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Subject:hyphenating and hypothecating From:Al Rubottom <aer -at- PCSI -dot- CIRRUS -dot- COM> Date:Wed, 15 Nov 1995 16:00:00 PST
I've always relied on the rule [of thumb?] that any two-noun
noun phrase that gets used as an adjective [and most
*especially* when it's followed by some unavoidable
compound noun stackage!] should be hyphenated when
used as a modifier, e.g.: traveling at high speed,
but: traveling on a high-speed train
[AKA un TGV en francais, train a` grande vitesse!].
Many of the commoner examples are in the dictionary,
but many less comon are not; hence, one must inflict
the rule or logic according to one's convicitons.
[There are also exceptional lexical items that have
become "standard usage" but don't conform to the rule.
C'est la vie.]
This doesn't always work, but almost always.
Some people [like engineers & other such highly
techno-oriented non-writers] often insist that such a
perfectly pellucid paradigm is not applicable to *their*
particular coinages, and of course sometimes one just
has to back down and give up on clarity... when clout is
wielded by someone with the swat to swing it.
Al Rubottom /\ tel: 619.535.9505, x1737
aer -at- pcsi -dot- cirrus -dot- com /\ fax: 619.541.2260
