Does this open compound noun require a hyphen when used as an adjective?
A friend of mine works at a restaurant that sells tortilla soup; however, I think the soup tastes like hot dogs. There are thus three ways to write this: hot dog soup, hot-dog soup, hotdog soup.
Only the open compound form of hot dog soup appeals to me aesthetically, and, for the most part, native speakers know what a hot dog is and will draw the connection. But what if the soup in question were actually a hot dog-soup/dogsoup?
What is the "best" way to write hot dog soup? Why?
hyphenation compound-adjectives open-vs-closed-vs-hyhenated
edited 18 hours ago
tchrist♦
108k28290463
asked Aug 1 '15 at 14:33
Jake Regier
821719
add a comment |
A friend of mine works at a restaurant that sells tortilla soup; however, I think the soup tastes like hot dogs. There are thus three ways to write this: hot dog soup, hot-dog soup, hotdog soup.
Only the open compound form of hot dog soup appeals to me aesthetically, and, for the most part, native speakers know what a hot dog is and will draw the connection. But what if the soup in question were actually a hot dog-soup/dogsoup?
What is the "best" way to write hot dog soup? Why?
hyphenation compound-adjectives open-vs-closed-vs-hyhenated
edited 18 hours ago
tchrist♦
108k28290463
asked Aug 1 '15 at 14:33
Jake Regier
821719
1
Name it whatever you want -- whatever looks the best on the menu, etc. The "rules" on this are quite loose and subject to debate.
– Hot Licks
Aug 1 '15 at 16:48
add a comment |
A friend of mine works at a restaurant that sells tortilla soup; however, I think the soup tastes like hot dogs. There are thus three ways to write this: hot dog soup, hot-dog soup, hotdog soup.
Only the open compound form of hot dog soup appeals to me aesthetically, and, for the most part, native speakers know what a hot dog is and will draw the connection. But what if the soup in question were actually a hot dog-soup/dogsoup?
What is the "best" way to write hot dog soup? Why?
hyphenation compound-adjectives open-vs-closed-vs-hyhenated
edited 18 hours ago
tchrist♦
108k28290463
asked Aug 1 '15 at 14:33
Jake Regier
821719
A friend of mine works at a restaurant that sells tortilla soup; however, I think the soup tastes like hot dogs. There are thus three ways to write this: hot dog soup, hot-dog soup, hotdog soup.
Only the open compound form of hot dog soup appeals to me aesthetically, and, for the most part, native speakers know what a hot dog is and will draw the connection. But what if the soup in question were actually a hot dog-soup/dogsoup?
What is the "best" way to write hot dog soup? Why?
hyphenation compound-adjectives open-vs-closed-vs-hyhenated
hyphenation compound-adjectives open-vs-closed-vs-hyhenated
edited 18 hours ago
tchrist♦
108k28290463
asked Aug 1 '15 at 14:33
Jake Regier
821719
edited 18 hours ago
tchrist♦
108k28290463
asked Aug 1 '15 at 14:33
Jake Regier
821719
edited 18 hours ago
tchrist♦
108k28290463
edited 18 hours ago
tchrist♦
108k28290463
edited 18 hours ago
tchrist♦
108k28290463
108k28290463
asked Aug 1 '15 at 14:33
Jake Regier
821719
asked Aug 1 '15 at 14:33
Jake Regier
821719
asked Aug 1 '15 at 14:33
Jake Regier
821719
821719
1
Name it whatever you want -- whatever looks the best on the menu, etc. The "rules" on this are quite loose and subject to debate.
– Hot Licks
Aug 1 '15 at 16:48
add a comment |
1
Name it whatever you want -- whatever looks the best on the menu, etc. The "rules" on this are quite loose and subject to debate.
– Hot Licks
Aug 1 '15 at 16:48
1
1
Name it whatever you want -- whatever looks the best on the menu, etc. The "rules" on this are quite loose and subject to debate.
– Hot Licks
Aug 1 '15 at 16:48
Name it whatever you want -- whatever looks the best on the menu, etc. The "rules" on this are quite loose and subject to debate.
– Hot Licks
Aug 1 '15 at 16:48
add a comment |
2 Answers
2
active
oldest
votes
In most of the English-speaking world, there is no possibility of genuine ambiguity about what the meat in "hot dog soup" consists of—beyond the fact that hot dogs themselves are sometimes characterized as "mystery meat." Objectively, "hot dog soup" is no more ambiguous than "hot dog on a bun," and no one familiar with the U.S. term hot dog doubts what that is.
On the other hand, hot dog is a bit of an oddity in that Merriam-Webster spells the noun (referring to the sausage) as two words and the verb (meaning to show off by doing something flashy rather than merely workmanlike and efficient) as one word, closed up. A Google Ngram chart for the years 1900 to 2005 matching hot dog (blue line) against hotdog (red line)—with no differentiation between how the two terms are used—looks like this:
A specific comparison of plural noun forms—hot dogs (blue line) versus hotdogs (red line) across the same period yields a rather similar-looking chart:
:
It wouldn't surprise me if the closed-up hotdog eventually overtook the open hot dog in all senses of the term, but that obviously hasn't happened yet. If I were in charge of producing the printed menu for a restaurant that offered hot dog/hot-dog/hotdog soup, I might be inclined to run hotdog as one word, closed up, just to minimize the hilarity of easily amused diners. But then again, maybe a little hilarity in that setting is a good thing—as with the menu at a Chinese restaurant that offers such choices as "Strange flavor chicken."
answered Aug 1 '15 at 16:54
Sven Yargs
111k18236494
add a comment |
For the reason you suggest, "hot dog soup" looks a little like "hot dog-soup". If I saw either on a menu it might be the source of a few moments' humour.
I prefer "hot-dog soup" because I don't think many people write it as hotdog.
answered Aug 1 '15 at 15:00
chasly from UK
22.9k13068
2
Actually, "hotdog" as one word is quite common in the US.
– Hot Licks
Aug 1 '15 at 16:46
@HotLicks: But "hotdog" is merely colloquial, and even then used as a (normally transitive) verb, from which the gerund "hotdogging" can be derived, as "Boys, you've had your attention. This is a dangerous waste of time. Now, stop hotdogging it and get to work!" (What is the verb's object? It! As I said, it's colloquial.) The noun is "hot dog."
– thb
Jan 13 '16 at 17:52
add a comment |
Your Answer
StackExchange.ready(function() {
var channelOptions = {
tags: "".split(" "),
id: "97"
};
initTagRenderer("".split(" "), "".split(" "), channelOptions);
StackExchange.using("externalEditor", function() {
// Have to fire editor after snippets, if snippets enabled
if (StackExchange.settings.snippets.snippetsEnabled) {
StackExchange.using("snippets", function() {
createEditor();
});
}
else {
createEditor();
}
});
function createEditor() {
StackExchange.prepareEditor({
heartbeatType: 'answer',
autoActivateHeartbeat: false,
convertImagesToLinks: false,
noModals: true,
showLowRepImageUploadWarning: true,
reputationToPostImages: null,
bindNavPrevention: true,
postfix: "",
imageUploader: {
brandingHtml: "Powered by u003ca class="icon-imgur-white" href="https://imgur.com/"u003eu003c/au003e",
contentPolicyHtml: "User contributions licensed under u003ca href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/"u003ecc by-sa 3.0 with attribution requiredu003c/au003e u003ca href="https://stackoverflow.com/legal/content-policy"u003e(content policy)u003c/au003e",
allowUrls: true
},
noCode: true, onDemand: true,
discardSelector: ".discard-answer"
,immediatelyShowMarkdownHelp:true
});
}
});
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
StackExchange.ready(
function () {
StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fenglish.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f264065%2fdoes-this-open-compound-noun-require-a-hyphen-when-used-as-an-adjective%23new-answer', 'question_page');
}
);
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
2 Answers
2
active
oldest
votes
2 Answers
2
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
In most of the English-speaking world, there is no possibility of genuine ambiguity about what the meat in "hot dog soup" consists of—beyond the fact that hot dogs themselves are sometimes characterized as "mystery meat." Objectively, "hot dog soup" is no more ambiguous than "hot dog on a bun," and no one familiar with the U.S. term hot dog doubts what that is.
On the other hand, hot dog is a bit of an oddity in that Merriam-Webster spells the noun (referring to the sausage) as two words and the verb (meaning to show off by doing something flashy rather than merely workmanlike and efficient) as one word, closed up. A Google Ngram chart for the years 1900 to 2005 matching hot dog (blue line) against hotdog (red line)—with no differentiation between how the two terms are used—looks like this:
A specific comparison of plural noun forms—hot dogs (blue line) versus hotdogs (red line) across the same period yields a rather similar-looking chart:
:
It wouldn't surprise me if the closed-up hotdog eventually overtook the open hot dog in all senses of the term, but that obviously hasn't happened yet. If I were in charge of producing the printed menu for a restaurant that offered hot dog/hot-dog/hotdog soup, I might be inclined to run hotdog as one word, closed up, just to minimize the hilarity of easily amused diners. But then again, maybe a little hilarity in that setting is a good thing—as with the menu at a Chinese restaurant that offers such choices as "Strange flavor chicken."
answered Aug 1 '15 at 16:54
Sven Yargs
111k18236494
add a comment |
In most of the English-speaking world, there is no possibility of genuine ambiguity about what the meat in "hot dog soup" consists of—beyond the fact that hot dogs themselves are sometimes characterized as "mystery meat." Objectively, "hot dog soup" is no more ambiguous than "hot dog on a bun," and no one familiar with the U.S. term hot dog doubts what that is.
On the other hand, hot dog is a bit of an oddity in that Merriam-Webster spells the noun (referring to the sausage) as two words and the verb (meaning to show off by doing something flashy rather than merely workmanlike and efficient) as one word, closed up. A Google Ngram chart for the years 1900 to 2005 matching hot dog (blue line) against hotdog (red line)—with no differentiation between how the two terms are used—looks like this:
A specific comparison of plural noun forms—hot dogs (blue line) versus hotdogs (red line) across the same period yields a rather similar-looking chart:
:
It wouldn't surprise me if the closed-up hotdog eventually overtook the open hot dog in all senses of the term, but that obviously hasn't happened yet. If I were in charge of producing the printed menu for a restaurant that offered hot dog/hot-dog/hotdog soup, I might be inclined to run hotdog as one word, closed up, just to minimize the hilarity of easily amused diners. But then again, maybe a little hilarity in that setting is a good thing—as with the menu at a Chinese restaurant that offers such choices as "Strange flavor chicken."
answered Aug 1 '15 at 16:54
Sven Yargs
111k18236494
add a comment |
In most of the English-speaking world, there is no possibility of genuine ambiguity about what the meat in "hot dog soup" consists of—beyond the fact that hot dogs themselves are sometimes characterized as "mystery meat." Objectively, "hot dog soup" is no more ambiguous than "hot dog on a bun," and no one familiar with the U.S. term hot dog doubts what that is.
On the other hand, hot dog is a bit of an oddity in that Merriam-Webster spells the noun (referring to the sausage) as two words and the verb (meaning to show off by doing something flashy rather than merely workmanlike and efficient) as one word, closed up. A Google Ngram chart for the years 1900 to 2005 matching hot dog (blue line) against hotdog (red line)—with no differentiation between how the two terms are used—looks like this:
A specific comparison of plural noun forms—hot dogs (blue line) versus hotdogs (red line) across the same period yields a rather similar-looking chart:
:
It wouldn't surprise me if the closed-up hotdog eventually overtook the open hot dog in all senses of the term, but that obviously hasn't happened yet. If I were in charge of producing the printed menu for a restaurant that offered hot dog/hot-dog/hotdog soup, I might be inclined to run hotdog as one word, closed up, just to minimize the hilarity of easily amused diners. But then again, maybe a little hilarity in that setting is a good thing—as with the menu at a Chinese restaurant that offers such choices as "Strange flavor chicken."
answered Aug 1 '15 at 16:54
Sven Yargs
111k18236494
In most of the English-speaking world, there is no possibility of genuine ambiguity about what the meat in "hot dog soup" consists of—beyond the fact that hot dogs themselves are sometimes characterized as "mystery meat." Objectively, "hot dog soup" is no more ambiguous than "hot dog on a bun," and no one familiar with the U.S. term hot dog doubts what that is.
On the other hand, hot dog is a bit of an oddity in that Merriam-Webster spells the noun (referring to the sausage) as two words and the verb (meaning to show off by doing something flashy rather than merely workmanlike and efficient) as one word, closed up. A Google Ngram chart for the years 1900 to 2005 matching hot dog (blue line) against hotdog (red line)—with no differentiation between how the two terms are used—looks like this:
A specific comparison of plural noun forms—hot dogs (blue line) versus hotdogs (red line) across the same period yields a rather similar-looking chart:
:
It wouldn't surprise me if the closed-up hotdog eventually overtook the open hot dog in all senses of the term, but that obviously hasn't happened yet. If I were in charge of producing the printed menu for a restaurant that offered hot dog/hot-dog/hotdog soup, I might be inclined to run hotdog as one word, closed up, just to minimize the hilarity of easily amused diners. But then again, maybe a little hilarity in that setting is a good thing—as with the menu at a Chinese restaurant that offers such choices as "Strange flavor chicken."
answered Aug 1 '15 at 16:54
Sven Yargs
111k18236494
edited Jan 13 '16 at 18:11
answered Aug 1 '15 at 16:54
Sven Yargs
111k18236494
answered Aug 1 '15 at 16:54
Sven Yargs
111k18236494
answered Aug 1 '15 at 16:54
Sven Yargs
111k18236494
111k18236494
add a comment |
add a comment |
For the reason you suggest, "hot dog soup" looks a little like "hot dog-soup". If I saw either on a menu it might be the source of a few moments' humour.
I prefer "hot-dog soup" because I don't think many people write it as hotdog.
answered Aug 1 '15 at 15:00
chasly from UK
22.9k13068
2
Actually, "hotdog" as one word is quite common in the US.
– Hot Licks
Aug 1 '15 at 16:46
@HotLicks: But "hotdog" is merely colloquial, and even then used as a (normally transitive) verb, from which the gerund "hotdogging" can be derived, as "Boys, you've had your attention. This is a dangerous waste of time. Now, stop hotdogging it and get to work!" (What is the verb's object? It! As I said, it's colloquial.) The noun is "hot dog."
– thb
Jan 13 '16 at 17:52
add a comment |
For the reason you suggest, "hot dog soup" looks a little like "hot dog-soup". If I saw either on a menu it might be the source of a few moments' humour.
I prefer "hot-dog soup" because I don't think many people write it as hotdog.
answered Aug 1 '15 at 15:00
chasly from UK
22.9k13068
2
Actually, "hotdog" as one word is quite common in the US.
– Hot Licks
Aug 1 '15 at 16:46
@HotLicks: But "hotdog" is merely colloquial, and even then used as a (normally transitive) verb, from which the gerund "hotdogging" can be derived, as "Boys, you've had your attention. This is a dangerous waste of time. Now, stop hotdogging it and get to work!" (What is the verb's object? It! As I said, it's colloquial.) The noun is "hot dog."
– thb
Jan 13 '16 at 17:52
add a comment |
For the reason you suggest, "hot dog soup" looks a little like "hot dog-soup". If I saw either on a menu it might be the source of a few moments' humour.
I prefer "hot-dog soup" because I don't think many people write it as hotdog.
answered Aug 1 '15 at 15:00
chasly from UK
22.9k13068
For the reason you suggest, "hot dog soup" looks a little like "hot dog-soup". If I saw either on a menu it might be the source of a few moments' humour.
I prefer "hot-dog soup" because I don't think many people write it as hotdog.
answered Aug 1 '15 at 15:00
chasly from UK
22.9k13068
answered Aug 1 '15 at 15:00
chasly from UK
22.9k13068
answered Aug 1 '15 at 15:00
chasly from UK
22.9k13068
answered Aug 1 '15 at 15:00
chasly from UK
22.9k13068
22.9k13068
2
Actually, "hotdog" as one word is quite common in the US.
– Hot Licks
Aug 1 '15 at 16:46
@HotLicks: But "hotdog" is merely colloquial, and even then used as a (normally transitive) verb, from which the gerund "hotdogging" can be derived, as "Boys, you've had your attention. This is a dangerous waste of time. Now, stop hotdogging it and get to work!" (What is the verb's object? It! As I said, it's colloquial.) The noun is "hot dog."
– thb
Jan 13 '16 at 17:52
add a comment |
2
Actually, "hotdog" as one word is quite common in the US.
– Hot Licks
Aug 1 '15 at 16:46
@HotLicks: But "hotdog" is merely colloquial, and even then used as a (normally transitive) verb, from which the gerund "hotdogging" can be derived, as "Boys, you've had your attention. This is a dangerous waste of time. Now, stop hotdogging it and get to work!" (What is the verb's object? It! As I said, it's colloquial.) The noun is "hot dog."
– thb
Jan 13 '16 at 17:52
2
2
Actually, "hotdog" as one word is quite common in the US.
– Hot Licks
Aug 1 '15 at 16:46
Actually, "hotdog" as one word is quite common in the US.
– Hot Licks
Aug 1 '15 at 16:46
@HotLicks: But "hotdog" is merely colloquial, and even then used as a (normally transitive) verb, from which the gerund "hotdogging" can be derived, as "Boys, you've had your attention. This is a dangerous waste of time. Now, stop hotdogging it and get to work!" (What is the verb's object? It! As I said, it's colloquial.) The noun is "hot dog."
– thb
Jan 13 '16 at 17:52
@HotLicks: But "hotdog" is merely colloquial, and even then used as a (normally transitive) verb, from which the gerund "hotdogging" can be derived, as "Boys, you've had your attention. This is a dangerous waste of time. Now, stop hotdogging it and get to work!" (What is the verb's object? It! As I said, it's colloquial.) The noun is "hot dog."
– thb
Jan 13 '16 at 17:52
add a comment |
Thanks for contributing an answer to English Language & Usage Stack Exchange!
- Please be sure to answer the question. Provide details and share your research!
But avoid …
- Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers.
- Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience.
To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers.
Some of your past answers have not been well-received, and you're in danger of being blocked from answering.
Please pay close attention to the following guidance:
- Please be sure to answer the question. Provide details and share your research!
But avoid …
- Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers.
- Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience.
To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers.
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
StackExchange.ready(
function () {
StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fenglish.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f264065%2fdoes-this-open-compound-noun-require-a-hyphen-when-used-as-an-adjective%23new-answer', 'question_page');
}
);
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
1
Name it whatever you want -- whatever looks the best on the menu, etc. The "rules" on this are quite loose and subject to debate.
– Hot Licks
Aug 1 '15 at 16:48