Doesn’t feel the same to me. One is adjective noun, the other is noun noun. It affects the intonation. “I’m a blue CAR person” vs “I’m a CLOWN car person”.
Not the most natural-sounding example, but the point should nevertheless be intact. It’s noun noun, yet still works out the same way as komponisto’s original noun-adjective example.
It affects the intonation. “I’m a blue CAR person” vs “I’m a CLOWN car person”
I don’t agree; if you’re contrasting blue-car people with red-car people, the stress is on the first component. And if there is no context at all, I would read “blue-car person” as “BLUE-CAR person” (i.e. stress on the modifier relative to the modified, but not on either component of the modifier relative to the other).
OK, so compare “BLUE-CAR person” with “CLOWN-car person”. They still seem different to me. (I didn’t downvote, though I wouldn’t blame people if they downvoted this entire sub-conversation for pedantry.)
I would note that the original point was specifically about the use of the hyphen; there is no need for an example to match the case of interest in every aspect in order to be illustrative of the relevant aspect(s).
though I wouldn’t blame people if they downvoted this entire sub-conversation for pedantry
I don’t think that’s a fair characterization. No one was correcting anyone’s grammar. This sub-conversation began with an inquiry by Alicorn about a particular individual’s usage habits. If your implication is that the details of language are somehow not as “worthy” a subject for discussion on LW as many other similarly “esoteric” subjects discussed here, I protest.
Doesn’t feel the same to me. One is adjective noun, the other is noun noun. It affects the intonation. “I’m a blue CAR person” vs “I’m a CLOWN car person”.
Compare:
vs.
Not the most natural-sounding example, but the point should nevertheless be intact. It’s noun noun, yet still works out the same way as komponisto’s original noun-adjective example.
I don’t agree; if you’re contrasting blue-car people with red-car people, the stress is on the first component. And if there is no context at all, I would read “blue-car person” as “BLUE-CAR person” (i.e. stress on the modifier relative to the modified, but not on either component of the modifier relative to the other).
OK, so compare “BLUE-CAR person” with “CLOWN-car person”. They still seem different to me. (I didn’t downvote, though I wouldn’t blame people if they downvoted this entire sub-conversation for pedantry.)
I would note that the original point was specifically about the use of the hyphen; there is no need for an example to match the case of interest in every aspect in order to be illustrative of the relevant aspect(s).
I don’t think that’s a fair characterization. No one was correcting anyone’s grammar. This sub-conversation began with an inquiry by Alicorn about a particular individual’s usage habits. If your implication is that the details of language are somehow not as “worthy” a subject for discussion on LW as many other similarly “esoteric” subjects discussed here, I protest.