Hanging hyphens

[dr_mabeuse]

I recently had to write about a pile of pillows, some of which were shaped like tits, some like penises, and some like asses. Someone fell into them and knocked them all over.

Did he:
(1) Knock the tit-, penis-, and ass-shaped pillows all over the floor.

Or did he
(2) Knock the tit, penis, and ass-shaped pillows all over the floor

Or did he
(3) Knock the tit-shaped, penis-shaped, and ass-shaped pillows...

(3) won't work. I think (1) is right but I'm not sure.

---dr.M.

 

[DarlingNikki]

I think one is correct.

 

[TheEarl]

AFAIK, they are all grammatically correct, but 2 is the most graceful solution IMHO. 1 and three just look ugly to me.

Just out of interest, why were you writing about tit, arse and penis-shaped pillows?

The Earl

 

[DarlingNikki]

Number two means what he's knocking all over the floor are: an unspecified number of ass-shaped pillows, one tit, and one penis.

According to my Bedford Handbook:

"In a series, hyphens are suspended. (Ex.) Do you prefer first-, second-, or third-class tickets?"

It doesn't give any other options or choices.

 

[TheEarl]

Really? 2 is absolutely incorrect? Huh, I would have thought that one was the most logical.

The Earl

 

[Whispersecret]

Nikki's right. But why not just say he knocked the pillows over and avoid the whole problem?

 

[Guest]

One is definately correct........

On #2....I had this painted picture of him slapping out at some woman's breast, missing it altogether, hitting instead some guys exposed penis resulting in him tripping over an ass-shaped pillow, knocking it along with everything else onto the floor.

Though that could lead into a rather interesting orgy scene.



I remain,

 

[wildsweetone]

I'm obviously not shopping for my pillows in the right store...

 

[dr_mabeuse]

Earl,
Sorry I didn't get back to you sooner.
The pillow scene happend in a farcical sexual RPG called "Licensed to Thrill" where my stumble-butt character fell through the skylight of a sex shop into a box filled with the aforementioned pillows. Just saying that "pilloes went flying" isn't as good as specifying their shape.

Sandman nailed the reason number 2 is wrong. It might work in some cases, put in this case I think it's too ambiguous.

I've come across this little problem before and always wondered about it. If the list of things is greater than 3, it starts to look really weird with those hypens just hanging out there.

---dr.M.

 

[Angeline]

It's number 1

because if each of the three modifiers is descibing a pillow of a particular shape (which they are, per your explanation), then each of them is modifying "shaped." In the USA anyway, every style guide I know would tell you to hyphenate each modifier separately to avoid confusion.

Here are a few sources:

Bartleby.com

In old woods and on fern- and gorse-covered hilltops they do no harm whatever.—Spectator.

Refreshment-, boarding-, and lodging-house keepers have suffered severely too.—Westminster Gazette.

Chicago Manual of Style Faqs (a great resource)

Q. I am an American translator working in Germany and I am having difficulty determining whether the following formulation is correct according to Chicago style:

developing short-, medium-, and long-term steps for . . .

This looks so Germanized to my eyes, but perhaps I have simply been here too long. Thank you!

A. You have it right. The idea is that you are “developing short-term, medium-term, and long-term steps for” something, but that you want to avoid repeating “term,” so you simply delete the first two instances of “term”; et voilà: now you are “developing short-, medium-, and long-term steps.”

 

[DarlingNikki]

Wow. Sometimes when I post stuff I get this weird invisible feeling. Maybe if I had an AV that wouldn't happen.

 

[KillerMuffin]

It doesn't help. I get that feeling myself quite a lot.

 

[Un-registered]

It is true that 1) is coorect. It is also true that it looks out of place in a story.

Recast the text so that you don't need the hyphens.

He knocked the pillows in the box flying. The whole shop was strewn with feather-filled arses, tits and penises in a gallimaufry of erotic products.

(Well, maybe not "gallimaufry".)

 

[TrinaT]

I've used Greggs Grammar Reference and #1 is correct.

Trina T.

 

[Guest]

It is true that 1) is coorect. It is also true that it looks out of place in a story.

Recast the text so that you don't need the hyphens.

He knocked the pillows in the box flying. The whole shop was strewn with feather-filled arses, tits and penises in a gallimaufry of erotic products.

(Well, maybe not "gallimaufry".)

______

I totally agree. All of the options appear goofy.


*looking up word gallimaufry...*