I don’t know why this is a Red Meat Friday item but, apparently, it is. Back in 2024, the AP Stylebook changed its specification for the formatting of telephone numbers. From now on the telephone number that used to be written as (123) 456-7890 should be written as 123-456-7890. There’s also a format for international numbers and for dealing with extensions that you can read about at the above link.
What’s not to like? I use this format all the time—although sometimes I use periods instead of dashes—and why not. It’s easier to type and there’s no ambiguity as to which, if any, part is the area code. I view it as dragging an outmoded and silly notation into the modern world. Not everyone agrees.
You would think, in fact, that it was version 2 of Swift’s, A Modest Proposal. Take a look at the comments to the announcement. Almost every comment was virulently against the change.“You can steal my ( ) from my cold, dead hands!” is typical.
I don’t understand the opposition. It appears to be based mainly on resistance to change. There’s certainly no rational reason for preferring the old format. It’s not clearer, it introduces superfluous punctuation, and, as I said, it’s harder to type.
Matthewdickens_ makes the point that using the parenthesis distinguishes a phone number from an IP address or a social security number. That’s true, I guess, but I don’t find it a cogent argument for staying with the old format.
Regardless, I’m sticking with 123-456-7890. Anyone who can’t figure that out is probably not worth worrying about.