Thread

1. scoot · 1790598455 · focus · HN ↗

   It took me a moment to parse that it's the "smart-home graveyard", not the "smart home-graveyard" that's getting crowded!

   Apparently hyphens seem to have gone out of fashion. Please can we bring them back?

   1. cassianoleal · 1790598876 · focus · HN ↗

      I don't think "smart-home" is a word. I've always seen it written "smart home".

      1. jameshart · 1790599756 · focus · HN ↗

         When you use a compound word like that as an attributive (before-the-noun) adjective it’s common to hyphenate it. Precisely to clarify this kind of situation.

         So the defunct smart-home devices from your smart home end up in the smart-home graveyard.

         Same goes for man-eating lions and high-net-worth individuals.

         1. cassianoleal · 1790675425 · focus · HN ↗

            Interesting. TIL, thanks!

            Even though I've spoken fluent English for decades, it's still only my second language and I'm always learning new things about it!

            Personally I had never thought of "smart home" as a compound word, but rather as a qualifier and a noun. It's a home that happens to be smart. Similar to "blue sky", or "hot dishes". In my mind neither of those would be hyphenated.

            It's different from "man-eating", since that's not an eating that happens to be man, so in fact the whole word only makes sense as a unit in any sentence that would use it.

            Clearly, I need to adapt my understanding! :)

            1. jameshart · 1790696807 · focus · HN ↗

               Blue sky isn’t a compound. But it is in ‘blue-sky thinking’

               1. cassianoleal · 1790712057 · focus · HN ↗

                  Does this mean "smart home" is not one, but "smart-home graveyard" is where one is formed?

                  1. jameshart · 1790794940 · focus · HN ↗

                     Exactly.

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