spread it around.

                                    In these cases I've found --

                        He did get his balls tattooed, though.

                                                #