Hiassen: killer-slash-rapist-slash-fill in the blank

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Marius Hancu - 05 Feb 2010 07:24 GMT

Hello:

Now, wouldn't you use dashes for the last part of:
"killer-slash-rapist-slash-fill in the blank?"

----
"Because for all you know," he said, "I could be president of the Ted
Bundy Fan Club. I could be a serial killer-slash-rapist-slash-fill in
the blank."

Carl Hiaasen, Skinny Dip, p. 61
----
--
Thanks.
Marius Hancu

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Lars Eighner - 05 Feb 2010 07:54 GMT

In our last episode,
<2b916cf9-1ce2-438e-9dd8-82f2e6fb6ff4@u9g2000yqb.googlegroups.com>,
the lovely and talented Marius Hancu
broadcast on alt.usage.english:

> Hello:

> Now, wouldn't you use dashes for the last part of:
> "killer-slash-rapist-slash-fill in the blank?"

Not dashes, but when one has started a hyphenated train like this one, one
is obliged to keep it connected to the end.

> ----
> "Because for all you know," he said, "I could be president of the Ted
> Bundy Fan Club. I could be a serial killer-slash-rapist-slash-fill in
> the blank."

> Carl Hiaasen, Skinny Dip, p. 61
> ----
> --
> Thanks.
> Marius Hancu

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Peter Duncanson (BrE) - 05 Feb 2010 12:50 GMT

>In our last episode,
><2b916cf9-1ce2-438e-9dd8-82f2e6fb6ff4@u9g2000yqb.googlegroups.com>,
[quoted text clipped - 8 lines]
>Not dashes, but when one has started a hyphenated train like this one, one
>is obliged to keep it connected to the end.

Yes. The difficulty here is that it is quoted speech. The dashes/hyphens
are an ad hoc way of showing what would be obvious in speech: the
"slash"s separate word and phrases and are not part of them. This is an
odd way of doing that because hyphens normally join rather than
separate. I think I would be inclined to write it as:

"I could be a serial-killer slash rapist slash fill-in-the-blank."

>> ----
>> "Because for all you know," he said, "I could be president of the Ted
[quoted text clipped - 6 lines]
>> Thanks.
>> Marius Hancu

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Peter Duncanson, UK
(in alt.usage.english)

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Robert Lieblich - 06 Feb 2010 21:36 GMT

> >In our last episode,
> ><2b916cf9-1ce2-438e-9dd8-82f2e6fb6ff4@u9g2000yqb.googlegroups.com>,
[quoted text clipped - 16 lines]
>
> "I could be a serial-killer slash rapist slash fill-in-the-blank."

And the best way to convey in print the substance of what was said is
to write "I could be a serial killer/rapist/fill in the blank."
Hiiassen is emphasizing that the speaker actually said "slash," just
in case the reader might hink the printed "/"es represent something
else.

My own opinion is that he's being a bit TOO clever here.

[Hi, y'all. The Lieblichs have a new beach place (replacing the old
beach place) and a bad case of sleep deprivation. But Greater Laurel
has two feet of new snow on the ground, so I'm not going anywhere for
a while, so here I am -- I know not for how long. I have read the
great "Chance Kim Tells All What Hardy Really Meant" thread and am
still recovering from waves of deja vu. But the group must carry on,
innit? And so, I guess, must I.]

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Bob Lieblich
Who is at little risk of being even clever enough

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Roland Hutchinson - 07 Feb 2010 05:15 GMT

>> >In our last episode,
>> ><2b916cf9-1ce2-438e-9dd8-82f2e6fb6ff4@u9g2000yqb.googlegroups.com>,
[quoted text clipped - 21 lines]
> emphasizing that the speaker actually said "slash," just in case the
> reader might hink the printed "/"es represent something else.

Is anyone tempted to contemplate invoking the rule of replacing the
hyphen-before-an-open-compound with an en-dash?

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Roland Hutchinson

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Nick - 07 Feb 2010 18:21 GMT

>> >In our last episode,
>> ><2b916cf9-1ce2-438e-9dd8-82f2e6fb6ff4@u9g2000yqb.googlegroups.com>,
[quoted text clipped - 24 lines]
>
> My own opinion is that he's being a bit TOO clever here.

Me too. My thought is that he's operating a rule a bit like italics.
So as "fill-in-the-blank" would normally be hyphenated, but appears in a
hyphenated string of words it isn't. The same as when a foreign word
appears in an piece of text italicised for emphasis.

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Discussion Groups / English Usage / February 2010

Hiassen: killer-slash-rapist-slash-fill in the blank