hyphenation - use of hyphens in a compound adjective


I'm currently reading "Assuming a mantle of power" from International New York Times (May 14, 2015), and the article is about a soft power look that female leaders are donning, with pencil skirts and three-quarter-sleeved jackets being the best examples of the look.


Then, I came across the following phrase:



Put simply: written one pencil-skirt, three-quarter-sleeved jacket suit critique, written ’em all.




  1. Is "one" the determiner? And are "pencil-skirt" and "three-quarter-sleeved" adjectives? Is "critique" being a noun that "one" modifies? Then what is "jacket suit"?


I guess what I'm really asking is how come there are no hyphens between "sleeved" and "jacket;" and "jacket" and suit"? As far as I know to make a compound adjective that modifies a noun before it must be hyphened.


Not comprehending these mechanics here, I'm totally confused what the author is trying to convey here.


Can somebody explain what the meaning of the phrase and all the hyphens here? Or if they are used wrong, maybe suggest the right way to use them?



Answer



NR - it would be helpful if you could post the link to the article you are referring to. I am looking at the US version of the article, published May 13 entitled "Nicole Sturgeon, Cloaked in a New Mantle of Power".


In the retail and style industries, the term 'pencil skirt' is generally never hyphenated. However, the initial outfit being described in this article is, in fact, a dress. This is why 'pencil-skirt' is hyphenated the first time it is used in the article; the author is describing a pencil-skirt dress.


As Fashion Director of the New York Times, and I might add a phenomenal writer, I'm going to guess that when Vanessa Friedman originally penned her article, she punctuated her (arguably nasty) zinger correctly:


Put simply: written one pencil skirt, three-quarter-sleeved jacket suit critique, written 'em all.


It is possible that the style editor of the International NYT, or some other editor, or perhaps Friedman herself, inserted the unnecessary hyphen. The editor may have seen the words hyphenated when describing the pencil-skirt dress and thought the hyphen needed to stay in the zinger, for symmetry's sake... and she may also have hoped to improve the readability of said zinger.


The style of skirt is pencil; the style of jacket is three-quarter-sleeved. I hope this is helpful.


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