While I'm not a big fan of AP style generally, I've long since abandoned the hyphen in email and am glad that someone's finally agreeing with me.
Jamming cell phone, however, into a single word (cellphone) looks awkward. Phooey to that!
But then, AP style is all about setting type (how's that for an anachronistic reason?) and has next to nothing to do with book and magazine publishers. A few of the latter will specify AP style, but the rest tend to go with Chicago Manual of Style, or its ilk.
Not much logic to language ... that's why it's so fascinating and fun!
Thanks, Rick, for bringing this to our attention.
DC
On Mar 30, 2011, at 12:20 AM, Richard Adkins wrote:
Among their pronouncements: e-mail would lose its hyphen, and cell phone would lose its space.
http://bit.ly/gp3OA5