diff --git a/hyphenate/scribblings/hyphenate.scrbl b/hyphenate/scribblings/hyphenate.scrbl
index ec78d4a4..cf80a433 100644
--- a/hyphenate/scribblings/hyphenate.scrbl
+++ b/hyphenate/scribblings/hyphenate.scrbl
@@ -115,6 +115,8 @@ Sometimes you need @racket[hyphenatef] to prevent unintended consequences. For i
 (hyphenatef "Hufflepuff golfing final on Tuesday" no-ligs? #\-) 
 ]
  
+@margin-note{``Wouldn't it be better to exclude certain pairs of letters rather than whole words?'' Yes. But for now, not supported.}
+
 It's possible to do fancier kinds of hyphenation restrictions that take account of context, like not hyphenating the last word of a paragraph. But @racket[hyphenatef] only operates on words. So you'll have to write some fancier code. Separate out the words eligible for hyphenation, and then send them through good old @racket[hyphenate].
 
 @defproc[
diff --git a/hyphenate/xexpr.rkt b/hyphenate/xexpr.rkt
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..a90e5efc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/hyphenate/xexpr.rkt
@@ -0,0 +1,39 @@
+#lang racket/base
+(require "main.rkt")
+(require xml)
+
+
+
+#|
+The following grammar describes expressions that create X-expressions:
+
+  xexpr	 	=	 	string
+ 	 	|	 	(list symbol (list (list symbol string) ...) xexpr ...)
+ 	 	|	 	(cons symbol (list xexpr ...))
+ 	 	|	 	symbol
+ 	 	|	 	valid-char?
+ 	 	|	 	cdata
+ 	 	|	 	misc
+
+|#
+
+
+;; recursively hyphenate strings within xexpr
+;; todo: add exclusion #:only [only-proc (λ(x) x)]
+(define (hyphenate-xexpr x ) 
+  (define exclusions '(style script)) ; omit these from ever being hyphenated
+  
+  (cond
+    ; todo: the only-proc semantics are illogical.
+    ; main issue: keep it out of tags like <style> that parse as textual elements, but are not.
+    ; So two choices, opt-out or opt-in.
+    ; Problem with opt-out: is set of outlier tags like <style> well-defined?
+    ; Won't it make hyphenation naturally overinclusive?
+    ; Problem with opt-in: conceals a lot of tags that naturally live inside other tags
+    ; only reaches text at the "root level" of the tag.
+    [(tagged-xexpr? x) (if (and (only-proc x) (not ((car x) . in? . exclusions)))
+                           (map-xexpr-elements hyphenate x)
+                           (map-xexpr-elements (λ(x) (if (tagged-xexpr? x) (hyphenate x) x)) x))] ; only process subxexprs
+    
+    [(string? x) (hyphenate-string x)]
+    [else x]))