Twenty-three white-tailed jack-rabbits.
Words (or phrases) that use hyphens, or these things: -
Ah, hyphens... Those are probably just about my favorite thing ever, so I was so mad when I discovered that word doesn't count them separately - but that's one on the joys of writing by hand, I guess! I can count words however I want! (It's not cheating.)
Oh, but I'm like six days behind on my word count because all my teachers decided to assign homework
now. Though I suppose getting unbearable urges to read doesn't help, either. It's even more annoying when I consider the fact that I actually
really like what I'm writing and I've been going to bed earlier because I've begun getting up at 4:30 in the morning. This week has been a mess but I will succeed!
Side note: a hyphen is different than a dash. A hyphen is used to combine two words that are part of the same idea. Sorta like "white tail" versus "white-tailed".
A dash separates a clause that provides extra information from the rest of the sentence. Like: People don't usually believe my brother - which is a good idea - because he acts a bit crazy. You can remove the "which is a good idea" and still understand the sentence just fine.