Quote:

(how*are*you iswm $1-)


As formatted, this will *not* work if $1- is:

04How are you

For that matter, just a:

How are you?

would fail in that situation. Notice where the *'s are.

Finally, let's say that it's:

How are you?

That would fail even if you did *how*are*you* iswm $1- . You should use $strip on $1- to prevent such problems.