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Post by vrabinec on Apr 11, 2014 11:59:11 GMT -5
I thought it was one word, but I guess it's not. I don't want the "bag' in the middle. I consider it one word, the way I'm using it like bagful. Hyphenating works, right?
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Post by Pru Freda on Apr 11, 2014 12:01:30 GMT -5
Duffelfull or duffel-full. Yeah, definitely hyphenate it, Fred. Otherwise it looks like a town in the Netherlands.  |
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Post by Becca Mills on Apr 12, 2014 3:46:38 GMT -5
What does Chicago have to say? Anyone?
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Post by vrabinec on Apr 12, 2014 7:45:59 GMT -5
Mine's burried somewhere in the boxes of books in the basement. We need to get some bookcases. We have four, but movies hijacked them. So now, anytime I want one of my books, I have to go down and dig. It took me two hours to find my Little Brown Handbook.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 12, 2014 13:12:10 GMT -5
Mine's burried somewhere in the boxes of books in the basement. We need to get some bookcases. We have four, but movies hijacked them. So now, anytime I want one of my books, I have to go down and dig. It took me two hours to find my Little Brown Handbook. Having spent hundreds (if not thousands) of hours in 100 year old letters and archives for my MT volumes, I recognize the evolution of language with respect to hyphenation has been a long trip. Tomorrow and today used to be hyphenated (to-morrow, to-day). Before that they were two words each (to morrow, to day), and finally one word, no hyphens. There was some pushback in the late 1890s against too many compound words and phrases. All this leads me to wonder: is a hyphenated word any clearer or different intent than the two words un-hyphenated? Not sure. Doesn't seem so. I'd say that consistency is the hobgoblin of a good editor. |
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Post by whdean on Apr 12, 2014 13:40:14 GMT -5
I’m only answering this because you’re asking Fred. I’m staying away from these questions.
Anyway, the meaning of “duffel full” and “duffel-full” can be patterned off “hand full” and “handful.”
“I have a hand full of quarters” = I have a bunch of quarters in my grasp.
“I have a handful of quarters” = I have about 20 quarters in my pocket.
“I have a duffel full of quarters” = This bag of mine is filled up with quarters.
“I have a duffel-full of quarters” = I have a quantity of quarters whose approximate size is that of a duffel bag (though I may not even own one).
In the two first cases (hand full/duffel full), the “full of x” restricts/modifies hand/duffel. In the second cases, “handful/duffel-full” modifies quarters. The hyphen's function is to immediately distinguish the two forms.
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Post by vrabinec on Apr 12, 2014 13:46:12 GMT -5
That's what I thought.
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Post by Suzy on Apr 12, 2014 14:38:33 GMT -5
Mine's burried somewhere in the boxes of books in the basement. We need to get some bookcases. We have four, but movies hijacked them. So now, anytime I want one of my books, I have to go down and dig. It took me two hours to find my Little Brown Handbook. Having spent hundreds (if not thousands) of hours in 100 year old letters and archives for my MT volumes, I recognize the evolution of language with respect to hyphenation has been a long trip. Tomorrow and today used to be hyphenated (to-morrow, to-day). Before that they were two words each (to morrow, to day), and finally one word, no hyphens. There was some pushback in the late 1890s against too many compound words and phrases. All this leads me to wonder: is a hyphenated word any clearer or different intent than the two words un-hyphenated? Not sure. Doesn't seem so. I'd say that consistency is the hobgoblin of a good editor. Con-sistency is king. |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 13, 2014 21:50:27 GMT -5
I always slink off and find a way to write something without the hyphen if possible. Example:
"I have a duffel full of quarters" becomes "I keep quarters in my duffel."
Obviously you can't always do that. In your case, I'd do it without the hyphen (duffel full) so that it seems to read, "I have a duffel [which is] full of quarters."
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